Dear loving people,
Going the extra mile is not restricted to only customer services;
it's also a magic word for anybody who wants to climb the ladder to the upper
circles of success and I mean success in whatever you do that is positive.
As
a Project Manager, I find a lot of similarities in project management and
striving to succeed. One topmost factor for a project success criterion is to
exceed customer's expectations by completing the project within the stated
deadline, budget, and quality.
Here
now are some top ten keys to making projects successful that tie perfectly with
any practicable strategy to succeed in life. The typical project manager has
lots of responsibility and very little authority. To make things even more
challenging, the typical project plan bears little resemblance to reality.
This is
exactly the nature of our dreams, we can’t command what we think is good for us
to happen except we are ready to pay the price by going through the huddles of
transforming such a dream into a physical reality.
Achieving
successful outcomes under these conditions is not easy. Remember and apply
these key reminders and you'll significantly increase your odds for success.
1. Find the Constraints
up front. Constraints
are non-negotiable limits within which a project must be planned and
implemented (e.g. a tight budget). Constraints won't necessarily hurt your
project; but finding out about them half way through the project could be
deadly. In the same light, you want to find out the obstacles you must have to
deal with on your way to success early on and not later.
2.
Surface and test assumptions early and often. Will Rogers said "It ain't what we know that hurts us;
it's what we know that just ain't so." Assumptions are a necessary
part of any project. Untested assumptions can result in disaster (e.g. assuming
the funder will be ok with late deliverables). Build actions into your plan to
test all assumptions. Are you planning to hold a crowd spell bound with your
next keynote address, then practice now, don’t assume you will have the same standing
ovation like the last time.
3.
Find and feed the giants. Strong influence players do no
value-added work on a project, but through their influence in the organization,
they can make or break your project. Sometimes, they can play a positive role
(e.g. sponsors). In other cases, your failure may be their success. In all cases,
find out who they are and what it will take to make them strong supporters or,
at least, to neutralize their negative impact. Whenever possible, get them
involved, ask their advice and keep them informed. You must know the people who
want to see you fail in life and make them part of your Fulcrum Of Success
(remember that?). By keeping them in view and playing the fool with them, you
don not only win their support and admiration but equally manage them to your
advantage.
4.
Make the team own the plan. The best plans are the ones that are
developed by the whole team. Make it an event—use a special meeting to get the
team together to develop a network diagram that shows dependencies between team
members. You need people to succeed and when you bring them on board, don’t use
divide-and-rule strategies to manage
them, rather make them to be the team they really are and ensure that they feel
as if they own your project and they will give in their best.
5.
Get everyone on the team to think "sideways". Make sure everyone manages their own lot. Get them to
communicate with all stakeholders to clarify their needs and to clearly
understand what is expected of them. You are not going to get any far with your
success oriented plans if you don’t give the people you bring in the flexibility
to get things moving.
6.
Build the right scoreboard. What's measured is what gets managed. This is no less true
for projects than it is for organizations and people in general. Make sure the
project stakeholders are involved in developing measures for quality, cost, schedule
and customer satisfaction. If you can influence what goes up on the scoreboard,
you have a measure of control over your success. Let your Fulcrum Of Success
work for you; motivate your team to honor their engagements.
7. Communicate. Use
formal communication to get information to everyone. Use informal communication
to fill in the gaps. Use project review meetings to check performance. Set
ground rules, document actions and measure results of different communication
methods. Your plans can’t succeed if you have them buried in the secret vault
of your mind; you have to develop strategies to get people do what you
want in a way that they like.
8.
Manage project changes. Don't tell the client why you can't do it. Tell them what it
will take to make it happen. At best they'll decide on their own that it
doesn't make sense. At worst, they'll appreciate all you had to do to satisfy
their request. Success is about solving problems not being part of the
problems.
9.
Watch out for the bugs. Look for the malfunctions in the dark: the potential
problems that could derail your project. Use preventive action to remove the
causes of the big problems. When that's not feasible, identify contingent
actions that can be used if the problem occurs.
10.
Set people up for success. Individuals and teams can be set up for success (or
failure), depending on how well they are prepared to contribute on a
project. Make sure everyone on your team:
·
Knows what is expected of them
·
Has the resources needed to get the
job done
·
Knows how their work affects that of
others
·
Knows how to do what is asked of
them
·
Is rewarded for doing a great job.
Taking
the steps suggested here will not guarantee success, but will certainly help a
lot! Conversely, not taking them will almost certainly lead to failure,
conflict and finger pointing along with the predictable consequences.
Success
is truly a project and even if it were a business, you still have to take
charge, remember that you and you alone is the CEO of your own life.
Great insights.
ReplyDelete