The bigger the team of people you manage, the more risks are involved in the process of delivering results. Project changes happen almost daily, sometimes from our side, and sometimes from the client’s side. Changing priorities and unpredictable issues can easily send a project off track. In fact, according to IBM, less than half (around 40%) of projects actually meet the schedule and deliver on agreed-upon conditions.

You already know that project paralysis and setbacks are bad—not only for your Budget, your client relationships, and your organization’s roadmap, but for team morale and team productivity as well. So, let’s see what you can do to achieve the project dream: delivering the right thing, on time and under budget.

#1: Learn how to deal with change

This sound like a no-brainer, and this statement is repeated over and over in just about every life context imaginable. In each case, we need to find pragmatic solutions to the problem of change. It is absolutely inevitable in project Management, so we might as well embrace it—and create the right structures for guiding change.

The best way to get ahold of changes comes to us all the way from ancient Egyptian times. The magic of well-managed change, of course, is writing stuff down. Now, this principle translates to management in multiple ways. Start by realizing that there is no unimportant data, and that an offhand comment from a meeting can turn into major project turning point.

Nowadays, you do not need a guy to help you write down like the ancient Egyptians did—you have a set of project management tools you can use. Pick a fitting tool for your team, and get everyone on board. This type of software can manage many of your day-to-day operations automatically. You will also have a better view of the whole project when everything is laid out in front of you in a simple way.

Information is power! All-in-all, when changes do happen and suggestions or requests are brought up, you’ll have all the project data right in front of you in order to manage that change and communicate its impacts and risks.

#2 Get used to walking fine lines

This piece of advice strongly relates to the previous one. Every piece of data is important, yes, but knowing how important it is at a certain time is not to be underrated. As a manager of any project, you will have to make tons of decisions, and you absolutely must learn how to prioritize information that you are conveying to your team. An article from American Management Association suggests three factors for making a project priority matrix: scope, schedule and resources.

So, when making a decision, go through this simple process:

1. How does it benefit the end-goal of the project?
2. How much time will it take, and will it prolong any other parts of the project?
3. Do we have the budget and/or resources to handle such a task in this moment?

In order to make strategic decisions that result in happy clients and profit for your organization, you will have to know exactly how much you’ve got to offer in terms of resources so that you’re not promising more than you can realistically deliver. I recommend using some kind of resource management software which will help you track how much you’re spending on each task, each project, each team member, new equipment or tools (etc) and draw up reports on your spend, budget, and profit margin from projects.

#3 Communication, communication, communication

I could never stress enough how important proper Communication is. All changes require a clear communication method to realign everyone who’s involved along the way.

Not to be overly dramatic, but you would be amazed by how many projects plummet because of small miscommunications. Changes will be successful (or not) depending a great deal on how you convey information about them, how much, and when. Having all those numbers, charts and graphs sure is helpful, but it’s up to you to translate them to something valuable and useful for the right people.

Invest in strengthening the communication channels between you, your team members, and your clients. Think about how you can get concise data across without leaving any unclear instructions. Explain the same ideas in multiple ways (verbally, in writing, and in charts) and ask for feedback. Remember, we are all human, and communication got us to where we are as a species.

#4 Consult previous projects

Even though you feel like you’re working on new things every time, the truth is, a lot of aspects of the projects you are working on are going to look a lot like previous ones. And there is your best source of practical knowledge. Dig into finished projects, and extract whatever you can find. Contacts, systems, methods, budgets, and philosophies: it’s all up for grabs. You do not have to research a topic all over again every time.

Now, as we said, prioritization is important in order to save money and time, so make sure to organize the knowledge you gather in an appropriate way. Present that data in the best ways by making use of some type of project tool that matches the way your team likes to give feedback and record their learnings from past projects so you can make your previous data useful.

It does take extra time to record information and to hold review meetings where you figure out what worked and what didn’t, but you’ll uncover valuable insight that you can use to dramatically increase your odds for success in future projects. Failing is okay as long as you learn from it!

#5 Be a leader, not a ruler

A strict and firm system of rules delivers results, yes, but it can stifle creativity and motivation in the long run. A rigid focus on the bottom line can create tunnel vision that fails to see the advantages and innovative ideas that team members bring to the table.

If you take a look at every successful manager, you will notice that not a single one of them gives off a dictator-like vibe. Media likes to portray managers as frowny, bossy and tyrannical. However, that cannot be further from the truth. Exercising authority can only get you so far, and many studies have shown that creating environments of autonomy can produce better results that highly controlling environments.

Show your team that you do not know everything, but at the same time show initiative to patch the holes in your knowledge. By setting this example as a leader, you provide a role model to your team, and they will feel motivated to produce great work alongside you.

Credits: Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash