4 Tips for Better Project Management
Something went wrong today.
I’ve been working on a project that involves quite a few people and quite a few pieces, and a couple of those pieces got messed up. We’re still not sure how or why it happened, and luckily it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed. But straightening it out did take up time that could have been more productively spent elsewhere.
We’ve been working on the project for months, and meetings don’t always involve the same people--we all have certain areas that we focus on, and we’re in different departments and/or buildings, and on top of that, our communications go through a variety of paths--IM, e-mail, a phone call etc. Maybe in a perfect world, we’d all sit side by side and simply yell over the wall with everyone listening in and included, but of course that’s not the case; this is simply one project of many projects we’re all working on. Plenty of you are probably in the same boat.
Obviously the challenges of project management vary according to scope of project and size of organization, but I do think some overarching similarities exist. And on that note, I’m sharing with you a sort of “note to self” based on what worked well, and what could be better (and please share your own tips; this list is by no means exhaustive!):
1. Designate up front a central location for keeping all your notes and materials about the project. As you accumulate papers, notes, materials, you’ll need it.
2. Be very clear on who is responsible for what. This can be difficult since people from different departments, for example, may have varying levels of input or interest in any one piece of the project. Some folks may come in only for a small part of a project, for example. And some may have overlapping roles. That’s okay. I think the main thing is to make sure you have at least one person responsible for each piece. And even though it can be tricky, I do think having two people responsible for tracking the project as a whole can be helpful, if for no other reason, than to reinforce each other’s understanding and memory.
3. Discuss ideas and issues verbally (and in person) whenever possible. This applies particularly to areas where you're trying to work out a problem, come to a solution, or discuss your vision
What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Most Discussed Posts
Cloud computing has emerged as one of the most significant game changers to hit the technology landscape in the past 20 years. With this massive expansion of the cloud, the perception of the IT organization is shifting from a utility player to a change agent. This eBook breaks down five ways progressive organizations are using cloud-based IT Management solutions to help drive innovation and become more strategic, including: adding visibility and analytics, speeding up time-to-value, lowering costs, improving prioritization, and providing a blueprint for future cloud deployments.
Read the white paper to see how IBM helped Citigroup deliver new services and enhancements to their 200 million customers faster.
There are 3 ways to modernize legacy applications: rewrite completely, acquire packaged solutions or migrate existing code. This paper explains why it's best to migrate and how IBM® Rational® software can help.
Accommodating specific lines of business can result in a hybrid ecosystem of applications and servers. The resulting complexity of this architecture makes for an environment that is costly to maintain and difficult to change when addressing new challenges.
This whitepaper will help you to define a mobile device passcode policy. Security managers must attempt to reconcile two opposing goals. They must: 1) create a passcode policy that is strong enough to protect the device if it is lost or stolen, while: 2) not annoying users with needless length or complexity.
This whitepaper, authored by The Radicati Group, looks at the key reasons organizations should consider moving to a cloud-based archiving solution. Email archiving solutions enable organizations to store, monitor, and collect electronic data exchanged by their users to comply with internal policies and regulations.
ATERNITY will showcase a 30-minute demo on how Fortune 500 companies are leveraging its award-winning FPI Platform to deliver a user-centric approach to Proactive IT Management.
For businesses to move forward and tap into the ever-expanding universe of Internet users and network-enabled devices, it's critical to learn how to make the transition to IPv6. Learn the critical steps your organization must take to make a seamless transition-and keep your business world connected.
Learn how IT teams can protect against spear phishing tactics. Harry Sverdlove, chief technology officer of Bit9 offers a frank discussion about spear phishing - the most common technique used in today's advanced attacks.
Learn how to build a solid business case for your migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux so you can run leaner, innovate faster, be more flexible and own the New Now.
Social media isn't about you; it's about everything around you. As you consider how your customers want to communicate with you, social media is something that can't be ignored. But what should your strategy be? Is social media "just another channel?" What kind of a plan makes sense for your contact center and for your customers? Join our experts as they share their insight and research results.
Hardware tokens were a popular method of strong authentication in past years but the cumbersome provisioning and distribution tasks, high support requirements and replacement costs have limited their growth. The additional log-in steps that hardware tokens require and the resulting user frustrations have limited adoption and make them impractical for larger scale partner and customer applications.
Sponsored Links
