6 tips and tricks for successful project management
Successful project management is a major challenge. Project managers have to communicate with stakeholders and employees, plan available resources, ensure adherence to deadlines and deadlines, coordinate a large number of processes, And meeting all of these requirements sometimes sounds like an almost unmanageable task. However, this is not the case: with just a few tips and tricks, you can significantly increase the chances of success for your projects.
In the following 6 tips for successful projects, the essential success factors and procedures are examined to enable a practical transfer to projects.
Tip 1: create a pleasant working atmosphere
Even before a concrete project starts, you can set the course for the success of the project through a pleasant working atmosphere and complete project orientation. When employees feel good, not only productivity increases but also personal initiative. Dedicated employees who actively contribute their own ideas and work because they are behind the project and not because they have to, is the basis for success.
Involve your employees in decisions instead of just delegating tasks. Also, you should not avoid conflicts, but create a work environment in which problems can be addressed and discussed openly. Allow freedom and flexibility in the way tasks are solved and appreciate good performance regularly. This demonstrably promotes creativity and job satisfaction.
Tip 2: Realistically plan resources and deadlines
Pressure and stress are also a big factor for employee productivity and thus project success or failure. Some teams tend to set tight deadlines and underestimate the amount of work required. This leads to frustration and overtime, late appointments and half-finished work because there is not enough time in front and behind. Therefore, do not plan too optimistically, but realistically, for example by calculating one or two days for reviews and unforeseen events or reserve resources.
Tip 3: Use project management software
A good way to plan and manage resources and appointments is project management software. Modern project management tools provide you with a multitude of functions - not only for resource planning but also for task management and for internal communication. A major advantage of professional software instead of pen and paper or in-house solutions is central access and automatic data backup and synchronization. This means that no information can be lost and all employees keep an overview.
An optimal project management software combines methodically proven tools with a practical orientation.
Traditional tools like
- Task management
- Gantt chart
- Resource management
- Time feedback
- Cost calculation
- Risk management
should be provided as fixed components in the range of functions, but also integrative communication management.
The project is positively influenced by the rapid exchange of information and documents, making the project run more efficiently. The traceability of information through team chats and comments on the project elements, such as boy cat names and tasks or processes, gives the project clearer structures and trust.
Tip 4: distribute clear responsibilities
Different tasks arise during a project. To ensure that the project runs smoothly, each task should have a person in charge who monitors the progress and intervenes if necessary. It is particularly important that you clearly communicate responsibilities. On the one hand, other teams and employees then know who the resources have to contact with questions and problems, and on the other hand, no tasks are left behind.
As with resource management, project management software can help you with this. With a task management tool, you can distribute tasks flexibly and store additional information such as budget or start and end dates.
For complex work packages, in which extensive processing sequences have to be taken into account, the allocation of several resources per work package is suitable.
In this way you avoid duplicates of work packages, faulty project runs and dependencies, as well as additional efforts in monitoring the project progress.
This is particularly important if several projects running in parallel need to be monitored and coordinated. Furthermore, through a clear project structure, the processing of the work packages can be accelerated and information gathering and possible queries can be minimized.
Tip 5: Document the history - but don't overdo it
Document the progress of the project by collecting resources, time, and other data. This is necessary to determine bottlenecks and miscalculations and to react in good time. Also, you can use the collected data for future projects or final analysis.
There are countless possibilities for documentation, from pie and bar charts to Excel tables and written reviews. Project management software solutions in particular offer versatile functions for the clear presentation and evaluation of the course of the project. Don't overdo it at this point, with too many tools. Too much information damages the clarity and comprehensibility as well as the lack of data.
Instead, choose only a few methods that meet your project requirements and make sure that all employees know exactly how to use the diagrams and overviews correctly. A project is much easier to implement if everyone speaks the same language, also about the tools used.
Tip 6: Evaluate and adapt regularly
Based on diagrams and overviews, you should also regularly evaluate the current project status. The agile method or iterative approach has proven its worth in recent years, particularly in software projects. Instead of carrying out project phases such as planning, implementation and analysis strictly in succession, such as in the classic waterfall model, the individual phases are run through again and again.
As a result, you remain flexible when implementing the project. Bottlenecks, miscalculations and also misunderstood requirements and goals are quickly noticed and you can take countermeasures directly. Therefore, sit down at regular intervals with the individual teams, as well as with other stakeholders or even all project participants, and discuss the status of work, current problems and the planning for the coming week.
Conclusion
In conclusion, three points are essential for the success of the project: communication, overview and coordination. Communication creates a work environment in which your employees can feel comfortable and develop their full productivity and avoid misunderstandings. With an overview and coordination, for example through central project management software, you can plan and manage tasks, resources, responsibilities, deadlines and many other project aspects. All of these points together ultimately guarantee the successful implementation of your projects.