Category: Project management

SMART guidelines for goal setting are key aspects of project approach.

It happens, however, that these guidelines are, in some cases, set aside for the sake of extemporaneousness of the project itself or an alleged clarity of shared objectives.

The result is a vicious circle: unclear objectives lengthen and undermine the project results.

When objectives are set, specificity is crucial: for example, challenging yourself to “do more work” is too vague, because in this way you cannot monitor progress and the point of arrival.

In short, if objectives are not measurable, achieving success can become challenging.

SMART objectives are therefore the answer, since they can be split into five measurable factors.

Although progress in personal or working life is possible even without setting objectives, surely the application of the SMART system brings more chances of success.

What are SMART objectives?

SMART objectives are a fairly new idea: in 1981, George T. Doran, a consultant and former business planning director at Washington Water Power Company, published a paper introducing SMART objectives.

T. Doran describes G. T. Doran describes SMART objectives as a tool to create criteria and help improve one’s chances of achieving a goal.

SMART is the acronym used to guide the definition of objectives and in detail means as a tool to create criteria and help improve one’s chances of achieving a goal.

SMART is the acronym used to guide the definition of objectives and in detail means:

• Specific (simple, reasonable, relevant).
• Measurable (relevant, motivational).
• Achievable (agreed).
• Realistic (reasonable, resourceful, result-based).
• Time-bound (based on time, limited in time / cost).

S – Specific

When setting a goal, you have to be specific about what you want to achieve.

This is not a thorough list of how you will achieve a goal, but should include an answer to the popular “5 w” questions:

• Who: You must consider who needs to be involved in order to achieve the goal. This is particularly important when working on a team project.
• What: You think about exactly what you are trying to achieve and list the important factors and aspects.
• Where: This question may not always be applicable, however, if the project is about a specific place or event, it must be specified here.
• When: You will go down to the details of this question in the “time-bound” section of the SMART objectives definition.
• Why: It simply answers the question “what is the reason for the goal?”

The more information you can get, the better the results will be and the easier it will be to achieve your objectives because the definition of the path to follow will be clearer.

M – Measurable

What metrics will be used to establish whether the objective is achieved successfully or not?

This makes a goal more tangible and practical because it provides a way and numbers to measure progress.

If the project takes several months to be completed, the advice is to set some milestones taking into account specific activities to be conducted.

The more quantitative data you have, the more control you can have over your progress.

A – Achievable

This step focuses on how to achieve the goal and if you have the right tools and skills.

Sometimes the team does not possess the required resources. If this is the case, you will need to consider how to get them or if there are alternative methods to achieve the goal while not having the required tools and skills.

So, to prevent unpleasant surprises and to make a goal achievable, a prior analysis of what you can actually do to achieve the goal is necessary.

R – Realistic

In order to define relevant and realistic goals, you need to quantify the extent of your potential and those who are associated in the organization.

This refers to focusing on something that makes sense with the broader business goals, then to marketing goals and/or business strategies.

For example, if the goal is to launch a new product, it should be something that is in line with the overall business goals.

The project team might also be able to launch a new consumer product, but if the company is in B2B and does not plan to expand into the consumer market, the objective would not be relevant.

T – Time-bound

Anyone can set goals, but if realistic timing is missing, it is likely that the project will not achieve the goal successfully.

The key is to ask specific questions about when the goal is to be achieved and what can be achieved within a given time frame.

If the project spans a long period of time, it is beneficial to break it down into mini-goals or milestones. Providing time constraints thus creates a sense of urgency.

SMART objective system benefits

The concept of SMART objective setting performs well not only within business, but also in private life because it provides a clear framework for achieving objectives.

Here are the main advantages of SMART objectives:

Provide directions

Implementing SMART objectives, you get a clear business direction that can guide your team in making everyday decisions.

Help with planning

When you achieve success in setting SMART goals, you gain an advanced level of planning of project activities and everyday issues.

Faster results

SMART objectives help you carry out activities faster and with less strain because less time will be wasted on non-productive actions.

Motivational tool

Strong business objectives can become a tool to motivate team members. For example, if the goal is to increase sales, you can implement incentive programs related to achieving certain goals.

 

To recap everything in a very short and very meaningful sentence:

working without objectives is like sailing without a compass.

It’s like being on the vast open sea when you don’t know what to do, on what resources to count on, let alone the direction to take.

The same happens with organizational objectives: people, groups and systems need clear, structured and well-defined objectives.

The SMART formula is therefore a powerful tool that provides transparency, attention and motivation to achieve all the objectives.

SMART objectives are also easy to implement and do not require specific tools or training.

Some people believe that the SMART method isn’t suitable for long-term goals because it lacks flexibility, while others suggest that it may stifle creativity, but regardless of different points of view, specific and measured goals are the key to success.

In project management, reporting tools can help you achieve efficient and effective communication.

Communication plays a fundamental role in any work process as well as in everyday life.

Whatever the scenario, you always find yourself transmitting a message or an opinion.

There are several reports that are carefully designed so that the communication about the progress of the project is clear, accurate and effective.

In this article we will examine the project manager’s reporting tools in greater detail.

Why is the reporting system imperative?

In the foreword we have already clearly stated the need for effective communication.

This becomes even more important within an organization and in project management.

Thanks to an effective reporting system, the project manager should no longer worry too much about updating the various stakeholders directly and personally.

With an established project management reporting system, you will have a scheduled and formal reporting process that will allow you to update stakeholders on all aspects of the project they need to be informed about.

In this way, you can protect project team members and stakeholders from any unforeseen issues.

Reports are used to learn about the progress of the project and the pace at which it is being carried out.

Also, you can understand what is preventing the project from moving faster and you have the ability to analyze various aspects of the project management plan.

Besides being one of the central aspects of communication, project management reporting can be effectively used by the project manager to maintain a documented history of the project and its processes.

With this “time” documentation, you can carry out analysis to learn lessons, evaluate processes and learn the strengths and weaknesses of how the project was approached.

To briefly recap, the project management reporting should be:

• The successful communication link between all the different stakeholders of the project and the organization
• The collection of important data and information about the project
• The system that guarantees the reception of information from the necessary personnel whenever necessary
• The cornerstone of the project organization’s understanding of the project, its management, its plan and its goal

The 5 main reporting tools for project managers

1. Activity sheet

One of the most important reports for a project manager is definitely the activity tab.

This report will include all the details about the time it takes for resources to work on the project.

The activity sheet, specifically, can keep the following details under control:

• Time invested by each team member
• Work completed on a given day, week or month
• Responsibilities of each team member with regard to their assigned task
• Resource overload or underutilization in the project

This way a project manager gains a thorough idea of the time and effort spent on the completion of a particular activity or the entire project.

 2. Cost and expense reports

Sometimes your perception can be fooled! A project may seem to run as planned, team members work well and activities proceed as scheduled, and deadlines are met.

When the project is completed, however, there comes a time to piece together the total expenses on the project and, surprisingly, it turns out that the cost incurred is well beyond the budget allocated for the project.

In this way, what was thought to be a successful project is actually a loss-making project.

