Project Management Success - Tips for when you need to keep project management simple

Project Management Success - Tips for when you need to keep project management simple

There may come a time in your Project Management career where you are asked to manage a project without really managing it. For example, the project budget really doesn't allow for an appropriate allocation of project management time so you are asked to keep an eye on it' - at minimal cost! This is a difficult task, after all, if you want a project to be managed well then you must invest in its management. As unenviable as it is, this situation, however, can sometimes be a reality for many project managers.

I was recently asked to manage' such a project and needed to have a long hard look at what sort of value I could add to the project within the allocated budget. This is where project management needs to be kept simple and here are a few tips that may help you in keeping it simple:

Set customer expectations around the project management service you can offer within the designated budget. It is essential that the stakeholders understand that they will not be receiving the same full service that you would usually offer. Projects with less management are at greater risk of issues and potential failure, so the customer must understand and accept that risk. Somehow stakeholders can often still believe that you will be doing all of the normal' things that a project manager should do - but faster and cheaper! It helps to paint the picture up front.

Establish exactly what you can and cannot deliver with the designated time available to spend on the project, this includes the time you can spend in meetings or managing resources and issues. Discuss the expectations around project documentation and reporting requirements, this is an area that people will often forget in their budgeting process and will assume they have all project documentation and reporting included.

Implement a simplified system for reporting that provides all basic required data in an easy to produce format. Regardless of the level of management you can apply to the project you will still need to track and manage against your deliverables as best you can. A simple spreadsheet based one page report is one that I implement in cut down' project management. It is easy to produce and contains all key data including a summary of the project status (percentage complete, due date, expected completion date), deliverables summary (date due, exptected, percentage complete, status/comments), issues/risks summary (date, impact, reponsible person, status/comment). This report is very simple and is loved by executive management!

Ensure you maintain regular contact with the project and act on any issues promptly. As discussed projects with less management are at risk and with less time to spend on them it can be easy to lose touch with the everyday workings of the project and be unaware of issues when they occur. Maintain a regular point and time of contact if possible.

Ensure your documentation, albeit simplified, is maintained. THis one is called covering your back if it all goes pear shaped!

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