Project management is without a doubt an incredibly daunting and challenging task. It’s something that is going to require quite a lot of consideration and permanent awareness of different processes under every single project.
There are quite a few things that might actually go wrong and as such, losing control over a project is not completely unthinkable.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the most common problems that project managers face.
As such, it’s absolutely critical to address the issues which might arise and identify the best approaches to handling them professionally and as per the highest industry standards.
This is the main reason for which we have taken the liberty of providing you with a few helpful tips on how to properly gain control over your project.
Hopefully, these are going to help you out substantially and are going to keep you on the right track if you’ve strained a bit. So, without any further ado, let’s go right ahead and take a quick look. Here are 5 tips that will help you gain control over your project.
1. Decentralize the PM function
Contrary to what you may believe, project management shouldn’t really fall within the hands of one single person.
As a matter of fact, we can observe delegation of responsibility in a lot of huge corporations, especially when it comes to larger projects.
The truth is that having a PMO (Project Management Office) is without a doubt the best way to deliver projects which are of large scale.
And, the truth is that the particular projects are the ones that are most likely to go out of scope and control. That’s something that you need to take into account as it is particularly important.
2. Active Monitoring
There is no flat rule of how many projects can a single project manager handle and how many teams he can manage at a time. This is something strictly individual and dependent on quite a lot of different factors.
However, the truth is that actively monitoring the projects which are under your belt as well as the different metrics and focus of every single team member is absolutely critical.
A lot of PMs tend to lose track of what’s going on within the team or within the execution of the project. The reasons for this may vary.
For instance, overburdened PMs might fail to focus on each project equally, causing some of them to fall behind.
Once again, decentralization of the PM function is something that could help you out tremendously, even in this particular regard.
3. Checking back the original scope
The same goes for the baseline budget. Keep in mind that these are the foundations of your project.
Therefore, you should overreach and try to achieve things that are not laid out in the original scope or budget.
This is going to raise expectations and the risk is most definitely not accounted for. You need to make sure that you stick to what’s demanded and to what’s paid for. This is the only way to ensure that everything is handled as per the highest industry standards and that there are no problems with the delivery.
Furthermore, when you start doing things of this kind, you are quickly going to find yourself overwhelmed and burdened with issues that are hard to deal with.
4. Trust remote PMs and virtual teams
The idea that your team needs to work together has quickly fallen into historical descent. With contemporary PM tools and other technologies like cloud services, you don’t need to waste time and resources gathering the team in an office.
Virtual teams are on the rise and huge corporations have already acknowledged this. The examples are countless.
However, this is also something that is going to help you optimize your project and have full control over it – that’s absolutely critical.
5. Big Data to be Embraced
Big data and information analytics revolutionized the market in almost every single segment. This is especially true for marketing.
The possibility of relying on accurate and massive amounts of actionable information is without a doubt something incredibly substantial.
This is the thing that’s enabling people to make proper decisions and conclusions and to tailor their strategies according to the current trends and tendencies. This is the thing that’s going to enable you to stay on top of your project throughout the entire time while at the same time you are also capable of being in line with what’s current.
Project management is a very challenging endeavor and it’s one that needs proper consideration. This is the thing that you will have to account for.
What is more, it isn’t that hard to fall behind your PM tasks and to lose control over your project. Unfortunately, that’s something that can happen to a range of different companies and project managers.
Hopefully, the aforementioned tips are going to enable you to stay in control regardless of the situation – this is very important and it’s most definitely a thing to consider. Make sure to follow them properly and everything will alright.