The solution is to make use of a report that includes expenses and project costs and which will be updated frequently.

This report can be accessed by the project manager and stakeholders who approve budgets and the expenditure accounting, whether large or small, should be done in real time.

3. Project Status Report

The project status report will include:

• Completed work
• Delayed expiry date
• Planning variation
• Cost variation
• Problem monitoring
• Risk monitoring
• Pending activities

Besides these aspects, you can add further information relevant to the project in question.

It should be noted, however, that this report should not be too detailed, but should give this information directly, clearly and concisely.

For more information about the various matters, you can hold a dedicated meeting.

4. Resource workload report

Similar to the activity sheet, the resource workload report will keep track of the amount of work assigned to each member of the project team.

Here at TwProject, we have human resources at heart, the core of the successful project, and that’s why we have hypothesized a series of dedicated tools and actions.

 

This report is highly beneficial to the project manager whether in tasks or job assignments.

5. Portfolio reports

This is a report specifically intended for those project managers who manage more than one project at the same time.

This document will show the number of projects that the project manager is managing and will ensure that the important dates of each one are next to the right project, so as to ensure an overview.

This is a fairly schematic report and may be optional for many, but in many cases it may be beneficial to the project manager to keep track of all their projects and what needs their attention at that particular time.

How a software can help?

Project reports are therefore not just checklists, they are much more than that, so how would be great to have a software giving you all the information about your projects during every main step of its life cycle?

Project reporting means keeping communication with stakeholders open, solving problems before they occur and ensuring high quality results.

A project management software like Twproject could give you all the features to monitor and report project progress, costs, work done and so on.

Ultimately, the project reporting system can create historical data to improve future planning and enable comparisons.

 

How many times have you been under stress and nervous trying to meet a project deadline?

We all know that deadlines are crucial for a project’s success and without a set deadline you would have no direction or motivation to do anything.

Unfortunately, a lot of projects keep struggling due to delays, missed deadlines and lack of follow-up.

When a project slows down or fails, the damage is huge: it means – in most projects – wasted money and precious hours of work spent for nothing.

If skipping the project deadline becomes a habit, if you find yourself in a hurry to try to catch up at the last minute, then you need to redefine your way of working by making changes to your work scheduling system.

To understand how to do it, you need to start with their purpose and utility.

Why are deadlines important?

Generally, deadlines are set for one of the following reasons:

• To ensure a job completion: it’s easy to delay or forget a task that doesn’t have an established end point. Deadlines therefore help to avoid this situation.
• To support a smooth workflow: deadlines help to work collaboratively to achieve a shared goal and to keep complex, multi-step projects on track.
• To set expectations: deadlines clarify what is to be delivered and when. This way you can take control of the work, without any fuss.

If a deadline is missed, there can also be serious consequences.

On a personal level, this can affect the reputation and career prospects of those who fail to meet deadlines, especially if this happens more than once.

In addition, it can also be extremely damaging at the organizational level because it can trigger complaints and active negotiations. Missing a deadline can have an impact on an organization’s reputation and can also have serious financial consequences if this delay triggers other delays or even a penalty clause in a contract.

6 key steps to meet project deadlines

Here are 6 key steps to help you schedule your project deadlines in the best possible way:

1. List all the activities and stages of the project.

Write them as action sections instead of loose, generic sentences; this will help you find additional motivation.

2. Choose a realistic deadline according to the complexity of the work to be carried out.

Firstly, you should not make the mistake of setting a deadline that cannot be met. You must analyze the complexity of the work and estimate a reasonable amount of time to complete it. If you are not capable of completing it on your own, you can always ask for the help of someone who has already done the work or who knows the processes better.

3. Schedule and set up deadline notifications.

If the deadlines are not scheduled and logged somewhere, chances are you will not remember them. So, using a calendar tool to plan your tasks and milestones so that you receive notifications for each one, can certainly help you keep your goals on track.

4. Add a reasonable “buffer” at each expiration date.

By buffer we mean extra time that becomes useful in case of delays or problems that could lead the project to a sudden stop or slowdown.

5. Work with a reliable partner.

Whether it is the project manager, a team member, a client or a stakeholder, having a partner can motivate you to meet deadlines on time.

6. Focus on only one task at a time.

Multitasking may seem beneficial, but having to think about so many things at once can lead to feeling worn out and having organization issues. The key is therefore to focus your time, effort and attention on only one task at a time. After completing it, ticking it off the to do list will motivate you even more to move on to the next task.

What happens if, again, you don’t meet a deadline?

Notwithstanding the tips provided in this article, despite hard work and far-sightedness, it could still happen – again – to miss a project deadline.

If this happens, it is important to stay calm and make every possible effort to limit the damage.

How?

The first step is to keep stakeholders up to date on progress during work, highlighting any problems that may delay – or are already delaying – activities and pointing out any potential emergency and risk management plans.

This will help people involved will be more likely to understand the situation if they ultimately fail to meet the deadline, and some may be ready to help.

In this situation, it is best to quickly address the problem and agree on a new deadline.

Also, a project review is necessary to identify what went wrong and to prevent it from happening again, even in any similar projects in the future.

Still, not meeting a project deadline may have broader implications.

For example, as previously mentioned, if you work with a client or an external organization, the delay could lead to a financial penalty or damage the reputation of the employee and/or the company in a serious way.

Still, it is important that those who failed to meet the deadline take responsibility, avoiding finding excuses and worsening the situation.

When this happens, the best thing a professional can do is to accept the mistake and learn from experience.

 

Ultimately, deadlines should not be seen as a rope around your neck getting tighter and tighter.

With a pragmatic mindset and the right strategies, such as those outlined in this article, you will be able to better manage your deadlines.

This way you will not only have a clear improvement in the quality of work, but also the ability to manage stress.

The creation of an accurate project plan, no matter what type of project you are working on, is something that should not be underestimated.

Every good project manager knows that no successful project can exist without a robust plan behind it.

Starting a project without a project plan that has been thoroughly considered in all aspects is like going on a trip without a map: maybe you will also reach your destination, but the waste of time (and money) will be inevitable.

A project without a well drafted and structured plan can, in fact, lead to problems of scope creep, budget and missed deadlines.

You should therefore work closely with your team and build a good project plan before you start the work itself. You will need to set expectations and decide how to achieve them, and this is the method that will guide us to success.

How to write a project plan in 5 steps

What we want to achieve with these articles is a path to follow, an approach thanks to which you can understand and follow simple and systematic guidelines that will help you in your work.

That’s why we have tried to summarize the steps of writing a project plan in 5 steps. Let’s have a look at them:

1) Define the project

Whatever is the project you are going to work on, the beginning is always the same: define what you want to achieve.

