Six ways project managers can achieve success on their next project

by Kara Jondal January 24 2012

The success or failure of a project in many businesses is based upon meeting project targets and key indicators, while measuring organizational effectiveness is often ignored. Businesses that experience such ‘tunnel vision’ are not evaluating the project’s true added value or benefits.

InfoWorld’s article, Six lessons from a lightning ERP rollout, reminds us that project management alone does not provide a solid definition of implementation success. Many more elements are involved in reaching implementation success, such as budget controls, success metrics, and executive support. They suggest moving away from traditional goal measurement techniques and bringing a project managers focus back to the real business results. The following are InfoWorld’s six lessons for project managers to transform their next project into a success.

Lesson No. 1: Having staff wait for work is better than having work wait for staff

Move your traditional project management techniques to critical-chain project management. Never let a project be delayed because staff cannot work on the next task. This will create a chain-reaction of late task starts and thus lead to an unpredictable project end date.

Lesson No. 2: Multitasking is more prevalent and more harmful than anyone thinks

Attempting to maximize staff utilization does more harm than good. An employee who multitasks is moving from one task to another, and often. Moving back to a task which requires concentration is difficult. The employee must reorient oneself with the task at hand, requiring excessive time and effort. Project managers are urged to let employees fully finish tasks before they start another. Even if employees find themselves with nothing to do, they will be more effective and productive.

Lesson No. 3: Eliminate "apple polishing"

Make sure your staff knows when they have reached the state of ‘good enough’. A clear exit strategy will discourage wasting time over-perfecting a task. A project manager must continually communicate this advice to staff. It will save both time and money.

Lesson No. 4: Don't over-define the tasks

Defining task details upfront can occasionally cause misunderstanding. As a project manager, avoid micromanaging and defining task details overly ahead of schedule. The right staff will be able to use their own experiences and good judgments to get the job done.

Lesson No. 5: Be aggressive about business improvement

Never name a project after a technology. The overall project is usually more than that single technology alone; encompassing both changes in technology and processes. Put effort toward designing different and better processes and practices to get the most out of your project. Remind your team that technology is only part of the process to reach the project's big picture.

Lesson No. 6: Provide a holistic view for all team members

Do not let staff narrowly focus on their own task responsibilities. Make sure everyone on the team understands the project’s big picture. This way, all individual tasks will fit together cohesively.

Project success should not be determined by project targets, but rather by the amount of value it adds to the business as a whole. By having a clear vision and displaying good leadership, a project manager can achieve true success on their next project.