Some years ago I entered a project, which was already half-way. I travelled to my foreign assignment, expecting the promised briefing, and would proceed from there on. Seemed normal to me. But what I witnessed then, made my jawbone drop.
Instead of a briefing (although promised) - in fact just a 15 minutes chat - I immediately ended up in entering a video-conference with the highest chiefs and a medicine man, where the project leader delivered an assuring monologue to the headquarters. Not only was my proposed-by-them calendar of my trips around Europe a complete mess, some alarm-bells started to ring in my mind. This was my first day on my new assignment, so I didn't want to be a spoiler. Fully trying to be open minded, I felt increasingly getting uncomfortable. My intuition however proved right after all.
Ever had such kind of feeling? One might be surprised, how often similar scenarios might occur. And most surprising is, it is caused by people, who seem to have a long record of prestigious projects, yet the deliverables are dramatically below level. In order to be well prepared, regardless of your previous achievements, top-notch courses, or whatever; here are more or less six basics of Project Management.
- Do your research thoroughly: No matter how successful your previous job turned out, the new project is always a new planet. You're in a new environment (organisation), other colleagues, other customers, other hard- or software. Take it as a blank page. Find new materials - even by merely googling or dedicated websites you can obtain plenty of info on anything, and make sure your data is fairly up-to-date.
- Find pitfalls from other projects and try to understand them: Mistakes occurred in the past, and by analysing them can make you anticipate possible dangers ahead, saving you from a lot of unnecessary headaches
- Design a road map - Planning: Believe it or not, I did witness projects which came from down the sleeve. By designing a plan, you identify your goals and can systematically fill in the steps in between. Be aware, that many organisations often enough do not have sufficient documentation to support you. It is you, who must be prepared for that.
- Adequately communicate with all involved: It cannot be overstated, but good communication will contribute to proper co-ordination. Understand the customer's expectations, liaise with your team(s) to align all chores and be updated on milestones. Ignoring these, you might find yourself suddenly being far off road, with considerable damages to the stakeholders (and yourself).
- Plan your milestones realistically: creating estimates for certain steps in the process is not merely applying a mathematical addition, multiplication and division. Two people do not necessarily half your project time, and it is best to allow more time to avoid missing sufficient testing or other necessary requirements. It's better to work extra time and deliver quality rather than impress with speed and fail in the end.
- Test: Whatever you design, you need to test it - and not just once - in order be assured of its quality. Be thorough and any change, no matter how minute, needs repetitive exposure to pass the check.
Like a good wine, a project needs full attention and time to mature. In all, whichever assignment you take, these practical rules should not be overseen; so just be practical, and it will make you and your customer happier, when you sign off the job after implementation.
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