However, doing so does not simply mean writing general concepts such as: “I want to open a new pizzeria”, there are six key elements to be taken into account when defining the project:

• Objectives: what are you trying to accomplish with the project? Here we consider both external elements – profits, market share, customer satisfaction – and internal elements – infrastructure improvement, process optimization, employee retention. The extra tip, is to use the SMART guidelines at this step.
• Scope: regardless of how carefully you plan, the project will almost certainly be subject to changes that need to be addressed. Instead of trying to identify everything within the scope of the project, it might be easier to identify what is definitely out of reach. This is also a good opportunity to determine who will be responsible for approving/denying any changes to the scope.
• Success standards: What will determine the outcome or failure of this project? In this step, you must consider the objectives. Common standards are the projects delivered on time and within the project budget, the end product that meets a certain level of quality and the solution of a specific business problem.
• Final products: Here we list the essential results of the project in as much detail as possible.
• Requirements: Determine what you need – resources, staff, budget, time – to achieve the project objectives and produce positive results.
• Program: Use a work breakdown structure to determine what needs to be delivered and when, then use it to determine the basic schedule, project milestones and deadlines.

2) Identify risks, preconditions and constraints

Identifying potential risks, dangers and setbacks before they occur can help the project manager navigate through “rough waters” when they inevitably occur.

At this stage, designating a team member to be responsible for risk management can be key.

Depending on the size of the project, this individual may be either the project manager or another team member.

The important factor is that someone must clearly be responsible for monitoring all risks that have been identified.

In this case, the help and support of project management software can make risk management easier and more manageable.

3) Planning people for the project

This step is another key one in the project plan, in fact, the management of the project is largely the management of the people who work there.

Planning the project means identifying and documenting the following:

• Client: who will receive the final product? Is it an internal or external customer?
• Stakeholders or interested parties: these are the people or groups interested in the successful completion of the project.
• Roles and responsibilities: determine the organizational hierarchy for the project. Who gets the last word on decisions? Who is accountable for communication with the client? Who oversees the budget? Who is responsible for the actual work?

4) List project resources

In the first step, a series of high level requirements needed to successfully complete the project were identified, after which the human resources needed to perform and manage the work were identified.

Now it is time to focus on the specific resources needed to get to work:

• Technology (computers, software, mobile devices)
• Salary
• Materials
• Ecc.

In short, you need to list all the resources you need in detail, along with their costs.

5) Set up a communication plan for the project

By now you will have a clearly defined project with a program, budget and resources. So it’s time to get to work, right? Wrong! Actually one very important step is still missing: a communication plan.

Poor communication is one of the main reasons for a project’s failure.

This is because everything that has been seen before – meeting deadlines, sticking to the budget, etc.. – depends on team members communicating with each other, the project manager, stakeholders and clients.

A good project communication plan should include:

• Communication goals: what is the goal of a certain message?
• Audience group: who should be included in communications? For example, it may not be necessary to include the organization’s director in regular project updates, but they should be consulted at all times if the project exceeds their budget.
• Key communication content: When communicating with the project team and/or stakeholders, what information should be included each time?
• Communication method and frequency: how will communications be delivered and how often? Via e-mail or another collaboration tool? Determine this information at the beginning of the project and remain consistent with it.

How to create accurate project plans: Bottom line

Ultimately, if a project manager notices that their projects are prone to lose control, exceed budget, miss deadlines, or fail to deliver a final product successfully, it is very likely that the poor planning is at least partially – if not totally – responsible.

Clearly defining the project, identifying risks, assembling the team, gathering resources and drawing up a communication plan following our suggestions will therefore make a big difference.

An update report on the status of the project is a core part of every successful communication strategy and project management to update the team and all stakeholders.

Many project managers are likely to use certain project management models or programs or software to manage projects who generate the reports directly.

Whatever format is used, compliance with a regular and formalized process is essential and saves time and costly data errors.

In addition, by being consistent in the reporting process, it keeps everyone aware of the information they can expect on a regular basis.

As a project manager, you need to create regular status updates to inform stakeholders about the progress of the project. We will see how in this article.

How to create effective status updates

Reporting on project status updates is a way to keep track of and manage the project, as well as distributing this data to those parties who need it.

It is a vital communication tool and can provide a documented project history, which consequently simplifies the planning of future work.

Some other objectives of status updates include:

• Improve communications within the organization
• Simplify communication process
• Keeping stakeholders informed
• Provide key messages to the intended target audience
• Improve organizational team support

Whether the status update is sent face-to-face during a meeting or by e-mail, it is always a good idea to know the best practices in this area:

1. Communicate: status update reports are part of the communication plan. These should not be used to communicate everything about the project, but should be used to provide the right data to the appropriate party at the right time.

2. Consistency: use the same format, distribution cycle and method, without getting things confused.

3. Set metrics: when planning the project, You need to have this method figured out clearly about how to measure your progress and then follow it while reporting project status updates.

4. Simplify: the report must be effective, so it must not be filled with unnecessary details in order not to confuse stakeholders.

5. Verify: the audience does not want opinions or unsupported facts, so it is only necessary to report objective data and talk about what is of interest to stakeholders.

What to include in a project status update

Here are some of the things you will need to include in a project status update.

1. General project information

First of all, the foundations will have to be established: what is the name of the project? Who is the project manager? What is the number of resources? All this information is essential to keep track of the project throughout its lifecycle. Do not assume that all stakeholders are familiar with this information.

2. General status information

Here you will include what the general status of the project is, if it is – generally speaking – in line with the program or if it is going off track. The traffic light method, for example, uses red, yellow, and green color coding to indicate the status of the entire project:

Green = On track

Yellow = Struggling

Red = Requires immediate attention

3. Milestones review

Milestones are the main phases of a project. These are a good way to break the larger project into smaller, more manageable parts. In a project status update you should present where you are in relation to those milestones.

4. Project milestone outline

Include a brief overview of the expected completion date and costs of the project – at the current time.

5. Problems and risks

Also be sure to include the activities that are having problems and how they might impact on the deadline and costs, what you are planning to do to solve these problems and what the results will be once they will be solved.

6. Project metrics

It is vital to back up the report with tangible figures to objectively demonstrate the statements you are making. These status reporting metrics, as mentioned above, must be agreed upon during the project planning phase. It is impossible to know if the project is successful without measuring its effectiveness with data that can be compared over time. These metrics are a way to show whether you are on the right track and to assess what, if any, may require attention.

Status Updates: Last tips

Be concise and organized

Planning project status update meetings in advance will be very helpful to get a successful meeting. Any discussion must be relevant to the topic and any other problems or questions that may arise must be brought up at another time – unless there is an urgent reason not to do so.

Manage questions and concerns

Questions and doubts are legitimate and do not represent a challenge to the authority and role of the project manager. Therefore, a defensive response is not just a waste of time, but is inappropriate and jeopardizes the professional position of a project coordinator. It is important to listen openly and respond to questions and concerns, even if they have been addressed before. No question is “stupid” or nonsensical.

Admit when you don’t have all the answers

If you don’t know something, you must say it. You can’t have all the answers – unless it comes from poor preparation. But it is the job of a project manager to know HOW to get the answers. So, you need to have a process to follow and offer a deadline for a thorough answer.

