Managing conflicts in groups is a conditio “sine qua non” of the team.

Avoiding conflicts is a pure utopia. A conflict is practically inevitable while working with others.

People have different points of view, and when these perceptions add up, these differences can turn into conflict.

However, the way in which the conflict is managed in the team determines the evolution of the situation. The conflict can, in fact, turn into an advantage for the team or contribute to its breakdown.

As a person, and as a Project Manager, you have more possibilities: you can choose to ignore the conflict, complain, blame someone or try to tackle it through techniques like negotiation or compromise.

It is clear that the best solution is always to face conflicts, but the question is how.

However, one aspect is always valid: the conflict must be faced constructively and with a plan. Otherwise, the risk is to create even bigger damage.

However, conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. If this is healthy and constructive, it can be a component of high-functioning teams.

Let ́s see why.

Conflict management in groups: how the conflict is born

The conflict arises from the differences between people. These are the same differences that often make various teams more effective than those made up of people with similar experiences and views.

When people with different views, experiences, skills and opinions are in charge of a project or challenge, the combined effort can surpass that of any other group of like-minded individuals.

Team members must be open to these differences and not allow them to turn into real disputes.

Understanding and appreciating the various points of view involved in conflicts are key factors for its resolution.

The important thing is to maintain a healthy balance between the constructive difference of opinions and avoiding negative and destructive conflicts.

Reaching and maintaining this balance requires well-developed team skills.

Let ́s first take a look at the common myths about workplace conflicts and how to resolve and prevent a conflict.

The common myths to debunk about workplace conflicts

1. Conflict is always negative and should always be avoided at work. Actually, the opposite is true. When the problems are hidden or disguised, these are hardly solved, and consequently they transform into larger problems. The conflict must therefore be recognized and addressed.
2. Difficult people are almost always the cause of a conflict. A bad behavior is certainly a cause of conflict, but even the failure to respect realistic expectations by the project manager can be a great contribution to a negative situation. If team members do not understand what the organization, project manager or their teammates expect, this can lead to confusion and conflict.
3. The problem which is the root of a conflict is usually obvious. Problem solving is essential in conflict management, but the problem can not be solved until it is identified; in most cases this is not immediate. Getting to the source implies dialogues, conversations and, in some cases, some real investigative activities.
4. In conflicts there are always winners and losers. When we deal with a conflict, we take a position based on our needs, desires and concerns. Focusing on interests rather than on positions is more effective for dealing with a conflict.
5. It is the responsibility of the Project Manager, as Project Leader, to solve his team’s problems. Unless a problem affects performance or becomes really important within the team, a manager does not necessarily have to intervene.
   When managers intervene and exercise authority, employees lose the opportunity to develop their own conflict management capabilities.

Conflict resolution

The human experience of conflict involves our emotions, perceptions and actions. We experiment it on all three levels and we need to tackle them all in order to solve it.

The first step is certainly to recognize the conflict. Indeed, the tendency is to ignore the first negative signs, perhaps for convenience or fear, until these become really important.

As described in the sixth edition of the PMBOK, there are five general techniques in order to resolve conflicts. Let’s see them in detail.

1) Withdraw / avoid

This involves refraining from both actual and potential conflict situations or postponing the problem so that it can be better addressed or solved by others.

2) Smooth / accomodate

Here the points of agreement between the two “fronts” are emphasized, in order to try to maintain harmony.

It is therefore necessary to understand the situation and the point of view of each member and take time to make sure that each person’s position is heard and understood.

Each position must be clearly identified and articulated by those involved.

Considering the facts, the hypotheses, the beliefs and the decision-making process that lead to the positions of others, the group will get a better understanding of the other points of view.

This can not only reveal new areas of agreement, but it can also bring to new ideas and solutions that make the best of each position and perspective.

3) Compromise / reconcile

This method involves looking for a solution that leads to a level of satisfaction for all the parties involved, even if it represents a temporary or partial solution of the conflict.

Once the parties have understood the positions of others, it will be easier to search for a common solution.

With all the points of view taken into consideration, it is easier to see the best way to follow and then reach an agreement.

4) Force / direct

This method is certainly more extreme than the others since it involves imposing a single point of view at the expense of the others. It is generally applied in cases of urgency and represents a strong solution.

