How to Stay Popular in Project Management Field?

Preparation

1. Define your project success criteria - Make sure that you explain to all your stakeholders the importance of this project. If they are able to share a common understanding of it, like you do, then the project will most likely be a success. There are various ways which you can use to rope in all stakeholders apart from the usual predetermined schedule which include: achieving specific customer satisfaction, achieving a specific volume target, increasing and expanding your target market and being specific to details that entail maintaining minimal errors or none at all if possible.
2. Identify the necessary project drivers, degrees of freedom and constraints - There are usually five common dimensions which include; staffing, budgeting, functionality, quality and schedule. Align these dimensions with your desired project success or degree of freedom. It also helps a lot to clearly define each of them into a constraint, a project driver or a degree of freedom; which you can adjust accordingly to suit your desired level of success.
3. Define the product release criteria - During the initial stages of your project, decide when will be the best time to release the product you have been working on to the public. The criteria for this should be well thought out to avoid unnecessary setbacks in the project. Whatever criteria you choose, have the following in mind when designing them;

• it should be realistic, achievable
• measurable and well documented

4. Negotiate on the commitments - Do not commit yourself to the goals that you truly know to be unachievable, since in the end if they prove to be unachievable you will be the one held primarily responsible, be wise. In order to avoid such pitfalls it is important to negotiate with all stakeholders about what is really achievable. Try to reason out with them on any sacrifices that you think are a necessity for the overall good of the project.

1. Developing and writing a plan – Planning is very essential as it enables you to avoid many unexpected hurdles that you may otherwise encounter along the way. Writing a plan isn’t a challenge in itself, but rather its development. This is because developing a good plan involves negotiating, thinking, talking, researching and listening, which may prove quite tedious at times.

2. Breaking down large tasks into smaller manageable units - The biggest advantage of subdividing your work is that, it helps you in making better estimations. In fact, it helps you to schedule further activities that you had not thought of. It also comes in handy when you are tracking your success as it permits more accurate status tracking.
3. Develop worksheets for large activities - Not all activities can be broken down. Therefore, it is important to design a work plan for these activities that can’t be sub-divided further. Finally list all the necessary steps that they may require. These work plans will also help your staff and/or team members understand which tasks they are supposed to carry out.
4. Have a time set aside for reworks in your plan - It is common for projects to have defects and improvement opportunities in their lifespan. Quality control experts can always find a defect in the project you are doing no matter how hard you would have worked to avoid them. Therefore be on the safe side, set aside some time for reworks to avoid any last moment jargons.
5. Manage project risks - It is always advisable to be on the offensive rather than being on the defensive side. If you fail to manage these risks, then they will ultimately manage you. There is nothing more frustrating than facing risks that you knew to be avoidable with just a little planning. Analyze the possible risks that you think you may face, evaluate them and then look for ways to mitigate them.

1. Estimate the time needed based on tasks and efforts and not calendar days - This is one task where many project managers go wrong, they usually estimate time based on the calendar days and not on the complexity of the tasks. Make use of units such as labor hours. Once you have calculated the required labor hours, convert them into calendar days. Usually all factors are taken care off, when calculating these labor hours per unit. They may include issues, e.g. emergencies and interruptions etc.
2. Schedule people for less than 80% of their allocated time - Do not create a task-schedule of more than 80% of your team’s time. The main reason you should not do this is due to fatigue. Human beings are not machines and as such their effectiveness reduces with time. A person’s productivity decreases with time, therefore make the necessary allowance in your schedule.
3. Build training time into the schedule - It is important to allocate some time to training of team members. People are different; we have slow and fast learners. Just like you subtract time for leaves and holidays, do the same for training. Training is essential and as such a necessity as well. Learning is a continuous process and hence very essential when designing the work schedule.
4. Make use of estimation tools - With the advancement in technology, estimation has been made very simple. Make use of the available commercial tools when estimating time. These tools have the benefit of experience; therefore, they are able to give an accurate breakdown of the time that you may require for the project.
5. Plan for contingencies - As you well know plans don’t always go as planned. Therefore, in order to avoid setbacks in terms of time spent, it is important to include emergency buffers into your schedule.

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