Project management can
appear very formal to an outsider.
That’s
because project management maps out a specific, seemingly inflexible, process
for initiating, monitoring and closing a project, all according to an
established methodology. And if you’re an entrepreneur or working at a start-up,
the rigidity of these project management systems can feel constraining. Still,
the need to have a framework around which to focus your team and resources is
critical to any business success.
However
strict and formal project management might appear, it can be
adapted to fit your situation. There are many different methods, approaches and project management software, depending on your industry and type of project. Plus, there are
new ideas coming into the fold all the time, including hybrid methodologies
that get the best of both worlds.
So, how can
entrepreneurs and teams get the most out of project management, regardless of
their start-up environment or business life cycle?
Start with a Vision
First, to use
project management effectively, you must begin your project with a vision. You
need to have some clear idea or goal that your team can focus on. To get
somewhere, anywhere, there must be a destination. This destination must have a
specific outcome that impacts your organization or those you serve.
Start-ups and
entrepreneurs often try to do a million things at once with limited staff, so
crafting a vision is essential for ensuring project success. Well, how do you
establish your vision?
Be Specific
You need to
spend a bit of time and energy thinking through what you want to achieve and
what impact you want to have. It isn’t enough to say something like, “We want
to grow our business.”
To give
projects a sense of purpose and focus, you’d need to take this general idea and
sharpen it. You’d say something like, “We want to grow our business by 10% this
quarter by creating a new service line for our existing customers.”
This is a
pretty simple example, but it drills down from a vague idea to a specific set
of goals. This applies to any type of business, because all projects need to
have focus, regardless of the industry.
Make a Plan
Once you have
your goal or your outcome in place, the second step in implementing project
management is to create a plan. A pothole for projects is not
following the plan you made to complete the project.
However,
sticking too closely to your plan can lead to another problem: a project plan
that locks like handcuffs around the team, not allowing the team to have any
flexibility in the way that they tackle the job or approach their roles.
Stay Flexible
As an
entrepreneur or start-up, you must be comfortable with change. Change happens,
and when you’re blazing a new trail, being able to pivot is key to success.
Whatever plan you create today is only a starting point for where you are going
to go in the future.
But you still
need to have a plan that starts with the end in mind. Where are you going? When
do you need to get there? What kind of resources do you have or need? What
other factors are involved in getting this project completed?
So, the plan
is important but can change. To schedule your plan, make a project timeline with
milestones, or major phases of the project, to break down the steps or tasks
you’ll have to take to complete in order to finish the project in the time
allotted.
The greatest
gift you can give your team is the gift of flexibility in reaching the goals
and milestones. As stated above, in too many instances, we can create plans
that are rigid, which pin us to one path.
Flexibility
is important for your team, because if they are working hard and intelligently,
the solutions and actions that they take might not be obvious and should be
allowed to evolve with experience.
Execute the Project
Now it’s time
to move the project to the execution stage. This means turning your team loose
on the project.
Often when
people and organizations are not hitting peak performance, they skip the first
two steps and jump right into this stage of project management. The problem
with that is that they fail to ask themselves, “Why?”
For example,
if you want to mock up a new feature, have you asked yourself: “Why do I want
the new feature? Why do I want to create a new product? Why am I doing a mock
up and not something else?”
Don’t Waste Resources
An
inefficient organization (and start-ups can’t afford to be inefficient) can
spend a lot of time expending resources on things that never should have
received valuable resources in the first place. That’s probably the number-one
takeaway from project management: do the due diligence of asking yourself the
where, what, why, when and how before beginning any project.
As far as the
actual execution stage of the project, if you’ve created a thorough plan and
worked backwards from a deadline to create a realistic schedule and task
list, everything should be in place to start and proceed on track. Of course,
you’ll want to monitor and report on the project progress to make sure you’re
hitting your benchmarks.
Monitor Progress
How will you
measure your success against your milestones and schedule? Ask yourself these
questions: “Are the plans and milestones still relevant to achieving the goal
or outcome? Are we on, ahead or behind schedule? Is the outcome still relevant
to our business or are we just completing what we started?”
You should be
constantly asking yourself and your team these questions until you have hit
your goal. In addition to asking such questions, you should be monitoring KPIs
and other metrics throughout the project. A project dashboard can
be a huge help when it comes to tracking metrics on a daily basis.
Know When to Fold ’em
One roadblock
that start-ups and entrepreneurs encounter is the unwillingness to recognize
and accept sunk costs. By this I mean, if your goal or outcome isn’t relevant
anymore, but you’re so far into the project that you won’t let go. You think it
might have a negative impact on the team.
The best
thing to do is to quit things that need to be abandoned. Knowing when to quit
is a bit of an art. If you struggle with it, read Seth Godin’s book The
Dip. He writes about knowing when to quit and when to stay the
course.
Wrap It Up
Finally, you
should wrap up the project. At this point, you should have achieved your
outcome and have something significant to show for your time and resources.
Archive Your Documents
Collect the
lessons learned in a framework that you can use for future projects. Note
things that worked and things that didn’t. Spend time thinking about schedules
and resource usage, making notes of what you expected and what actually
happened.
You might
want to collect your communications schedules, reports and other documents that
you can use to create templates for
future projects.
Lessons Learned for Future Projects
Creating a
resource that helps you accelerate the kick-off of future projects is the key
to ending a project well. Depending on your nature and your organization,
these documents collected may be complex, or they may be loose.
Again, the
important thing is to make sure you have collected things to look for and
things to avoid so that you don’t have to relearn everything every time you
start a project.
I think if
you can think of your projects as four simple phases, it will make it easier
for you to use project management principles and this will allow you to not
only make project management something you can add quickly, but effectively as
well.
Entrepreneurs and start-ups need nimble software to plan, monitor
and report on their volatile projects. Projectmanagementcompanion.com has
many cloud-based project management solutions to choose from that offer
real-time dashboard and an online Gantt charts, giving you the flexibility you
need to respond quickly to change. See how they can help your project by taking a
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