5) Collaborate / problem solve

The most important thing in the whole process of resolving a conflict is that everyone keeps an open communication.

Active listening is equally essential, because in order to solve the conflict together, it is necessary to really understand the other person.

All the subjects involved, in this case, must agree to cooperate in order to resolve the conflict.

Conflict prevention

In addition to being able to manage team conflicts when they occur, project managers and their teams must develop ways to prevent conflicts from becoming harmful.

Team members can learn skills and behaviors that facilitate this process.

Here are some of the main aspects to focus on:

• Deal with a conflict immediately and avoid the temptation to ignore it;
• Be open: if people have problems, they must be expressed immediately, without the fear of being judged;
• Adopt a clear communication and clearly articulate thoughts and ideas;
• Practice active listening, paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning;
• Practice the identification of hypotheses and ask “why” regularly;
• Do not let the conflict become personal, stick to facts and problems;
• Focus on viable solutions and do not think about what can not be changed;
• Encourage different points of view and insist on an honest dialogue;
• Do not blame anyone;
• Demonstrate respect and, if the situation gets worse, take a break and wait for emotions and feelings to calm down;
• Keep team problems within the team. Speaking of conflicts outside may lead to an increase in their severity.

By addressing the conflict of the people in the group, it is possible to turn any disconnection or controversy into an opportunity, as well as increase the connection and trust between people.

Working towards a common solution leads the whole team to become more cohesive.

It is therefore possible to celebrate this moment, something as small as a congratulatory e-mail or a small gift promotes team bonding.

In conclusion, constructive conflict, if properly managed, can bring a team closer together.

Have you ever been involved in a workplace conflict? How did you deal with it? Tell us about your experience.

A project management software can increase the efficiency and productivity of the project, but its implementation is not always simple.

It is often the case that organizations start the process of inserting a new software without a clear understanding of how to deal with its implementation.

The implementation of a project management software is important, but the process can be stressful and challenging. This applies to both the employer and the employees.

Whatever system should be implemented, a structured implementation process will be needed in order to contribute to the sustainability and successful long-term operation of the new system.

Let’s see today what are the 8 mistakes to avoid.

Avoid keeping everything as before, while waiting for everything to magically improve

Often, we tend to keep the old settings and functionality unchanged, waiting for everything to change magically from one moment to the other. It does not work that way.

Processes are the most flexible component of the implementation process as they can be adapted in order to meet the requirements of technology and people.

It is therefore essential to define the new processes in the early stages of the implementation project. It is essential to define them precisely because their underestimation can lead to a decrease in productivity. In fact, it is easy to understand how productivity can be undermined due to the duplication of work and the refusal of users to apply new processes if these are not clear.

Therefore, the implementation of a new software solution offers the opportunity to redesign the workflow. New systems have to be designed in order to maximize internal resources and efficiencies.

This is why it is important to clearly define the processes and the way in which people will have to interact with the software. Vice versa, it will be necessary to understand if it is necessary to modify existing processes.

It is possible to do this by answering these questions. How is it possible to:

• keep data clean and consistent?
• record data and analyze information?
• get answers to the questions?
• manage the system on a monthly basis?
• integrate other information systems with the software?
• interact with the software on a daily basis?
• overcome a software constraint by modifying the processes?

Moreover:

• Is the constraint really a software limitation or a capacity limitation within the team?
• Is it possible to work on improvements or adaptations in order to develop the personnel interface with the software?
• Is it possible to take advantage of multiple functions by adapting processes?
• What processes are needed in order to maximize the use of this new system?

The transfer of data from one system to another will also be a good time to eliminate obsolete and useless data for the project.

Interesting for this phase is the use of the brainstorming technique in order to involve and define the needs related to the implementation of the new project management software.

Do not dispel fear that is inevitably present in team members

As in all things, people need to try and, you know, mistakes can always happen. This is even more the case if the system is totally new.

If the fear of a mistake is so great and the consequences can be so important, one solution is to offer a trial version of the system. Thanks to this version it will be possible to experiment without risk all the features of the new software.

This will help to make the members of the team safer and avoid the fear of making mistakes that can have an impact on the project.

Moreover, it is necessary to provide one or more training sessions planned within the implementation plan.

