Is everyone a project manager? If you have a business card, or an email signature, it may say something like marketing manager, financial adviser or lawyer. But there may be two key words missing – project manager. It may not be part of your job title, and you may even struggle to find the words in your job description, but guess what? You can bet that you, and pretty much every other professional known to mankind, manage projects in some form or other. Failing to realise this could mean that you are missing out on some important lessons that the professionals (the guys with the 'project manager' on their business cards) know only too well.
What is a project? No matter which dictionary you turn to, a “project” is defined along the lines of: an enterprise that you do either alone or in a group that you plan in advance to achieve a goal. As definitions go it’s pretty wide, and so it stands to reason that what you can view as a project is also pretty wide. The key word above, though, is “plan”. If you need to plan it, it’s a project.
But it'll be more helpful to further clarify the definition, particularly for the business context. It usually involves a collection of tasks, is usually outside the scope of ongoing or daily work (unless your ongoing work is to deliver projects), and you will likely have never done it before. And, typically, it's not something that you should do alone (despite what the dictionary definition says), if you want it to succeed. When you think “project”, you typically think about big things, such as:
Developing a new product or service
Changing IT system
Creating a new business strategy
Writing a tender
But actually, many smaller activities should also be classed as a project, such as:
Creating and delivering an internal training course and developing supporting materials
Planning, creating and sending an e-newsletter
Finding a new supplier (if your usual supplier can't provide what you need)
Improving team processes
Why does this matter to people not called project managers? It may seem glaringly obvious, but someone needs to own a project, and not everyone has a certified project manager to call upon. Assigning one single project owner can sometimes be missed and then you end up with what the psychologists call 'diffusion of responsibility'. This manifests itself with several people saying "I thought the other was doing that", and nothing getting done. On the other scale you can also have too many cooks - and that doesn't make for a pleasant kitchen or an enjoyable meal.
Simplicity needed While professional project managers have formal training on the best way on approaching a project, and have tools available to help them do that, people who manage projects as part of a wider role often don’t. Professional project managers use methodologies that take some serious training to master, and time to use - which just isn't appropriate for people who are juggling the role of unofficial project
manager alongside many other duties and jobs. They need a way of staying in control of their various projects without borrowing too much time from the "day job". They need the whole process to be simple and easy.
Three simple ways to improve projects Although following the big project management methodologies may not make sense, there are simple project management practices you can adopt to make your small projects run smoother and have a bigger impact:
1) Invest enough time for planning It's very easy, and a trait that is all too human, to jump straight in and get moving on a project. Spending time planning can seem like wasted time when you could be 'doing', but, in fact, without good planning, you could be wasting your time and energy on things that just aren't needed, or damaging to your project. In other words, skipping the planning phase of a project is a false economy. The basics of what you’ll need to establish includes your project vision (or guiding light), what your project will deliver, the risks to the project as well as your budget, resources and timescales. Find out more about planning a successful project by checking out the ebook Mission Controlled: the 5-Step Guide to Planning Projects
2) Set realistic deadlines and invest the time to meet them Without a deadline your project will sit at the bottom of your to-do list and will go nowhere. When it comes to assessing your timescales, you need to figure out what is realistically achievable, while not padding out your timelines too much. If you are too ambitious, you’ll likely disappoint people and potentially affect other activities that rely on the project, but if you are too conservative you’ll lose momentum and miss out on the benefits the finish project can provide. You may also have a fixed date that you need to meet, for example, to tie into an event. Then, you’ll need to look at the extra resources you need to get the job done in time or reduce the scope of what you’ll deliver.
3) Communicate regularly Developing a project in a bubble is a sure-fire way of encountering problems down the line. Regular communication is vital. Meetings, emails and even a quick trip to your colleague's desk are all needed to make sure you've not missed anything important and get everyone on the same page. The last thing you need is someone in the company putting a stop to progress towards the end because they’re not happy with the direction the project is taking.
Simple project management process and software MindGenius is a tool that can help you achieve all three steps above. In fact, if can help you at every stage of managing a project (download the Six Step Guide to Practical Project Management for a simple process, and unlock free MindGenius templates to help you follow the process in practice). With MindGenius you can visually plan your projects to get the answers you need quickly and save time. You can assign resources and deadlines as well as break down tasks in smaller chunks which you can then view on a Gantt chart to figure out your milestones and manage your time effectively. And planning your project using mind maps makes it easy for your stakeholders to quickly understand complex information. Also, use MindGenius to brainstorm, make meetings more effective, plan strategies and energise your business.
Find out more about what MindGenius can do Try out the software with a 30-day free trial, if you’ve not checked it out already.