Little time spent on small talk and chatting to get to know each other

In general, during a meeting dedicated to project status updates, the focus of the meeting is clear and, as mentioned above, any discussion outside of this issue should be addressed in another setting. However, if, for example, there are new people in the group, it is important to introduce them, so a few precious minutes can be invested at the beginning of the meeting for this kind of informal talk.

Status Updates: Conclusions

Ultimately, we can say that reports on project status updates are a key part of project management.

In most cases, therefore, it is important to have a method that saves valuable time and makes reports easier to build and more accurate to present, providing the right data at the right time to the right people.

The tips and best practices detailed in this article will certainly help you when preparing a project status update report.

Ethics for a project manager is a very modern topic and highly relevant to their career, although talking about ethics may seem to be something much more relevant to an ancient branch of philosophy.

Ethics covers, in fact, many aspects of the PM’s work: it is not sufficient to know the technical methodologies, but it is necessary to know how to apply them in an appropriate way to the difficult dilemmas of the real world.

What makes this particularly difficult is that, unlike processes and methods, there are no rigid and fast rules on what is right and wrong.

People, politics and moral questions are often chaotic and confusing, so guidance is needed.

And that’s the role of a project manager’s code of ethics and professional conduct.

What is ethics?

Simply put, ethics can be summed up as follows: making the right choices.

However, it is not always easy to know what the right thing to do is; sometimes you have to face tough moral dilemmas, where there is no single good choice between a lot of bad options and, often, there are only nuances of compromise.

Many people find it difficult to accept ethical ambiguity because it forces them to take responsibility for their choices and actions, rather than following convenient and settled rules and customs.

That’s why a code of ethics can provide the principles that can help to make choices in a consistent way.

By consistent we mean consistency with oneself, with the prevailing norms in culture, society, organization and professional community.

So…

Ethics is about giving a picture to assess what may be right or wrong in a specific scenario.

What are the ethical dilemmas that a project manager faces?

The main ethical challenges a Project Manager will face in their career include:

• Building a “good” professional career.
• Properly assert their rights and at the same time defend those of the people around them.
• Meet their responsibilities with fairness and respect towards all parties concerned.
• Determine what is right and wrong, especially when it is necessary to balance different interests.
• Operate with honesty and integrity, especially where your interests may conflict with those of other stakeholders.

Why should a Project Manager act ethically?

At first glance, one could “earn” more by acting out of self-interest. However, this advantage resulting from unethical conduct is likely to be short-lived.

The benefits of good ethical conduct are long-term.

This will help you build a lasting and sustainable career because many of the opportunities you gain (or lose) depend on your reputation.

Here are three main benefits of following a code of ethics:

1. Ethics as moral map: A project manager will face many choices in their career that they will not be able to determine from a purely technical point of view. A code of ethics will therefore provide a consistent basis for making these choices.

2. Ethics as a tool for thinking: It is often difficult to judge who is right in a discussion when both sides can support their point of view with sound technical arguments. Both positions might equally lead to acceptable results, but sometimes the difference lies in the domain of ethics rather than reason. Here ethics will help to isolate the core of choice.

3. Ethics as source of professional benefit: The project manager needs team members, and the organization in general, to trust them and their work. So behaving ethically – as well as credibly – helps to build this indispensable professional trust.

The 8 elements of professional ethics

As project manager there are in particular 8 elements of professional ethics to be taken into account:

1. Integrity

Integrity can be summarized in these simple concepts:

• Doing what’s right, not what’s easy.
• Honoring commitments and promises given.
• Being the person you say you are.

2. Respect

When you treat team members and other people with respect, ethical behavior becomes much easier – almost automated. Difficulties arise when an action that respects one person or group will necessarily make another person feel less respected.

3. Discretion

Always related to respect, but in particular with regard to privacy, the feelings of others and confidential information and intellectual property of the organization.

4. Responsibility

Everybody makes mistakes, even the project manager. There is no problem with that if the person who made the mistake also takes responsibility and learns the lesson.

5. Honesty

Of course, we should not repeat that, as professionals, we must act honestly, but unfortunately episodes of dishonesty, even serious ones, are not so rare.

6. Openness

Openness goes hand in hand with honesty, but one thing is not lying, another is telling the whole truth. A good project manager requires transparency and complete openness with stakeholders if you want to make solid choices and that everyone has all the information available. If it is not an informed decision, it is not a sound decision.

7. Equity

When you sense something unfair, it is natural to experience feelings ranging from mild irritation to real anger. Therefore, the project manager should take an impartial position in any decision-making process and treat all people with equal respect.

8. Generosity

This does not necessarily mean physical generosity with gifts, rather it is generosity of spirit.

It is important to be aware that professional codes of conduct inevitably incorporate ethical standards that derive from the prevailing culture within which the organization that created them is located.

And each culture has its own set of ethical and moral standards.

While people are essentially the same all over the world, our cultural backgrounds differ dramatically, through influences such as history, geography, religion and politics.

That is why the project manager who is faced with an international team must also take this into account.

Looking at the last condition, we can still conclude that the code of ethics for a project manager is a valuable tool that defines a guideline in deciding what should and should not be done in every situation.

Project management metrics are fundamental to implementing sustainable project management practices and processes in any organization.

The key is to keep them simple and relevant to the organization.

Project management metrics are also central for improving the way projects are managed and delivered, as well as showing improvements over time in project management maturity.

Project management metrics help to:

• Measure and understand the maturity of the organization
• Manage projects and resources more effectively
• Show performance improvement over time

 

All metrics should be:

• Simple and logic for the organization
• Clearly, correctly and unambiguously measurable
• Supported by real data

 

There are some key requirements and guidelines for the consistent implementation and measurement of the project management metrics and these are:

• Repeatable and sustainable project management processes
• Process compliance monitoring
• Data collection through the use of a project management tool
• Timely and unambiguous communication of the baseline and any subsequent changes in metrics or the data collection process
• Not having too many metrics, especially if they are similar

 

The implementation of the project management metrics will have to address some challenges that need to be managed with appropriate processes and controls:

• As compliance improves, figures may not change or show improvement initially
• If the metric definition or measurement process is changed, data from previous years should be recalculated.
• If the base data changes, the metrics also change and must be recalculated.

6 relevant metrics for project management

Several project management metrics can be defined according to the objective and complexity of a project.

However, the following six metrics generally encompass the most important measures:

 

• Productivity: this metric allows project managers to measure the use of a project’s resources. Compare the total effort with the planned effort, which has a direct impact on profits. Delays in timing, staff or supplier under-performance and unavoidable circumstances can affect productivity metrics.

 

• Project scope: the project scope is usually defined directly, but changes and additions can shift even the efforts of the best project manager. You need to keep track of change requests to control them and keep the project on time and within budget.

 

• Quality and customer satisfaction: quality assurance is a real customer-oriented metric. Ensuring low defects throughout the project, as well as acceptable quality in the end, should be one of the goals of every job. Early detection of defects can also help prevent the failure of the whole project. Don’t forget that customer satisfaction in a project is always essential.