Do not engage and trust anyone

Sometimes, project managers are so focused on the implementation process that they forget that other team members have the task to make the transition effective.

As a result, the project manager ends up being the only person who uses the software. The rest of the team will not feel involved and will have a reluctance to use something they do not know thoroughly.

Promoting values of openness, transparency, communication and above all sharing the “ownership” of software are the right attitudes.

The more we work together, the more efficient the implementation of the new project software will be.

Rely on the software to solve resource management problems

Softwares can certainly help in managing the resources of a project. However, offline management is always a fundamental and indispensable factor.

The tool can facilitate decisions regarding work priorities and tasks, but it cannot make all the necessary decisions, no matter how evolved it is.

A software does not have the sensitivity to understand moods and any perplexities or conflicts that can undermine a team’s productivity.

Therefore, it will be essential to organize meetings during all phases of implementation and to manage resources directly.

Lack of leadership in implementation

Regardless of the skills of the employees and the project team, the missing support and leadership are deleterious. They will inevitably lead to employees refusing to use the new software.

If leadership and support are lacking, the investment in the project management software will be useless. It will essentially be a lost investment and the efficiency of the organization will inevitably worsen.

It is therefore fundamental that the leadership, at project manager and at managerial level, is present throughout the software implementation process.

Failure to communicate expectations

If you try to make changes without notifying the personnel, you will inevitably find yourself facing a wall.

Before the implementation of a new project management software, it is necessary to communicate in detail the expectations on how the software will increase productivity.

This can include:

• discussion of the motivations that led to change,
• the timing with which the change will occur,
• the type of training necessary or available,
• how the team can communicate in case of questions and doubts.

Missing motivation for the use of the software

Expressing interest in reducing general costs does not represent a sufficient motivation to get employees to accept change.

For employees, change is simply a further effort, something that requires an investment of energy and time.

However, the transition can be facilitated by providing an incentive for employees in case they accept and use the software.

Lack of feedback

It is not enough to simply implement the new project management software, and have it used by the employees. In fact, once this has been done, it cannot yet be said that the implementation has been completed.

Creating a forum for regular feedback from users, in this case the employees, will give the opportunity to provide honest feedback on the perception of the new tool.

Feedback should also be given by the project manager and the management.

Only in this way it will be possible to understand if the software needs to be improved or updated. Feedback will give the idea if it was an optimal choice or if the new software is completely against expectations.

Conclusions

The chances of achieving goals for an organization are higher with a plan that is appropriate for software implementation.

By understanding what the pitfalls are to avoid, it is possible to make the transition to a new project management software easier and more effective

Moreover, regular monitoring of goals with respect to actual performance will make it possible to get the most from the investment.

Have you ever faced the implementation of a new project management software? How did you experience the situation? Tell us about your experience.

Creating a work team is a delicate but strategic phase for any project manager. The outcome of the project will really depend on the choices made here.

Stephen Covey, famous writer and author of the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” states:

“Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success”

Thanks to teamwork, the shared talent amplifies the value of each individual resource and increases the value of the group as a whole.

It is therefore essential that when defining the working group, particular attention is paid to all the people involved in the project. This means all the project associates, stakeholders, customers and partners.

But let’s go into detail and see some fundamental aspects of this delicate activity.

First of all, it is good to remember that, in order to create a high performing Project Team, it is necessary to follow three key steps:

1. Organizational planning necessary for the identification of the team;
2. Staff acquisition, necessary for approval;
3. Team development.

Organizational planning

Organizational planning identifies, documents and assigns project roles, responsibilities and relationships.

Before the project begins, all roles and responsibilities must be given. This will reduce any confusion after the start of the project.

Each team member will know exactly what is expected of him (or her) and will be able to follow the assigned tasks.

Also, having a staff development plan and an organization chart will reduce uncertainty and conflict.

Indeed, a staff development plan describes how and when human resources will be transferred and removed from the project team. This knowledge of the already planned events will make the whole team smoother.

The organization chart, on the other hand, is a graphical way to subdivide the project’s reporting relationship. A detailed organizational chart will avoid superfluous questions about relationships and connections.

For a winning project, it is then essential that there is a good organizational planning. This also includes all the supporting documents necessary to outline each job title and description or any training needs.

