8 tricks to do it successfully

Project management is an area that needs constant further development. Industry trends are moving so quickly that you need to be able to track and adjust them to be effective. Some time ago knowledge from the field of project management was only necessary for those who manage large projects, today this industry has undergone many changes.

Project vision skills are cultivated at a young age and even the teaching approach in schools is reduced to a project system. If students are asked from the first grade to present and defend their activities in a project format, can we say that adults do not need this knowledge?

Who especially needs project management skills?

First of all, we are talking about such specialists as:

  • Manager and project leader. It is not necessary to go into this question in detail as the evidence is given here. Continue.
  • Executives and chairmen of non-governmental organizations. It’s no secret that public organizations function most successfully when they receive grants. In order to receive financial support as part of a scholarship, you must be able to describe the vision of your project and the prospects in the application. In this case, the so-called “romantic dreams” of success and useful work will not pass. Funding applications are subjected to a thorough analysis and appraisal. This means the writer needs to have a systematic and consistent idea of ​​how to bring the idea to life. In addition, donor organizations usually review the targeted use of funds and the effective achievement of the stated goals.
  • Experts who develop their public image in the format of a personal brand. To gain public recognition, it is not enough to just advertise your activities nicely. You need to be able to implement initiatives from start to finish that are beneficial to society. And without knowledge of project management, nothing works in this regard.

This knowledge enables you to better plan, systematize, and understand how your efforts can be directed towards something useful and profitable. Hence, the tips offered below will be useful to many people.

Tip 1: start planning at the end

According to opinion poll, 47% of companies use project management software, which has a positive effect on the accuracy of project cost estimates in the planning phase. If you want optimize your planning process, enterprise project management software could help. It would make sense not only to define the scope of the project and to set project goals, objectives and milestones. The software would also be useful for planning project tasks and deadlines and outlining strategic project KPIs.

Project management expert Joe Griffin emphasizes that all successful projects have a specific start and end point. He makes an analogy to a marathon runner who stays true to his goal because he is constantly thinking about it and paying attention to it. In addition, the focus on the goal helps to protect yourself from unnecessary distractions during the project implementation. When a goal is motivating, it becomes desirable. This means that all the necessary resources are used for implementation.

Tip 2: understand your purpose better

There are times when the goal of the project appears to be there, but does not create a sense of joy, drive, and excitement that would motivate you to achieve it. In this case, it is worth taking a closer look at the strategic issues. Perhaps it makes sense to change the entire strategic course so that the project really becomes more valuable and aligned on a meaningful mission.

There are other situations when understanding the goal protects against the negative influence of others when trying to change the strategic course of the project. When a leader is focused on the end task, they are much more resilient when it comes to the influence of potential resentment.

Most successful project managers would probably agree that sometimes you have to show persistence and the ability to say “no” to get the last job done. On the one hand, this is obvious. But on the other hand, not everything is so simple in practice.

Sometimes in the intermediate stages of project implementation one can notice an effect that even seems to be positive. For example, someone suggests deviating from a strategic course in order to gain tactical advantage and “not to miss a promising opportunity”.

And when deeper analysis begins, it turns out that a small tactical win leads to a strategic loss. The order in which the work on the project is carried out is violated – and the “domino principle” is triggered. Everything collapses because unwanted changes have been made to one of the elements of the system.

As you can see, understanding the goals and focusing on them is much more important for the implementation of the strategic course of the project than it may appear at first glance.

Tip 3: be attentive and careful

When project managers or other project-related professionals are just getting started, they are often overconfident. And that is harmful. Of course, the first successes in a reputable business can turn your head. This is more of a trend than an exception. However, it is worth remembering that a person who is too enthusiastic and in a state of euphoria will lose focus and judgment. Here are some simple guidelines that project managers sometimes forget early in their careers. So:

  • Whatever your success, you shouldn’t rely on yourself for anything. Stay in contact with experienced industry experts and get advice on critical questions. Nobody will stop you from making the decision that appeals to you the most. But often by looking from the outside, additional opportunities can be identified in good time or, conversely, the pitfalls and risks can be identified before they lead to losses.
  • Remember: There needs to be a balance between work, family, leisure, and other important areas in real life. The success in project activities initially inspires. I always want to spend more time doing what I love. However, if you do not give yourself rest, then, according to the cumulative principle, a state of constant fatigue is formed. The person begins to experience emotional burnout. Sometimes it even leads to asthenia or depression. When we talk about a family person, problems in the family can begin. It is better to gradually move towards professional goals and achieve confident results than to lose all your strength in the beginning and then think about how to get in shape.
  • Look for positive and critical feedback on your project. It is best to trust the praise and criticism of those people who are experts in the industry, but at the same time have no relation to the project. You will hear an unbiased opinion from them. At first glance, this approach seems to cultivate unwarranted vigilance. But not all project managers have enough systemic vision at the beginning of their work to know clearly which feedback is worth paying attention to and which is not.

Cultivating mindfulness in all of the above not only increases the success rate of projects, but also lets you enjoy them more.

Tip 4: manage risks

The sentence “Risk managementSounds a lot easier than it is implemented in practice. And that is not surprising, because both in business and in non-commercial projects there are many factors from the outside world that have an influence, but do not depend on our will. However, it is important to try not only to predict the outcomes you want, but also to think about contingency strategies to respond if something goes wrong.

Optimism is good, but you need to be able to show objectivity in project activities.

Tip 5: get rid of perfectionism

If you notice perfectionism in yourself, it is worth learning how to deal with that quality. The point is, striving for perfection only slows down project work. Ideality as such is impossible in any job, so it is important to learn to be satisfied with a sufficiently good result.

If this is difficult, you should develop yourself evaluation criteria according to which the completed project is good enough. In this way, you can protect yourself from the perception leveling out positive results that do not achieve the conditional ideal.

Basically, perfectionism is not safe from a psychological point of view. The constant pursuit of a fictitious claim, the bar of which is set quite high every time, leads to exhaustion and dissatisfaction with oneself. Projects are carried out formally, but lose their semantic component.

Tip 6: Avoid working on several tasks at the same time

If we grab everything at once, it just seems that the result will be achieved faster. In fact, attention is wasted, as is work. Participating in multiple projects at the same time dissipates focus and prevents you from doing everything fully. Therefore, it is worthwhile to evenly distribute the load and gradually work on different projects.

Tip 7: don’t overwork

In the moments when the planned end of the project is approaching, this wish sounds more like an unrealistic slogan than a real principle of action. Indeed, there are situations in which you have to gather strength and accomplish something the whole team has been working on for a long time.

But for many project managers, working until the revision is not an exception, it’s a constant norm. Do not forget: this attitude towards your health is linked with many negative consequences and risks in the long run.

Tip 8: learn all the time

The modern world is very dynamic. New possibilities are constantly appearing in it, approaches to project management are being improved. Therefore, it pays to regularly follow the news in your area of ​​expertise to find out what promising developments have occurred in it.

Many of these recommendations seem straightforward. However, if you stick to it, you will save yourself from burnout and be able to implement your project activities more efficiently.

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