 

• Employee satisfaction: just as the end customer must be satisfied, so must the employees and team members working on the project. The morale of employees is directly related to the success of the project. Research has shown that a satisfied employee works better and more efficiently. High employee turnover costs, ranging from 50% to 200% of an employee’s salary, should also be sufficient reason to care about people working directly on a project. Here you can find good suggestions on how to motivate the project team.

 

• Cost: cost analysis and management is often vital to the success of a project. Cost management is related to other variables, such as quality, scope and productivity, so if it varies above or below projections, the project may be affected. Typically, costs are closely observed throughout the project, so if costs increase unexpectedly, variables such as scope or time are adjusted and the project can still achieve its objectives.

 

• Gross margin: Normally, the final objective of a project is to contribute to the organization by increasing its profits. The gross margin is the difference between the total income generated and the total costs spent on the project. A project should have a target gross margin established in the planning phases of the project and should be measured throughout the project life cycle. Project managers who reach or even exceed the target gross margins are often extremely valuable.

Monitoring these six project management metrics can help project managers gain greater control and, consequently, a better chance of success.

Over time, organizations can obtain information about which methods are successful and which require more precise fine-tuning in their specific case.

Project metrics implementation

Once the metrics have been clearly established to meet an organization’s needs, it’s time to start implementing them.

The first step is to communicate with all stakeholders to help them understand the process, its significance and how metrics can help improve projects.

Providing clear examples and creating a metrics plan with guidelines that everyone understands can help clarify ideas and prevent delayed information.

So, once all these steps are taken and everyone is on the same page, you can start implementing the plan.

Throughout the process, it is also crucial to correct the plan when identifying unusable metrics.

Finally, implementing project management metrics can build historical data to help improve future planning and allow for comparisons.

As you accumulate project metrics in your organization’s portfolio, you are building a valuable database of internal benchmarking data.

These metrics can be compared with other projects in the same organization to see where process improvements can be made or compliance requirements can be introduced.

In addition, you can also compare the metrics with reference data from other companies in the same market.

The final challenge is to ensure that the project status includes metrics that prove the value of project management.

And as Peter Drucker said half a century ago: “If you can measure it, you can improve it”.

Receiving feedback in an effective way as a project manager is as important as being able to give them.

Feedback is a key part of any manager’s skills and contributes enormously to the success of a project.

Without feedback everything remains limited to the “feelings” of the team and the PM himself. Surely a careful reading of the data can be of great help, but what is really happening outside the fence is a whole different story.

So let’s try to see what are the feedback that a good Project Manager absolutely must be able to get and how to get them.

The benefits of feedback

For starters, providing feedback, if done regularly, keeps everyone on track and this is convenient for anyone involved in the project.

A communication that is clear  and honest among the team helps employees prevent serious mistakes. Here a good project software with a team chat can be of great help.

Feedback saves time that would have been used to correct someone’s work or the regrets of another who has done theirs wrong.

Also, feedback helps to build better relationships between the project manager and the team and between team members.

It is obvious that feedback often involves criticism – something most people don’t feel comfortable with – but if given in the right way, it can help them evolve personally and professionally.

It should be seen as advice, not judgement. The project manager should believe in the members of his team and use the feedback as a tool to help them achieve the project goal first.

The constructive feedback can then serve as a tool to motivate employees and improve their performance. It is about active listening, seeing what everyone can change to improve their attention and results and bringing people together while creating a healthier communication flow.

The ideal situation would be to create a pleasant working environment where everyone is open to criticism and even to ask for feedback on their own.

What are the most important feedback in a project

There are five topics in particular that are the most important when speaking about feedback in a project:

• Do we have a structured approach to the project?

Getting feedback regarding the quality of the project approach is key to achieving properly structured, aligned and productive teamwork. When working on client engagements, it is also advisable to get regular feedback from stakeholders and identify potential communication bottlenecks.

Here are 3 typical elements on which you can get information quite easily:

• Clarity of the project scope (what concerns the project and what does not)
• Definition and communication of key project milestones
• Transparency on project progress monitoring and status updates

2)Are we able to make decisions?

Many initiatives are hindered by poor decision-making. Being able to structure and organize the decision-making process is in fact one of the key skills of a successful project manager. If you want to be sure that the decision-making process runs smoothly, you need to control and receive feedback from:

• Stakeholders and decision-makers
• Project meetings
• Team members

3) Will we delivering the next milestone on time?

Most projects follow a top-down approach with an indirect communication flow. When the project manager asks for updates about the progress of activities, having intermediaries strengthen project information on the front line generates loss of information. Therefore, it is important to ask the team directly if:

• will provide the desired results with high quality standards on time
• possesses all the necessary skills and abilities to achieve its objectives
• is making continuous progress or is experiencing hiccups.

4) Are we good at implementing the decisions we make?

The follow-up of decisions taken is often a project shortcoming. Making sure that no false promises are made in the process is the key to meeting expectations. Therefore, on a regular basis, it is important to ask if:

• Key decisions are duly documented and communicated (e.g. through the minutes of meetings).
• Project decisions always have a high priority
• Implementation risks are correctly identified and associated with mitigation actions.

5) Do we have a clear understanding of the project?

Last but not least is having a clear understanding of the project. The project manager has to ensure that the vision is clear, shared and supported by all stakeholders and therefore has to ask for feedback by asking these questions:

• Does everyone understand the short and long term objectives of the project?
• Are the expected results of the project clear?
• Is it clear to each team member how the team should achieve the desired project targets?

How does the feedback request process work?

Having examined what topics absolutely need regular feedback during a project, let’s now see how an efficient feedback request process works.

1. Set feedback objectives

As in all things, you have to decide what the goal is.

A good feedback will help to avoid repeating the same sub-optimal or destructive patterns that hinder a project instead of pushing it forward.

One of the goals not to forget is also to receive feedback with an open mind and a positive and accepting attitude.

2. Identify the right people to ask for feedback from

Asking for feedback from every single person you interact with is not productive and can lead to wrong messages.

Not everyone can provide the specific type of feedback you are looking for.

Feedback with multiple perspectives can lead to a thorough perspective on the path to follow, but this does not mean asking everyone indiscriminately.

As a project manager, feedback can come from colleagues, team members, management and clients.

Depending on the question, it is therefore important to limit the request for feedback to those directly involved.

3. Prepare questions

The questions you wish to ask in order to receive feedback should be formulated according to the objectives.

If the goal is to improve relations with team members, for example, questions should be asked that specifically relate to the current working climate and interactions.

If the goal is to improve time management, questions will need to be asked in this regard.

In particular, a series of open questions will help to achieve the relevant atmosphere.

4. Getting feedback the right way

When the time comes to ask for feedback, you have to be willing to accept the answers with an open mind.

If you are defensive or negatively influenced by comments from others, you will be much less likely to receive honest answers in the future.

5. Make a commitment and keep it

The biggest waste of time is getting feedback and doing nothing about it.

Not all feedback will be usable, but most likely you will notice a recurring theme that should serve as an indicator of what specific things need to be improved in the future.

It is important to take action on these things, make the necessary changes and, once done, come back to those who provided the feedback and show the implementation and improvement.

