1 8 tips for better project management ENRICH YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND SUPERCHARGE YOUR SKILLS

Transcription

1 1 ENRICH YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND SUPERCHARGE YOUR SKILLS

2 2 WHY WORK TOGETHER? Teamwork is the most productive type of work, especially when it comes to large projects with multiple moving parts. But managing teams and projects successfully can be tough. To help, we ve analyzed, studied and pulled apart some of the most popular project management methods and extracted eight essential lessons that will transform your team s productivity. WHAT METHODS DID WE STUDY? WATERFALL The old favorite. It gets its name because you just do one thing after another. PRINCE2 Project management royalty. Rigorous yet inflexible, it s popular with the government and private sector alike. PMBOK A project management heavyweight. It s frequently used in the engineering and technology sectors. LEAN This approach stresses the importance of not overdelivering. AGILE This approach is all about keeping things short and sweet, so that you can adapt to change. SCRUM A fast, flexible approach popular with software teams, this revolves around short stand-up morning meetings. KANBAN A scheduling system for just-in-time manufacturing processes, it gave us the Kanban board.

3 3 PROJECT DELIVERY OPTIONS EXIST ON A SPECTRUM: TRADITIONAL WATERFALL PROJECTS AT ONE END AND, AT THE OTHER, A COLLECTION OF TECHNIQUES OFTEN REFERRED TO AS AGILE. SCOTT WALKINSHAW, HEAD OF KNOWLEDGE, ASSOCIATION OF PROJECT MANAGERS (UK) *A note on what we missed out. There are hundreds of project management techniques. Space limitations mean we ve omitted some project management methodologies, such as Critical Path Method (CPM), Project Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) and PRISM.

4 4 1TIP WORK OUT WHAT S NEEDED Define the whats and hows of your project before you get started. When you go on holiday, you need to guess what you re going to need while you re away. Sometimes you take too many t-shirts and not enough socks. Or you forget your toothbrush. But most of the time, with a little forward thinking, you ll pack everything you need. Project management begins with this planning process. Use your imagination walk through each stage, asking: What will be needed? Who will need to do it? How long it will take? Who needs to know about it? And don t forget to define each stage what will they be? Are they all required? Like packing for a holiday, you might miss a few things or misjudge others. But that s to be expected. Getting 75% of it right will put you in a much better position than having no plan at all.

5 5 TIP 1 IS INSPIRED BY One of the most basic and fundamental project management ideas: the Waterfall method. Waterfall project management takes a simple linear approach: do one thing at a time, one after the other. Waterfall isn t suited to projects that are prone to changing direction. WHAT APPS CAN I USE FOR A WATERFALL PROJECT? Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Basecamp, Asana, or any simple to-do list app. Construction have their own specialist apps, such as WorkflowMax and Archdesk, and manufacturing projects have dedicated ERP and MRP software. WATERFALL IS BEST FOR Predictable projects Construction Manufacturing AT ITS MOST FUNDAMENTAL, A WATERFALL PROJECT IS CHARACTERIZED BY HAVING A CLEAR END GOAL AND A CONTROLLED METHOD FOR ACHIEVING IT. SCOTT WALKINSHAW, HEAD OF KNOWLEDGE, ASSOCIATION OF PROJECT MANAGERS (UK)

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