Project management always comes with its fair share of challenges. That is why you need a carefully prepared project management plan to complete the project satisfactorily by meeting and exceeding expectations. This will pay off immensely as you strive to keep the project objective and the interests of the stakeholders in perspective.
Most of the time, the best projects are delivered on time and within budget, but there might be other realistic criteria that determine project success. From the outset, you want to ensure the project passes the feasibility criteria study. Ensure all the project stakeholders are on board and in agreement with the defined project scope. After all is said and done, when the sponsor has approved the project charter, you need to make sure that you focus on creating an effective project plan as you prepare for the entire process with great success. If the project initiation phase is carefully planned and established, the project is on the right path to success.
Some people believe that project methodology is crucial to a project’s success, with examples like agile, software development life cycle (SDLC), and waterfall methodologies, while others feel differently that project leadership personality, experience, and the project structure as a whole are super important too. The main idea to keep in mind is that as a project manager, you need to understand the enterprise environmental factors (EEF), that is, the business environment and the culture that permeates it. This careful understanding of the EEF will provide a better tool to adjust or adapt efficiently and retrofit a better mechanism that will yield good results. Sometimes, methodologies may be merged to create a hybrid approach. A good example is merging agile and waterfall. A friend often describes this hybrid approach as “Wagile”! One day, one project management evangelist will provide knowledge for a productive business environment regarding the careful framework of integrating this accidental methodology.
These factors are crucial but also depend on many different situations. Ideally, there are three main things that you need to focus on as a project manager when it comes to project excellence.
In this situation, the three things you want to focus on are time, Quality, and budget. Why are they so important? Time is very crucial because every project has its own scheduled deadline. It is also sometimes proportional to the budget, resources, and materials available. Most organizations set time limits to stay competitive, meet market demand, and solve problems. If time is of the essence, the organization may only be in business for a short time. This is because time is required to respond to competition. Time is also required to meet market demand and supply. As a project manager, you need to demonstrate sharp business acumen and put yourself in the shoes of your clients and stakeholders. A sense of urgency and responsibility will not be over-emphasized. So, to state it more clearly, managing project schedules effectively is crucial to achieving project excellence.
Managing the project budget is also very important because you want your project to stay within the allocated costs. Also, you want to avoid a situation that might lead to your project shutting down because of a lack of funds to execute it. The idea is to know precisely what you are getting into and gauge the outcome based on what is available to you. You really have to focus on avoiding situations where you go way above the budget. You need to tackle the financials correctly to achieve the desired outcome. This is where experience comes into play. A proficient project manager will have a good command of earned value management (EVM)*to focus on the proportionality between time and money being dispensed on a project.
The last but not the least is the Quality. This is crucial as well. As a proficient project manager, you do not hope the final deliverable will turn out superbly; you want to ensure you stay focused on delivering precisely what the scope statement described. You need to carefully review your quality project plan and ensure all the project resources are on the same page to ensure consistency and reduce the tendency for scope creeping and gold plating. It is a perfect option to consider Quality from a standardized point of view so that you can measure it against a baseline. If you endeavor to keep to an industry standard, it can pay off immensely in the end, so always set this as your project goal.
In conclusion, project excellence is a bar every proficient project manager should strive to attain. Initially, it might look impossible, but if you follow the standard project principles one after the next, from feasibility to initiation through closing, you are still in your project schedule; striving to mitigate any risk is very important. Applying EVM techniques will help you keep your project cost in perspective and save a lot. Keeping to the project quality management helps you sustain the project on a quality path.
Please remember that all projects are unique. If you are successful in one, that success may not spill over into the next one. You always want to be ready to adapt and apply the standard because each project is unique.
As a whole, you must focus on working as much as possible on the project. By doing so, you can go above and beyond. It usually takes much work to stick to a designated budget, but it can be done. As long as you know what you are getting into, the outcome can shine, and that is precisely what you have to do to reach excellent results. It is not simple to stick to the budget and deliver the best Quality on time, but that makes you different from other project experts.
*Within our Premium Video Library, we have resources that will help you master the EVM as an effective project management tool
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ACTION ITEMS
- Understand how to deliver projects on time and within budget.
- Understand different project methodologies – waterfall & agile are most popular.
- Focus on how you can bring quality to project management execution.
- Master the art of project budgeting.
- Learn how to use Earned Value Management
NEXT STEP
Unleash the full potential of your projects with AIPLAfrica’s expertise. Whether you need clarification, guidance on implementation, or support for enterprise-wide rollouts, our team is here to elevate your success. Don’t hesitate to reach out using the CONTACT US FORM – your journey to project mastery starts now!