This will send the message that the contribution has been appreciated and will encourage people to continue to contribute honestly and openly in the future.

A reporting system is a key process in any organization and for every kind of project.

The information is used to provide all interested parties with information about the status of the project and is of course also used to make decisions.

Thus it is essential that the accounting and reporting system in project management is accurate at every stage.

Reporting may not be the most exciting part of a project manager’s work, but it helps to ensure that projects stay on track and end according to plan.

So let’s see in this article what are the most common types of reports in projects.

Types of reporting in project management

Project reporting means much more than just communicating the latest project updates to the team and stakeholders.

You can use project reports to mitigate risk, monitor budget and schedule and create more accurate project plans.

Here are some project reports that may prove valuable to a project manager:

• Resource availability report
• Project status report
• Project health report
• Risk assessment
• Project baseline

Resource availability report

To build an accurate project plan, a project manager needs to know what resources are available to perform the work and for how long they will be available.

Furthermore, this report shows the amount of work that each team member accomplishes (and can accomplish) in their time available for the project. This allows the project manager to make weighted decisions about activity distribution.

Project status report

A weekly project status report is an easy way to keep the team and stakeholders informed and handle expectations as the project progresses.

Generally speaking, this report shows these results:

• Completed activities
• Activities under completion
• Incoming activities
• Overall project completion
• Spent/available budget
• Project risks or problems

This report does not necessarily need to get into too much detail and often it is enough to write a page with key information to learn the trend of the project.

In case stakeholders need more specific information, a meeting or a series of documents can be arranged.

Project health report

This kind of health status report provides a high quality view of a project’s status.

It is ideal for immediate sharing during meetings with the team and stakeholders, so that everyone knows at a glance which activities are on schedule, which are running against the clock and which – unfortunately – have already exceeded the deadline.

For example, the project can simply be split into 3 different levels of health status and, for an even stronger impact, with 3 different colors.

Here are the ones:

• Activities in progress marked in green: activities that are in advance or meet the deadline.
• Activities running behind the schedule marked in yellow: activities where there is still some time left until the deadline but in which case, if the current rhythm is maintained, it will be difficult to respect it.
• Late activities marked in red: those activities that have missed the deadline and require special attention in order to avoid that the traps prevent the regular continuation of the whole project.

Risk assessment

A risk assessment helps to identify and categorize project risks according to their magnitude and likelihood of occurrence.

In this way, problems can be prioritized and the risk can be minimized before the entire success of the project is undermined.

Project baseline

A baseline report compares the original and initially planned timeline with the actual project timeline to determine which activities were performed on time or ahead of schedule and which were delayed.

It is also valuable to show how changes or delays affect the overall project timeline.

Best practices for project reporting system management

Here are a series of suggestions that will make the management of the reporting system in projects more effective:

1. Set a deadline: a schedule in the reporting system fixes regular deadlines so that everyone knows when to expect and/or provide important updates on the project.
2. Pay attention to the data: a report is only as good as the information it provides. Verifying that project details are up to date and correct before sharing reports with customers and stakeholders is essential.
3. Writing with your audience in mind: team members, clients and stakeholders should not get lost in the details of the project (unless the purpose of the report is precisely that). Generally speaking, reports are brief, with bulleted and schematic lists and without the presence of technical terminology.
4. Add graphic elements: an image is worth a thousand words and visual project management specialists are well aware of this. The use of diagrams and graphs when possible will make a report easier to assimilate.
5. Be honest: if the project is late or over budgeting, don’t hesitate to mention it in the report. The sooner a problem emerges, the sooner it can be solved.
6. Encourage sharing: a project report should be a launching pad for dialogue, not a static document carved in stone. This is how it becomes essential to create a space for feedback on the project and constructive discussions so that everyone agrees on the next steps to take.

 

Ultimately, an efficient reporting system is crucial for project activities execution.

Simply put, unless the organization uses an adequate reporting system, the project team and stakeholders won’t be able to know the full details of the project.

The traceability matrix, also called Requirements Traceability Matrix or RTM, provides documentation of the links between the proposed requirements, concerning the project output, and the test phase.

Simply put, it is a document to map and track requirements and to ensure that an adequate level of testing is achieved for each of these requirements.

Indeed, when developing a product or service, you want to make sure that this output matches what was requested. To ensure this, the traceability matrix and tests are essential.

Traceability is the process of reviewing all defined test cases for any requirement.

Traceability allows one to determine which requirements generated the most defects during the testing process.

The traceability matrix is, essentially, a tool that helps to ensure that the purpose, requirements and results of the project remain in line with what was initially agreed.

Why is traceability of requirements necessary?

The requirements traceability matrix provides an accurate connection between requirements, test instances and defects.

Generally it ensures good output quality as all functionalities are tested.

Quality control can be achieved when the final product is tested for unexpected scenarios with minimal defects and all functional and non-functional requirements are met.

From that moment on, quality improvement can also be achieved.

Benefits of using requirements traceability matrix

The benefits of utilizing a traceability matrix are many, here are the most important ones:

• The final product is tested and includes all the required functionalities that meet users’ needs and expectations. The end customer must get what they want. There cannot be any negative surprises for the user, if this happens it would not be a nice experience for anyone.

• The final product developed and delivered to the customer must include only the required and expected features. The extra functionalities present in the product may initially look interesting until an overburden of time, budget and effort to develop them is experienced. Extra features can also become a source of defects and cause problems for a customer during or after use.

• The activity of the project manager and their team can be set out clearly because they work first on the implementation of the requirements, which are of the highest priority, according to the client’s needs. If the high priority requirements are given clearly, the output elements can be developed and implemented in this order of importance. In this way the entire project plan can be set up clearly.

• At the time of testing all the most important and top priority features can be examined, without losing time with unnecessary testing. This helps to produce a quality product that meets expectations.

 How to efficiently run tests with the help of a traceability matrix

To effectively run tests with the help of the traceability matrix, it is important to follow four basic rules:

Have a good communication channel

In case of modifications suggested by stakeholders or users, they must be promptly reported to the project team. Without this timely communication, accurate testing cannot be guaranteed.

Determine test scenarios priority

Identifying high priority test scenarios can be a challenging task. Trying to test all scenarios is in many cases an unachievable task, so the goal of the test must be very clear from the business and end-user point of view.

Process implementation

Testing process must be clearly defined taking into account factors such as technical infrastructure and implementations, team skills, past experience, organizational structures and processes undertaken, project estimates of costs, time and resources. A uniform implementation of the process considering the mentioned factors ensures that every person involved in the project is on the same page.

Effective implementation of the testing strategy

An effective testing strategy, supported by a traceability matrix, plays an important role in planning ahead for all types of critical challenges, which further helps to develop a better product.

How to create a requirements traceability matrix

In the process of creating a requirements traceability matrix, the following operations must be conducted:

• Set objectives: Only one question needs to be answered is: “What purpose will the traceability matrix serve?” Here is an example of an objective to explain the concept: To create a traceability matrix to keep track of test cases and bugs that will be affected if changes are made to the requirements.
• Collect artifacts: Once the objective is determined, it is necessary to know what artifacts you will need to achieve it. To create a traceability matrix of requirements, you will need to:
• Requirements
• Test cases
• Test results
• Bugs

The next step will be to collect these artifacts.

• Create a traceability matrix template: For a requirements tracking matrix template, an Excel spreadsheet can be used and a column can be added for each artifact collected.

• Artifacts addition: Now you can add requirements, test cases, test results and bugs in their respective columns depending on the results achieved.

• Update traceability matrix: The updating of the traceability matrix is an ongoing work that continues until the completion of the project. If the requirements change, it is mandatory to update the traceability matrix. If a new test case is added or a new bug is found, you need to update it in the traceability matrix of requirements.

Bottom line, the requirements traceability matrix is the way to map and track all customer and stakeholder requirements with test cases and defects detected.

It is a single document that has the main purpose of not losing track of test cases and therefore ensures that all the functionality of the final product is covered and tested.

The capability of mitigating risks means they can be recognized proactively and addressed by implementing specific mitigation strategies.

Risk identification is undoubtedly an important and crucial step in project management, but by itself it is not enough.

Knowing and thinking about risk is not the same as doing something about risk.

Risk will happen; some will even bring positive results, others won’t; some will be minor, others catastrophic.

So here are some of the most common ways to mitigate risks that can be faced in developing a project.

Risk mitigation strategies: Expanding requirements

First of all, we must know what’s what… Exactly, what do we want to achieve with the project?

This is a key question to ask and have a clear understanding of it, it is in itself a risk mitigating factor because it automatically removes all the mistakes related to “we didn’t know what we were doing“.

Taking full advantage of feasibility studies, kick off meetings with stakeholders and user groups to test ideas before making a full commitment, ensures that what is delivered is really what is desired.

Risk mitigation strategies: Have the right project team

People working on a project may be part of some risks themselves, especially in the case of inappropriate skills or perspectives that do not fit the company environment.

People who are not available when needed also affect the timing of the project.

This is why team members must be chosen in a thoughtful manner, thus mitigating the risks associated with people.

Risk mitigation strategies: Risk distribution and/or transfer

A big mistake is to place all the responsibility for a risk on a single person or a group.

Without doubt, risk transfer is a proven and useful risk management strategy, but it must be used with care.

Mitigating one’s own risk by transferring it to someone else isn’t always the best approach.

For example, it is possible to transfer the risk to another player, but this could lead to increased costs – through increased supplier or insurance prices – which in many cases is not the most appropriate use of the organization’s funds.

The solution here is to look for solutions for managing risk jointly with other stakeholders considering the impacts of this 360-degree strategy.

Risk mitigation strategies: Communicate and listen

There is another way in which risks can be added to a project: lack of communication.

Communicating efficiently, consulting extensively and, above all, listening to the answers you receive, must be a core activity in any project.

This strategy can help the project manager to identify risks and engage more effectively with stakeholders.

Risk mitigation strategies: Assess project feasibility

Making use of feasibility studies and prototypes to test ideas and solutions before moving on to actual development can be an easy way to mitigate the risk of a project.

In this way it is possible to use this early stage as a test bed for checking concepts, methodology and solutions.

How? Break the project into phases and include time, at the beginning of each phase, for a feasibility study or survey.

This learning can be incredibly useful to shape the rest of the project and can prove – or disprove – the business case without having to commit the entire investment.

Risk mitigation strategies: Run tests

Arguably many people will know that when project time is nearing its end, testing is often the task that is cut out in the first place.

You should try to avoid this situation; testing is an important part of making sure that the project risk is reduced and manageable.

Tests help to eliminate much more important problems that may later fall on the project.

One way to make sure that you always have enough time to do tests is to estimate the “traditional” time needed to do tests and then double it.

This way, even if the project will encounter problems that will slow it down, there will always be room for tests.

Tests are often widely underestimated, but they are a great tool to detect defects or bugs that can be corrected so quickly, without causing much more serious problems later on.

That’s why carefully estimating and having a dedicated planning contingency for testing is fundamental in project management and can be considered a real risk mitigation strategy.

Risk mitigation strategies:  Have a plan B

Despite having planned everything, including risk mitigation strategies, an unforeseen problem occurs.

You don’t have to worry… it happens.

So the best way to deal with these unpredictable situations is to have alternatives to the hand, which you can include:

• Emergency funds
• Additional resources on standby
• Options to split the project into segments and/or reduce the scope

A plan B isn’t exactly something that the project manager plans to use. However, having one prepared as a backup in case a risk materializes unexpectedly can be extremely valuable.

To prepare this strategy, it is necessary to discuss tolerances and contingencies with the sponsor and stakeholders before the project begins.

Determine what additional funding can be provided to address unforeseen problems and how to access it if and when the time comes.

 

The key to dealing with the unknown is to have an attack plan, maintain flexibility and always make sure you learn the reality of the situation so that you can adapt your actions accordingly.

This is therefore the solution to successfully manage risk for any initiative or at any stage of a project.

You cannot avoid risks, however you can prepare yourself through appropriate mitigation strategies.

Project criticalities aren’t really missing and managing them is what a Project Manager should be able to do in complete control.

Project managers need to be multitaskers and must be able to manage multiple single elements of a project at the same time, keeping everything under control.

However, even in the case of projects led by the most efficient managers, critical issues may occur during the planning and execution phases of the project. These problems are difficult to avoid, but often easy to solve.

To help you understand and give you an insight into what might be the most common issues to manage, in this article we will provide an overview of the 7 main challenges project managers may face.

Manage project criticalities: Break during project planning process

A skilled project manager knows that planning is one of the most important steps in the project management process.

However, sometimes project managers fail to spend adequate time at this stage and try to skip to solving the problem immediately. rather than planning and creating more effective strategies to avoid the issue, they prefer to solve it when it appears.

Instead, better planning means having more control over the project and more peace of mind when it comes to implementation.

So, please listen to the advice, it is important to never start a project before analyzing the problem, exploring possible solutions, finding the best one, and planning all the activities and resources needed to solve the problem.

Always keep in mind that some risks may affect the project in an important way and therefore find alternative solutions when they appear or you are certain that they will appear.

Clearly there is a difference in planning between longer-term and shorter-term projects: the former tend to require detailed planning, while the latter require a more pragmatic and agile approach.

Manage project criticalities: Scope Creep

It is very important to have a clear outline of the project before running it. However, even when a good planning process has already begun, the scope of the project may change during execution.

This change of scope, or scope creep, can be particularly threatening because it can result in the project deviating from deadlines and/or budget.

When this criticality occurs, in order to manage it, it is above all important to focus on the objectives and the real need to which the project must satisfy:

• Have the goals changed?
• Was it due to planning or execution?
• Is it really necessary to change the scope?

If the answer to these questions is yes, a meeting with all project stakeholders should be scheduled so that everyone can find the easiest and most convenient unanimous solution.

Taking the time to refocus your project, reallocate resources, create new activities, reprogram them and let everyone know what happened is essential in this situation.

All documentation must be updated so that everyone can work under the same conditions and be fully informed on every aspect.

Manage project criticalities: Budget is exceeded

The project has been planned, the necessary resources have been defined and, consequently, the final project budget established.

So, if all these steps have been followed correctly, why, despite such good planning, is the budget exceeded?

This could be due to three reasons:

• The planning process wasn’t as efficient as it seemed,
• There wasn’t an efficient monitoring and control process during the execution phase
• The project was influenced by external sources (environment, regulations, currency exchange, etc.) even unforeseen ones

When a project exceeds the budget, you need to find out what happened and try to reallocate the remaining resources so that you can continue to continue to maintain the same expenses.

A sound practice during project planning is to set a small “buffer” budget for exceptions, i.e., to have a reserve in case contingencies emerge that are beyond the project manager’s control.

Manage project criticalities: Missing or inefficient communication

A bad or missing communication plan results in unresolved conflicts, which could have a negative impact on the project.

A project is executed by a team of members, each of them responsible for specific tasks and deadlines.

If one member is not on track and the rest of the team or the project manager doesn’t realize this, the project will definitely be delayed. In the worst cases, larger problems will occur if the gap persists.

Having recurring meetings and records of these meetings sent to participants and stakeholders is a great idea to keep everyone on the same page.

Manage project criticalities: Missing deadlines

In a project, tasks depend on other sub-tasks and many of them cannot begin if a previous task has not yet been performed.

So, essentially, a missed deadline could lead to 1,000 other missed deadlines in a domino effect and, in the end, a late delivery of the final project result.

This is why time and deadline management is crucial in a project.

A good software with a clear Gantt and easily accessible is very helpful in this regard.

When delays occur, it is important to first analyze whether the expired activity is part of the critical path.

If not, you can check other activities within the critical path that can be carried out and reallocate resources so that you can keep the same end date.

Manage project criticalities: Lack of responsibility

Each task usually only needs one person in charge, i.e. a person who takes charge of the specific task and anything related to its completion.

A project manager must therefore clearly define the responsibilities and decision-making power of each team member and the expectations of stakeholders for that particular activity.

Manage project criticalities: Decentralized information

It is key to keep everyone up to date on the status of the project at all times.

Lack of accessible, available and reliable information can lead to project errors and delays.

Also, disorganized information, such as multiple versions of the time process, several document folders, many emails, can lead to decentralized information that creates confusion for all team members.

One solution to this problem is to use a project management software to help coordinate employees in multiple positions and, if applicable, in different time zones.

 

A project manager will build and develop effective project management skills with quality training and direct experience in the workplace.

Furthermore, the project team should not be passive but at best will proactively help the project manager to manage the various projects and their critical issues.

The success of a project is usually calculated with traditional evaluation parameters that only take into account the fact that the project has respected the budget and the programme. Quite often, however, this is not enough.

Some organizations consider broader parameters than the traditional ones – cost, planning and operation – and determine the success of the project by evaluating key performance indicators, the so-called KPIs.

This approach generates more relevant, fair and balanced project performance evaluations.

Some organizations, however, do not have a consistent way to determine the parameters that should be applied to determine how a project has achieved its objectives and how it has influenced the company in a tangible and non-tangible way.

Therefore, let’s see in this article what are the possible evaluation parameters to quantify the success of the project.

Why measure the success of a project?

This may seem like a silly question, but what is the main point of measuring the success of the project?

After all, once a project is finished, there isn’t much more you can do about it, whether it is a success or a failure, right?

This has been the primary philosophy for a long time, but with the development of the concept of learning and best practice, the value of recording information about an organization’s past to guide its future strategy has become more prevalent.

Nowadays, the value of continuous improvement based on past data is recognized and it is based on this that companies can understand what went wrong during a given project so that they don’t fall into the same mistakes during subsequent projects.

By integrating new knowledge, particularly about successes and failures, into new processes, fewer mistakes are made and higher performance can be achieved.

That’s why measuring project success has become critical for every project manager.

The problem with measuring project success is that it’s not as easy as it sounds.

What is so difficult about the measurement of a project’s success?

It seems logical that by measuring the success of a project, it will be possible to collect data on what went particularly well or badly and that you will be able to pinpoint those success factors to be applied to future projects.

What happens if the project is delivered on time and on budget but two months later the client does not benefit from the result? Or are you absolutely not satisfied?

On the contrary, some clients may be completely satisfied with the result of a project that has been almost a disaster in terms of management with, for example, unforeseen delays, excessive resources, financial losses for the company, etc.

For years project management has been trying to come up with a more precise idea of what is meant by “project success” and for years we have been trying to identify what is needed to ensure the success of the project.

A lot of research has been conducted on this subject and many studies have been published.

However, the results were not so homogeneous: despite thousands and thousands of texts written about project management, despite decades of individual and collective experience and despite a considerable increase in the amount of project-based work, the data have led to highlight that the success of a project is also partly very subjective and varies according to situations, organizations, sectors and stakeholders.

Indeed, everyone could have a different perception of the project and its result.

Fortunately, however, some good practices have also emerged that should help a project manager to measure the success of his projects using simple processes.

Criteria for successful project management

In these criteria we will find all those concerning the project itself and its implementation.

These in particular help to measure the internal efficiency of the organization to implement projects and here we find the “classic” elements of project management:

• The project is completed within schedule
• The project is completed within budget
• The project meets its quality objectives

Other project management criteria can be added such as:

• The project includes all the points covered by the scope
• The project meets commercial objectives in terms of revenue and profits

And again in this category it is possible to include criteria related to different stakeholders:

• Project team satisfaction
• End-user satisfaction
• Supplier satisfaction

The subjectivity of success is therefore minimized through the use of predefined success criteria.

Everyone will know what they are working on and when it is time to measure success, established benchmarks will be available.

 The “define, align and approve” paradigm

To ensure that the established success criteria are satisfactorily realistic, the development of the criteria must follow the “define, align and approve” paradigm.

In short, the success criteria must be properly set out in measurable terms, must be aligned with the needs and constraints of the project, and must be approved by all parties involved in the decision-making process.

Let’s see each point further in detail:

1. Success criteria must be explicitly set out

Success criteria must be stated in specific terms related to the execution of the project management process, the project activities and their results. For example: it is a success if the project is completed by the end of Q4.

2. Success criteria must be ‘aligned’ adequately.

Success criteria must be aligned adequately with the project vision, scope and effort, considering the overall purpose, benefits to be achieved, organizational capacity, priorities, risks and operational constraints. For example: it is a success if the project leads to a 5% reduction in reports of problems related to remote access to the system.

3. Success criteria must be duly approved

Success criteria must be developed and defined using a structured and collaborative process, whereby all parties involved in the decision-making process have the opportunity to provide input, challenge hypotheses, negotiate and finally provide acceptance and approval.

 

Whatever the project in question, when it is possible to measure success through optimal evaluation parameters, critical information will be obtained which, perhaps, will not lead to the improvement of the project itself, but will help to create a database of knowledge for the development of future successful programmes and projects.