How to manage projects effectively?

1. Introduction

Effective project management means: think before acting, identify and handle potential problems before they happen and keep track of to determine if your actions have been achieved. The desired result or not, does not control every single activity.

Monitoring progress

Track project activities. Need to answer a question like “Have the activities been completed as planned?” “Is the product delivered as planned?” “Is the project’s work progressing as expected?” At the level Basically, it is a passive process, it does not change anything. Instead, it lets project managers know the project’s performance lies in money, time, risk, quality or other areas of project progress.

Project evaluation

There is a tendency to focus on monitoring progress at high levels ie the results of the project. The assessment tends to explore questions such as, “Does the project achieve the expected results?” “Does the project contribute to its ultimate goal?” Assessment data is collected and Infrequent analysis and often requires more formal intervention (usually by technical advisers or external evaluators) to display the project results.

Control the project

Concerning the establishment of decision-making systems and processes to manage the difference between the plan (scope, cost, schedule, etc.) and the actual implementation of the project. It also involves how project differences and changes are managed, recorded and communicated with stakeholders.

Flexible

Trying to control every aspect of a project can ensure the greatest chance of success, but you can never control everything, so it doesn’t matter.

In addition to good planning and monitoring, most successful projects will also require flexibility to allow adjustment and problem solving. As such, you need to remember that, at any given time, the plan represents your current thoughts on the project’s goals. Project plans, expenditure reports, and group meetings will not guarantee the success of the project. As a project manager, you must be flexible and able to manage changes as they occur and think creatively when not accessible in the usual way.

Change documents

It is important to correctly identify and record all changes from the original scope of the project. If prediction methods have never been tried before, it is important to describe what you propose and the results you hope to achieve. The less you are sure that the plan will work closely, the more you should monitor the performance continuously to determine the deviation from the plan as quickly as possible. If the planned approach seems to be inactive, clear choices need to be made on how to modify existing plans and guide work in new directions. Always make sure the people involved are informed about the changes.

Project Tolerance – Project tolerance (allowable range of errors)

Project tolerances determine performance limits in which errors are acceptable. Tolerance is an important part of being able to work independently as a project manager. Having tolerance means that the project manager has a certain flexibility in the project.

Tolerances are used most often

• Time Tolerance – the time to complete a project may be later or earlier than the expected date.
• Cost Tolerance – the percentage, or amount of cash, that the project may exceed or according to the expected budget.
• Scope Tolerance – measured as a variation agreed from the description (product) that can be distributed. Any potential variant must be recorded.
• Risk Tolerance – provides a benchmark for permissible risks
• Quality Tolerance – the range of acceptable acceptable product performance (or reliable results for handover) as visualized according to the original scope of work or described in the description product.
• Benefits Tolerance – the acceptable range of project performance in results.

Change Orders (Change order)

Some organizations have formal procedures to record any information that is often called “change order”. When the change is approved, it must be updated to all other project documents including revised budget and schedule.

2. Monitoring

It is important to monitor the progress of the project to ensure it does not get too far from your original plan. Once you let things go too far, it will be difficult to bring things back to their original plan.

As with other aspects of the project, you must determine the frequency with which you will monitor project activities. Monitoring is really an ongoing activity, however, you have to balance the time you spend on tracking activities (you don’t want to manage your group micro) and the value of that effort. Regular progress reports or weekly / monthly meetings are an effective way to help you monitor a project. Progress reports do not need to be formal or beautiful; Just a clear brief list of important points to do. If possible, try to organize regular status meetings on predefined dates / times to allow people to prepare. A general guideline will work well for most projects: No more than once a week, but not less than once a month.

During the project of communication, communication and communication. Good communication is an important success factor of any project. As a project manager, you will definitely contact by phone, email, meeting, etc. Providing your stakeholders access to information is an important part of any projected communication strategy. project. Ensure that your project team has access to an information sharing system like an intranet or similar collaboration environment. In large projects, a team member may be assigned to oversee the project information sharing system.

To help people understand the same problem, always send a program to work before every meeting. Although the main purpose of project management is to organize and motivate people and support their decision making, however, detailed information and creative performance will ultimately lead to the success of the project. In addition, continuous feedback for your team members can help the project’s success. Feedback must be specific (not generic and ambiguous) and it should always include everyone who has worked on a specific part of the product.

As mentioned earlier, to be a good communicator, you must be a good listener first. So listen attentively to your project team – your team members will appreciate that you appreciate their opinions and encourage discussion. Listening is also helpful because it gives you feedback on whether your team members understand your message.

If you are working on a complicated project, don’t forget to assign someone to do the document such as: User guide, report, etc. Make sure the person involved is involved in the process. If the customer requests additional items out there, negotiate additional time or resources (increase money) to meet the increased expectations.

Monitoring Plan (Monitoring plan)

Schedule progress

• Any status of the activities is scheduled for this week, this month
• How are activities progressing? Before, after or on schedule?
• Is there any content that needs things?

Budget- Budget:

• How much budget have you spent so far?
• How much is left?
• Do you have a revised estimate to complete the job?

Scope- Scope:

• Is your group active on ranges in scope or out of scope?
• Are there any changes that will require scope expansion?

3. Evaluations- Evaluation

Assessment can also be an important tool you use to monitor your project. Although final evaluations are often required by customers, mid-term evaluations provide an opportunity to provide suggestions to improve the effectiveness and impact of the project while activities are still underway.

Common evaluation questions may include:

• Does the project succeed in accomplishing results, goals and impact requirements?
• Is the project relevant and effective?
• Does the project have a sustainable potential in operation?
• Is the theory expressed?

4. Ex-Post Review

In addition, evaluation of Ex-post examines the impact of the project at a specified time after completion of the project, sometimes a year after the official end of the project to improve. Below you have a list of topics to consider for Ex-Post review:

• Stakeholders: those who will be affected, need support, or will be interested in the project results.
• Do you assign specific roles and responsibilities to your employees?
• Does anyone work in your project responsible for different areas? If so, do you provide enough support so they can fulfill their mission?
• Do you need any special approval to start activities (IRB, IACUC, legal review, etc.)? If so, how will these approvals affect your tracking / time activity?
• Do you (anyone else working on the project) understand the important project risks and how they will be managed?
• Does everyone working on the project know about the start and completion of activities and what milestones have been achieved?
• Do you have budget for all required project resources?

As a manager, you successfully control your performance, including:

• Organize, focus and continuously promote project staff
• Track and compare work and project results with project plans
• Review and make changes to the plan as it follows that changes are required
• Keep everyone informed of the project’s achievements, issues and changes
• Continue to monitor and handle developing project risks
• The organizational information system can be used to support project planning and control, including maintaining records.
• Number of work effort
• Amount spent on project activities

Source : ITZone via Viblo