Do you want to create and develop a project efficiently? Efficient project management is the key to long-term success. That's why we've put together a short guide to project management to help you make the most of your development.
Focus on the steps to follow!
First of all, the most important step in effective project management is setting clear, precise objectives. It's a step that seems obvious, but is often overlooked.
These objectives are the "common thread" of the project, and are fundamental to its success.
Defining these objectives will enable teams to move from project requirements to operational implementation. This will enable them to establish what they need to produce, when, how and at what cost.
Obviously, these objectives must already take into account certain constraints such as the available budget, the time available and the resources available, both human and material.
In the final analysis, it's vital to "clarify the project objectives from the outset", so that you can easily determine what is expected, and how flexible you need to be. Putting them down in writing helps to avoid misunderstandings and to prioritize.
Once the objectives have been set, it's time to draw up a list of tasks. Once again, this is a sensitive stage, as any omissions can have a detrimental effect on project completion.
The first step is to make an inventory of all the possible tasks, and then, with a sharp and critical eye, to reduce this list to the bare essentials, with the help of several questions such as :
- What do I need to do this?
- What does this mean for the project?
By asking yourself these questions, you'll often be able to deduce new essential tasks and remove non-essential ones.
Lastly, even if we don't have a perfect chronology, we still need to emphasize the coordination of tasks in relation to each other, by establishing " priority " tasks.
Drawing up a diagram would seem to be the perfect way of facilitating employees' work, so that the links between tasks are clear.
The next step is to define and allocate resources.
The first step is to draw up an accurate list of available human and material resources.
At this point, it's important to consider the time and availability constraints of these resources, as well as the maximum load that can be assigned to them.
Secondly, they will be allocated to the various tasks identified above.
The aim, of course, is to match resources to tasks according to their timing, so as not to block resources on later tasks, which would slow down the project.
The final step in effective project management is to plan and monitor the implementation of your project efficiently.
The project planning stage enables you to draw up a forecast for the project's completion.
This is a useful step because it allows you to be orderly and to coordinate the actions of your collaborators in relation to each other.
It's also an opportunity, at the end of your project, to compare the forecast with the actual, so you can really take stock of what you've done well or not so well, what was realistic or not, and where you've lost time.
Finally, the project monitoring stage is where project management as such begins, as the first stages are more a matter of project management, through the definition of objectives, tasks and resources required for the project.
In this respect, the most important thing is to keep a close eye on your schedule from day to day , as the project evolves.
This will make you fully aware of the implications of even the slightest change to a task and to the project's due date.
In conclusion, good project management requires strong commitment and assiduous attention.
Today, there are a number of players and software packages offering effective project management support, which will undoubtedly lighten your workload (business plans, planning tools, resource modeling, etc.).
Written by our expert Quentin MOYON
March 8, 2018
