The Project Manager that makes it happen

Six key important areas that will deliver project results

This is just some tips to insert into your project. Keep them in mind on your next project. Be known as The Project Manager that makes it happen.

1. Define Key Performance Indicators at project milestones.

• You have reached that milestone so make sure it really is achieving it's purpose.
• Give your project a good review that you really earned that milestone.

2. What type of Service Level Agreements will the project produce.

• Give your stakeholders great expectations.
• The project must be improving a process so highlight it.

3. The Command Center Project Dashboard on a large screen.

• Real time status.
• The Project Team will be directed to update their status daily to feed the dashboard.
• Track budget.
• Monitor the Project Team's progress.
• Get a big picture of the project on a large screen.
• Accountability for a transparent project.
• Project Health will be monitored closely to address potential issues before they become a problem.

4. Change Control process to monitor Scope / Budget Creep.

• Document the justification and cost to insert change into a project.
• Analyze the impact on the project to insert a change order into it.
• Will a new go-live date result from the proposed change order?
• Present change order to management for approval.

5. Identify Potential Risks in the project.

• Monitor risks to address them early to find best remediation.

6. Special Meetings.

• Have a One on One 15 minute meeting with key team members before the project kickoff and biweekly thereafter.

   

Keep Stakeholders Happy with Transparent Project Management

Project Management should be transparent for Stakeholders to have a good insight on the progress. That will put some pressure on the Project Manager. Project Managers do provide periodic reporting, but is that enough? Go a step further and provide Stakeholders with the ability to have access to real time status that they can get on their smartphones or laptops. Select a Project Management Software that will provide mobile access. 

A Project Manager should welcome transparency. Transparency will demonstrate a confident Project Manager that is leading a team that will deliver results to their Stakeholders.

Transparency will get your Stakeholders engaged in the project by having real time updates on the progress. Good and bad news will be known now and not on a periodic status report.

Project Management Gone Wild

Project Management Methodologies  

So many methodologies to choose from you can't go wrong. Right? We have Critical Path Method (CPM), Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and Prince2. There are many more out there. The point I'm stressing is that you select the right methodology. Go wild with a hybrid if you feel constrained. Remember that you have a budget to track and a delivery date to meet. 

Flexibility might look good, but too much flexibility will come at a cost if you are not careful. Keeping within the scope of the project is key when you deviate from traditional methodologies. Keeping the stakeholders in the loop is imperative so they are fully aware of where you are at in the project. 

   
Tracking The Project

No matter what methodology you use, you better track your approved budget all the time or you will have some explaining to do later if you happen to go over it. It's better to explain along the way and justify that you need more money for unforeseen bumps in the road. 

Update your project plan to make sure your target dates will be met. If the dates are sliding you need to meet with the stakeholders to present options to them. Time for you to work some magic now. Throw some bones to those stakeholders to keep them happy.

I suggest you track your budget on a weekly project status report. Include key tasks that have been completed and tasks planned for the next week. Always have weekly targets, don't just wing it because you see some flexibility in your schedule. Always keep your eye on the finish line.

The Project Management Office Dashboard

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) - Reporting

Having the ability to have real time status reporting of all the projects in the organization is a goal that the Project Management Office (PMO) should undertake. The reporting will be dashboards displayed in the PMO on a large LCD monitor. Project teams will be directed to update their tasks throughout the day to give the PMO the ability to have fresh data on their dashboards. There might be resistance if the teams update their status weekly. Just give it time and it will become part of the team's daily routine. To accomplish your reporting you will need a robust project management software that supports PPM.

The Live Dashboard

Hang a large LCD monitor in the PMO in a good location to be viewed. The dashboard will give you a glance at how all the projects are doing. Why wait for weekly, on request and monthly reports to find out good or bad news. Daily monitoring of a dashboard will ensure that projects are on track within the budget. Define various dashboard views of your project metrics to display throughout the day. A large visual view with the colors of Green, Yellow and Red to highlight important information will make an impact on how you monitor your project portfolio. Call it the Project Command Center Dashboard.

Sample Dashboard 

Big Brother is Watching

The main objectives for the PMO dashboards is budgets and project timelines. It's all about being proactive to address potential problems in the early stages. If a budget keeps increasing the project could go way over the approved budget. Missing milestones could be a resource issue. Just naming a few issues that you can detect on a well designed dashboard. Your dashboard is a work in progress. You should always look for ways to keep improving your dashboards with valuable metrics. 

Have a Meet and Greet 

Invite stakeholders, executive management, managers, project managers and project teams to see your dashboards in action on the big screen. Ask for feedback on how you can improve your dashboards reporting. Give it a try and drop me a note how it worked out for your organization.