The key to a successful project is maintaining a strong set of project management best practices that make it possible to evaluate performance and stay on task all along the way. We've put together the following 9 best practices to help ensure that your organization's projects are on target for success:
Project Management: 9 Best Practices
1. Define the Steps
Without a clear road map of milestones, your project won't successfully make it from point A to point B. Think of it as a cross-country road trip. The success of the trip itself isn't so much about getting from Boston to Seattle as it is about mapping out which route you'll take, where you'll stay, when you'll arrive at each key city along the way, and how you'll stay within your trip budget.
2. Gather and Solidify Requirements Early
Objectives and scope must be solidified early on. When targets shift and goals aren't clear, task scopes may change, which can result in confusion and delay. which can cause delay.
3. Clearly Define Roles
Not clearly defining roles in the beginning can also cause unnnecessary confusion and delay. Roles should be defined early on, so that all stakeholders know precisely what they are accountable for (and what they aren't) and the leadership path should be clear, so communication can happen efficiently.
4. Set Quality Assurance Criteria
Before you move to any stage of the project life cycle, make sure you've clearly delineated quality assurance criteria. This includes defining the standards you'll use, the people responsible, and a timeline for meetings to keep an eye on the project and ensure the quality of deliverables.
5. Plan Sensibly
Too often project plans are created with unrealistic expectations. For that reason, it is important that each point of the project be based on clear, objective plans that set out the mission, schedule, budget, risks, and quality requirements. When these plans are accurate, your project will be in a better position to move forward on solid footing.
6. Analyze Deviations
In nearly any project, there will be moments when a variable of the project deviates from the plan. The schedule may change, new risks may reveal themselves, or there can be cost overruns. While these things do happen, it's important to track them and do an analysis to understand why they happened. This can go a long way in preventing future problems down the line.
7. Decide How to Make Corrections
If some part of the plan deviates from the original outline, changes must be made to correct it. There's usually a tradeoff such as allowing for an increase in cost in order to save on time. But when an individual team takes responsibility to put things back on track on their own, the results may not be consistent with the outcomes you're looking for. Clear corrective action procedures should be in place from the beginning.
8. Prepare for Problems Before They Arise
A clear rule of thumb to follow is to identify and prioritize risks to the project based on their impact early on to mitigate and prevent problems before they arise. Having a clear response plan with contingencies in place early on not only helps minimize delay, but also eases uncertainty, which can help keep your project on track.
9. Make Authorizations Clear
Make authorizations clear to avoid scope creep. Changes are inevitable, but they can also be disruptive, slow processes down, and increase costs. You can keep these disruptions to a minimum and keep them from derailing the project by setting up a formal authorization system in the beginning to minimize the number of changes.
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Need assistance with a project? We can help! At ECS Reporting Solutions, our certified project managers follow Project Management Institute (PMI) best practices and have years of experience behind them that ensure your project goals will be met. Contact us at ECS Reporting Solutions today to schedule a FREE consultation.
