Sep 21, 2018
When it comes to project management, techniques are generally shaped by a mix of what is trendy and what is traditional in a given enterprise environment. What are the current trends successful in creating a plan, making assignments, and allowing other algorithms to pursue respective goals? A good project manager knows how to spot valuable current trends to utilize while maintaining a set of traditional principles that have worked well for them throughout their career. To improve your skills as a forward-thinking project manager, we invite you to consider these tips for successful project management in 2018:
Project management today looks different than it did even in 2017. The process is constantly changing, which forces managers to continue updating their knowledge base. There is always new software to learn to use, and not all are of equal quality or benefit, yet you must familiarize yourself with it all. It is a perennial challenge for managers to understand the latest news in IT and keep their teams up-to-date.
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1. Be motivated
This sounds ridiculously evident, but in practice still ignored.
Project management is the field where professionals time after time
have to accomplish the work no one else wants to do. It might sound
frustrating, but the reality is, PMs may say ‘yes’ to a project and
after a while procrastinating with thoughts ‘why on earth did I
agreed?’. It happens to everyone. To avoid such traps, you only
have to have two answers “oh yea!” otherwise “no.” You will notice
how often you are going to say no. Nor you neither your team want
you to manage the project you don’t fully enjoy.
2. The basics of planning
Every goal has a start and an end. Be it large or small, for
commercial purposes or not, it consists of a major task that you
should divide into smaller, more manageable segments. You can
transfer the small parts of the major task to specialists or
complete by yourself. This scheme is applicable to any type of task
you have before you, such as renewing an apartment lease, starting
a new business, going shopping, or even cooking dinner. The main
idea is to complete all smaller tasks so that you can quickly and
completely reach the ultimate goal.
3. Get a team and give up micromanagement
You are good at managing and organizing projects. At the same time,
you are bad at, assuming, web design, or writing content, or
translating texts. If you believe you are good at something but
management, you are doing micromanagement.
4. Successful mindset: everything can be
managed
For every project manager from junior to professional, it is
important to find out how to maximize the chances of crashing a
project’s goal. On the one hand, the person should acknowledge and
remember, that all the circumstances depend on her or him.
Everything can be adjusted, and every problem can be solved. The
second important pattern of a successful mindset is utilizing PM
tools. It is never a good idea to rely on intuition in making
decisions, estimating time frames, or assigning a specialist.
Everything should be tracked and thoughts through.
5. Universal project management advice
For every project manager, from junior to professional, it is
important to find out how to maximize the chances of crushing your
project’s goal. On the one hand, each person should act as if all
circumstances are dependent on her or him. Proceed with the
mentality that you can adjust everything, and every problem is
solvable. The second important pattern of a successful management
mindset is utilizing PM tools. It is never a good idea to rely
solely on intuition when making decisions, estimating periods, or
assigning a specialist to a particular sub-task. Be sure to track
everything and think through it thoroughly.
6. Braindump
The first tip after receiving your project assignment is to jot
down each idea that comes to mind. It does not matter how
ridiculous it sounds, or if it makes no sense at all. You never
know what you may find useful in the middle of the project when
everyone is exhausted and generating zero fresh ideas. Write
everything down, and put it aside for the time being. During the
development process, every PM should consider six braindump focus
areas:
• Tasks
• Ideas
• Resources
• Personnel
• Questions
• Problems
Consider your crazy idea—i.e., how it looks before every bullet—and
then put it aside to look at later. The more you retrieve from your
head and put down on paper (or save in the cloud), the more space
and mental energy you’ll have for productive, concentrated, and
fast performances. Use boards, notepads, or other tools to keep all
information you need to remember. It can serve as an external hard
drive for your brain, relieving PMs from attempts to keep all
juggling balls in the air at once.
7. Use a unified cloud
Trying to find files saved in different cloud keepers, folders and
all the mess of twenty browser tabs eventually appears not only
frustrating but also to be a major time-killer. Teach your team and
everyone you are working with to use the same cloud and keep to a
consistent structure. A universal truth, this eases life
significantly. It is also should be established and agreed upon
before the work has started. Google Drive is the most common tool to share files
today.
Tip: Before you begin, make sure you don’t have automated
synchronizations with your photo gallery (not only the laptop but
by phone as well) unless you prefer sharing your photos with
colleagues.
8. Simplicity
Today we have plenty of attractive tools and secrets that continue
to develop every day. PMs often want to try it all and find what is
best for the team. It’s a nice idea if your schedule is entirely
devoid of projects for the next few weeks. Discovering new tools,
writing new guides, researching which of them are the best fit is
another project unto itself that requires time and effort. If you
are already overloaded with tasks and decide to reorganize the
folder hierarchy or change the naming system, it won’t end well.
Keep every structure as simple as you can: Keep It Simple,
Stupid! Rework it only when you have enough time to give it
the necessary focus.
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9. Naming, sharing, calendar
Files have name and tags. Use both for structuring purposes.
Project managers should aim to create a naming system that makes
every file recognizable and easily retrievable by everyone in the
team independently. Whether your team members are in Rio de
Janeiro, Paris, or Shanghai, the language of file labeling should
be universally clear. The calendar is another structural element,
which makes things done timely and keeps track of time. This is
particularly important for international students working on
academic projects across continents to keep in harmony. If you’re
in Dubai, but need coursework help in London, it is
especially helpful to keep your calendar in sync to avoid missing
deadlines.
10. Communication
Slack, Trello, and Quip are generally the best options for
commercial chatting. Instant messaging requires time and effort.
Don’t force people to use Skype, Telegram or other messengers
oriented towards social media. Another bad idea is using a private
account. Imagine chat windows from your client and mom right next
to each other--the risk of confusing the two is high. In short, it
is not ideal for planning projects and cultivating corporate ideas.
These communication devices work best for project planning and
running corporate communication.
Conclusion
IPs for successful project management are developing very fast.
While others are trying to find out what is modern and appropriate
today in 2018, you can utilize traditional winning project
management steps and keep up with the year’s trends at the same
time. Always remember to keep it simple: the more tools you use,
the more time you spend on planning.
About The Author:
Alyssa Johnson is a professional academic writer, blogger, and coach.
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