In a previous piece 5 Tips to Get The Most Out of Your Project Management Software, I had said that just like any other tool, project management software is also an enabler – it does not complete a project for you but it surely facilitates efficiency in project management and helps you to achieve your goals.
While it is important to use a project management software there are certain skills relating to strategy (other than the people management skills of a project manager) that will add to your project management efficiency. These skills are also required of the project manager and should be implemented with equal importance.
#1. When it comes to success there is no short cut.
Ok, that’s a famous saying and needs no elaboration here. As a project manager, you should ensure that the project plan and schedule have sufficient time allocated for completing the functional design as well as the user interface of the software. A good functional design and interfaces will speak for the quality of your delivery.
To achieve this, it is advised that you follow the following two tips.
#2. Seeing is Believing
There is nothing in this world that can replace experience and the learnings that one can garner from those experiences. So if you show a prototype to your team, or in other words, let your team experience it, the understanding of the end product will be way higher than by just reading the project documents. It will help your team members to visualize better and therefore, code better. So, a buffer should also to be created in your project plan for building a prototype.
#3. Discuss Progress
During project review meetings, discuss progress by concentrating on milestones met, hurdles that were overcome and the strategies that worked for crossing the hurdles. Also, highlight the risks that you foresee and discuss the possible mitigation strategies as well. There is a very interesting quote by Martin Fowler (which we posted on our Facebook page as well), and which I think will work very well in this scenario:
“When you actually sit down to write some code, you learn things that you didn’t get from thinking about them in modeling terms…there is a feedback process there that you can only really get at from executing some things and seeing what works.”
Inculcate that feedback process which can be used during your project progress meetings, because there will be many things that the team will discover only when they actually sit down to write codes.
So, what are your tips on improving project management?
Photo credit: http://www.thepersonaldevelopmentcompany.com/The-Three-a-Day-Life-Improvement-Plan_b_79.html
Good tips, Neville.