Staff acquisition

The acquisition of the people that have to deal with the project is the process to obtain the necessary human resources assigned that will have to work in the team.

Choosing the right people for a project is almost as important as the project itself. Without an experienced and close-knit team, the project will be much more difficult.

Some things to consider when choosing the team are the previous experiences. In fact, the interests, personal characteristics, availability, skills, could give the work team additional determinant capacities.

Team members can be chosen internally from the organization, thanks to negotiations with managers and other project teams, or from outside.

It will also be necessary to determine if each team member will work on the project full or part time.

Team development

The development of the project team includes the development of individual and group skills in order to improve performance.

Working together as a real team, the project will be more likely to succeed.

Team development can be achieved in various ways:

• Team building
• Management capacity
• Reward systems
• Frequent feedback and personal meetings
• Training

If the team has been properly developed, the project will work efficiently and achieve quality results.

How to choose the members of the project team

Here are 7 key elements in order to choose the right project team members.

1. Project analysis

It is essential to devote time and effort in order to understand and thoroughly analyze the project. You will have to define the steps and activities that will need to be worked out for a successful completion.

It will also be necessary to break down these steps into individual tasks and sub-activities. In this way it will be possible to easily detect the resources needed to complete the project and its duration based on the set productivity.

2. Project requirements

It is essential to verify what is required by the management. Time limits, budget or resource constraints are essential to plan the recruitment and the project team members accordingly.

3. Meeting with the Human Resources Department

The Human Resources Department can assist in finding the most suitable project team members, especially in the case of outsiders.

It will also be necessary to prepare, in coordination with this department, a recruitment campaign for the project and the specific training.

4. Meeting with other managers

Together with the Human Resources Department, it is also a good practice to meet the managers of internal employees in order to obtain a complete view of the staff available for the project.

You can ask other managers to provide ratings for their staff skills, technical skills and teamwork skills so that you can make the best decision based on real needs.

5. Refine the selection

Once the options have been assessed, a list of potential candidates suitable for the roles will be drawn up.

This will be the basis from which to select the members of the project team who will work for the implementation of the plan in the future.

6. The final choice

The list of candidates will be evaluated very carefully in all its details. Finally, the team members who will work on the project will be chosen.

These candidates should have the right mix of personal behavioral skills and attributes in order to become members of the project team.

If doubts continue about any of the employees, additional personal interviews can be conducted in order to collect additional information.

7. Analyzing the team

At this point the project team is made, but there still remains one thing to do: To conduct a continuous analysis in order to assess whether the team has the necessary balance to complete the project as planned.

It will also be necessary to regularly check whether there is a potential personality conflict between team members. Perceiving these conflicts and resolving them straight away, will avoid stress and creative blockages during the execution of the project plan.

It is very important to have a fully developed and dedicated project team in order to run the project properly.

The team includes several people who must work together to carry on the individual activities.

Organizations are constantly committed to forming increasingly performing project teams. Work teams that will be able to achieve even complex project goals and which will increase productivity, performance and returns for the organization.

Team members, together with the project manager, are the driving forces of a project, and it is therefore essential to know how to choose them well and to develop them to the maximum.

Have you ever created a project team? What process did you use to choose the project team members? Do you have any other suggestions? Write us your opinion.

The Scope Management of a project is the set of processes necessary to ensure that the scope of a project is precisely defined and mapped.

Project scope management techniques enable project managers to assign the right amount of work required in order to successfully complete a project, particularly by controlling what is and what is not part of the project scope.

The management of the project scope is what ensures that the project includes all the relevant work in order to achieve the project goals.

Plan the Scope Management process

The process explains how to define, manage, validate and control the scope of the project.

You could even use the project management plan of another project as a starting point, because the Scope Management processes do not vary dramatically once the organization has opted for a successful method of working.

Scope management process planning includes:

• preparing a detailed project declaration
• creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• maintaining the WBS
• obtaining formal acceptance of the project results
• managing any changes in the project scope

Scope Management: Collecting the project requirements

At this stage, it is necessary to gather what are the needs of the stakeholders with the intent of achieving the project goals.

In this process, managers use different techniques and tools in order to gather the requirements.

If this process is executed in a complete and correct manner, it can greatly reduce the possibility of unpleasant surprises as the project progresses towards completion.

