Project management! As we all know, projects can be one offs or the can be long term/ongoing activities within any given business or agency or even for a solopreneur.
Project management
To have success in a project or within project management, the Project Management for Dummies by Nick Graham (which I recently read albeit I am a seasoned pro at projects, but you can always learn something!) says there are 4 stages to a project:
Starting the project
Organising and preparing
Carrying out the work
Closing the project
Do you need project management?
As a project manager and/or account manager, I help you with your clients and comms and ensure your projects and accounts run as smoothly as possible. I help with the unknown and the uncertainty. I take action and do and I manage unexpected changes as well as foreseeing obstacles and dealing with them before they snowball.
How can project management help your business?
By preparing and planning, brainstorming through scoping, controlling, measuring and reporting against milestones, getting visual, creating checklists, keeping on track and focussed, communicating, liasing with teams internally and externally, problem management and so much more …
And importantly, we don’t cut corners or short cut when doing these things. We do things thoroughly and properly. We understand the brief first and start off slowly, but without delaying things for no given reason, and then we dive into the action.
Reasons why a project may fail or not go so well
• Lack of clear objectives
• Lack of risk assessment
• Not everyone is brought in
• Poor planning with no milestones
• Poor comms
• Unrealistic expectations
• Lack of control (scope, time, quality, resource)
Letting go of a project or outsourcing parts of it isn’t easy as I have spoken about in posts before. But if the project is keeping you up at night or causing you stress when you look in that mirror, then it project management or account management support might be just what you need.
Reasons why a project goes well
• Getting the 4 cornerstones right which are noted in the book as scope, quality, resource and time, in equal measure and with equal focus.
• And good communication is very much at the heart of a project and this includes with all stakeholders of all levels, internal and external. And talking to each at their level and in a tone/way/method/angle that best works for them.
• As I said before, good planning and preparing is key (the devil is in the detail!) as is the delivery of the project, but also as is the closing/review/signing off of the project. Whether this be in report form, or in the comms or measuring at an after state to see how the project outcomes have been embedded.
Got a project coming up? Things to think about first
o What are the objectives or goals of the project? Eg the purpose/reasons
o What people and resource do you need?
o What actions/works need to be done?
o Any hurdles or current constraints to think about?
o What is the outcome/what does good look like?
o Risk assessment up front
o Roles and responsibilities
o Set milestones and deadlines
Then you can think of the resource you need, internal or not, budget, timelines and much more …
Why us as your project management support?
If you need help in this area, our unique angle is in the whole outsider looking in perspective. As outsiders we can help with managing expectations, prioritising, understanding the purpose and benefits, messaging and managing the stakeholders.
An outsider’s POV helps with having no bias, it helps to see the bigger picture.
All good things start with a plan. A plan makes things visible, and a plan breaks down a big task into smaller tasks. And a plan looks at the timings and ensure you and everyone else involved remains on track.
We have experience which minimises the risk/risks for you as the client/project owner, and we can help make the most of your project.