In this phase, it is therefore necessary to understand what the stakeholders want from the project.

Once found out, requirements must be documented and stakeholder expectations must be properly managed.

This is an important step, since it may happen that what is required is not realistic or achievable due to other project constraints, such as cost.

The output of the work of gathering requirements is a documented set of requirements.

Scope Management: Defining the project scope

Here the requirements and the needs are transformed into a detailed description of the product or service that the project will create.

The output will be a declaration of the scope of the project that can be referred throughout the entire project life cycle.

The document will also include a list of what is in scope and what is out of scope.

The scope clearly indicates what the project is supposed to achieve and what not.

Scope Management: Creating the Work Breakdown Structure

This process transforms the list of requirements into a structured view of what needs to be done.

The main work here is the subdivision of large tasks into smaller and more manageable blocks, called work packages.

The result of this process is the so-called Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

The WBS is an important element of the scope management process and the PMI places great emphasis on this aspect.

Many project managers often skip this step leading to inaccurate plans.

The resulting WBS should provide a complete list of all the work packages required to complete the project successfully.

Scope Management: Validating the project scope

This process focuses primarily on the acceptance of the project by the client.

In simple terms, it is when the client of the project formally accepts all the results of the project.

This process occurs at the end of each phase.

It is therefore important to know who will approve a deliverable and what criteria will be used to evaluate the success of the result.

Scope Management: Checking the project scope

This process involves the evaluation of additional requirements by the client or the proactive observation of the project’s scope by the project manager.

Managers measure the work product with respect to the forecast in order to ensure that the project remains on track, helping to prevent any unnecessary modifications.

This phase therefore involves monitoring the status of the project and managing any changes to the scope.

Some pitfalls of Scope Management

The problems that may arise during the definition and documentation of the project scope are:

Ambiguity: ambiguity often leads to unnecessary work and confusion. To avoid this, the scope must be clearly defined, both by the stakeholders as well as by the team, without being misinterpreted;

Incomplete definition: incomplete areas lead to planned deadlines which almost certainly lead to cost overruns. To avoid this, the scope must be complete, accurate and detailed;

Transitoriness: this is the main cause of late deliveries and “endless” projects. To avoid this, the scope document must be finalized and remain as long as possible for the duration of the project;

Non-collaborative scope: an area not managed in a collaborative way causes incorrect interpretations in terms of requirements and planning. To avoid this, the document should be shared with all stakeholders at each stage of the scope definition process.

Without Scope Management, the cost or time that the project will take to achieve its goal can not be estimated.

Scope Management is not difficult to implement; however, it requires effort, time and patience.

But it is worth investing it: with a proper management of the project scope, it is possible to have clear guidelines and deliver the project with minimum overruns.

Have you ever dealt with the Scope Management of a project? How was your experience and what are your opinions about it? Tell them below!

Managers must recognize and respond to all the factors that can influence their organizations.

Navigating through the modern chaotic work environments is like trying to drive a small boat to shore during a hurricane.

Just like this small boat, the modern organizations and their managers are faced with a significant amount of factors that require immediate response.

The forces that drive this change in the business are known as internal and external environmental factors.

The internal environment

The internal environment of an organization refers to events, factors, people, systems, structures and conditions inside an organization that are generally under the direct control of the company.

Corporate mission, corporate culture, and leadership style are factors that are typically associated with an organization’s internal environment.

As such, it is the internal environment that will influence the organizational activities, decisions, behaviors and attitudes of employees.

Changes in leadership style, in the corporate mission or in culture can have an important impact on the organization.

Let’s see in detail what are the internal corporate environmental factors.

Internal environmental factors: the staff

Employees are an important part of the internal environment of an organization.

Managers must be able to manage lower-level employees and, at the same time, supervise the other factors of the internal environment.

Indeed, even when everyone is capable and talented, politics and internal conflicts can destroy a good organization from within.

Internal environmental factors: the budget

In business, even the lack of money can determine the survival – or not – of a company.

When cash resources are too limited, that can affect the number of people you can hire, the quality of equipment and the type and amount of advertising you can buy.

If you have enough money instead, you have much more flexibility to grow and expand the business, or to endure an economic downturn.

Internal environmental factors: Corporate culture

The internal corporate culture consists of the values, attitudes and priorities that employees live every day.

A ruthless culture in which every employee competes with his colleagues certainly creates a different, and more toxic, environment than that of a company that emphasizes collaboration and teamwork.

The external environment

The external environment is composed by factors that occur outside the organization but which can cause internal changes and are, for the most part, beyond the company’s control.

Customers, competition, economy, technology, political and social conditions, and resources are common external factors that influence the organization.

Even if the external environment occurs outside an organization, it can have a significant influence on its current operations, growth and long-term sustainability.

Ignoring external forces can be a damaging mistake for managers. As such, it is necessary that managers continue to monitor and adapt to the external environment.

The key is to work in order to make proactive changes rather than having to take a reactive approach and solve problems rather than preventing them.

So, let’s see in detail what are the external corporate environmental factors.

External corporate environmental factors: The economy

In a bad economy, even a well managed organization may not be able to survive.

If customers lose their jobs or take jobs that can barely support them, they will spend less on sport activities, recreation, gifts, luxury goods, and new cars.

It is not possible to control the economy, but understanding it can help identify threats and opportunities.

External corporate environmental factors: The competition

Unless the organization is a monopoly, you will always have to deal with the competition.

When you open a company, you normally find yourself fighting against established and more experienced organizations in the same sector.

On the other hand, when a company has established itself, it will find itself fighting against new organizations trying to steal a slice of the market.

In short, competition never dies.

External corporate environmental factors: Politics

Changes in government policy can have a huge impact on an activity.

A classic example is the tobacco industry.

Since the 1950s, cigarette manufacturers have been asked to put warning labels on their products and have lost the right to advertise on television. Smokers have less and less places where they are allowed to smoke. Therefore, the percentage of people who smoke is diminished, with a corresponding effect on the sector’s revenues.

External corporate environmental factors: Customers and suppliers

Next to employees, customers and suppliers are, in most cases, the most important people with which an organization has to deal.

Suppliers have a huge impact on costs. The weight of a given supplier depends on the scarcity of his service or product and, consequently, on the possibility of negotiation with him.

The power of customers depends on the fact that they are free to choose between a specific organization and its competition.

Conclusions

In project management, you can influence those factors that are closer and more directly related to management, such as resources or project management systems.

It will be more difficult to influence the more general factors external to the organization.

In every situations, the project manager must be aware of these factors. This will also apply to the risks of the project related to harmful environmental factors on which the project manager can not exercise any control. In any case, the project manager has to be ready to act accordingly.

Moreover, the project manager is also responsible for communicating and informing the team of factors influencing a project, both internal as well as external.

It is therefore essential that every organization knows which of the internal factors represent limiting conditions and which are the drivers of the projects for their correct management.

If you have any questions on the subject, please leave a comment.

What are the skills of the Project Manager today? That’s a good question!

Project management is not an easy job. In reality, this is composed by a series of difficult tasks, including the start-up, planning, execution, control, closure of a project and, last but not least, the management of the team.

And the project manager must do all this successfully. In order to do this, he must possess a variety of not only technical, but also transversal skills.

Here is then a list of 10 skills (9 + 1) that every project manager should have. 

1.Leadership

One of the first skills that come to mind when thinking of a manager is leadership.

This is a skill that some consider innate and that can not be learned.

However, we think everyone has the potential to learn how to apply leadership techniques.

Leadership can show up in different styles, depending on the personality of the project manager.

2.Communication

This aspect is closely connected with leadership.

It is not possible to be an effective leader if one is not able to articulate needs and necessities, but also praises and compliments.

Not only does a project manager communicate with his team, but also with stakeholders, suppliers and customers.

Communication concerns not only a personal level, but also specific tools such as reporting or collaboration tools via chat, file sharing and other means that allow to tag discussions.

3.Planning

This is a technical skill, absolutely essential in a project manager – otherwise it is very likely that the job chosen is wrong.

The only way to achieve the project goals within the established time frame is to divide the goal into individual activities along the timeline and to associate one or more team members to each activity.

In short, this is planning, and it is the heart of what a project manager does.

There are many tools that help this process. One of them is the Gantt diagram, which provides a visualization of the program with tasks, duration, dependencies and milestone.

4.Risk management

Doing anything is a risk. Planning a project, big or small, is also connected with some risks.

It is part of a project manager’s job to predict these events before they become real problems.

Therefore, before carrying out the project, it is necessary to insert the identification, the assessment and the control of the risk.

The more a project manager is able to manage risks, the more likely his project will be successful.

Of course, it is not possible to anticipate everything that could happen during the life cycle of a project.

Unforeseen problems can arise, so a valid and ready process to handle them when they arise is needed.

5.Cost management

The concept is clear, without money you cannot do anything.

Once the budget is created, the first task is to make sure that this is realistic and that it is possible to meet the financial needs of the project.

After that, the costs should be checked regularly during the execution of the project.

Failure to meet this requirement could harm organizations that manage limited budgets.

A good project manager has the ability to finish projects not only respecting the time, but also respecting the given budget.

6.Negotiation

Being good at negotiating is similar to communication, but it deserves a separate discussion.

Negotiation is not limited to negotiating the best price from a supplier, even if this is part of the job.

Managing a project means being in constant negotiation.

For example, stakeholders could make requests that may impact the scope of a project, and these must be managed and negotiated.

The same goes for the possible conflicts that will arise between team members or other people involved in the project.

Strong negotiating skills will resolve these conflicts before they explode and threaten the project.

7.Critical thinking

Project managers are not the only ones who can benefit from this ability.

Most of us do not think, but react and follow a series of answers that we have said or learned, like an automatic pilot.

Critical thinking is simply objective when analyzing and evaluating a problem or situation, so that an impartial judgment can be formulated.

Every day we are working on a project, we want decisions to be impartial.

The only aspect guiding the decision should be to pursue the best thing for the project.

8.Activity management

This is another technical skill that should be impressed in the DNA of a project manager.

There can be countless activities that complete a project that must be created, assigned and managed.

This means that poor management in this process can have a serious impact on the success of the project in general.

In these situations a project management tool could be a valid help.

Features that promote collaboration with the team and which help to prioritize and provide instant updates when tasks have been completed or are running are needed.

9.Quality management

This skill is often overlooked by project managers and is the one that probably needs more attention.

It is possible to be negligent in favor of meeting deadlines.

Respecting deadlines is certainly important, but the project in general is useless if it produces a product or service that is poor.

10.Sense of humor

With this we do not mean to be a comedian in the workplace, but there will for sure be a time and a place for a bit of healthy humor.

The sense of humor allows to have a different perspective, allows to see a problem in a different way and, maybe, also to see a possible solution.

Humor relieves stress both in the case of the project manager and the team. Only when the tensions are resolved, in fact, actions and ideas can be more profitable and productive.

The sense of humor also helps morale.  Working hard does not mean that the environment must be suffocating.

Although this may seem absurd, this ability is definitely not to be underestimated as far as project management is concerned.

So, these were the most important skills that a project manager should have in order to improve his effectiveness and productivity in  project management.

Having these skills will not only benefit the organization, but also the managerial career in general.

For you, what are the most important skills that a project manager has to have? Have we forgotten something that is relevant to you? Write us your opinion.

Project requirements are a key aspect in order to complete the project on time and without exceeding budget limits.

This is one of the essential skills of a project manager, often underestimated, which consists in the collection and analysis of these aspects of the plan.

Understanding clearly the requirements of any project you are about to undertake is very important.

Too many projects have failed because of no well-defined requirements.

As stated by the Project Management Institute

There are no two identical projects: each project has its own set of requirements and it is a project manager’s responsability to identify them correctly.

The more complex the project is, the greater the need to define the requirements in order to find certain processes for each part of the project.

What are the project requirements?

Stakeholders hear the term “requirements”, but everyone get its meaning in different ways, depending on the goals.

Therefore, before we can examine anything, it is essential to have a univocal operational definition.

Part of the confusion related to the requirements lies in the fact that there are several types. We will therefore try to stick to the classification made by the PMBOK (link all’articolo PMBOK)

The 6th edition of the PMBOK classifies the project requirements as follows:

• Corporate: they describe the reason for the project;
• Stakeholders: they describe the needs of a stakeholder or group of stakeholders;
• Solution: they describe the characteristics, functions and characteristics of the product, service or result that will satisfy the company and the stakeholders;
• Functional: they describe the behavior of the product or service;
• Non-functional: they describe the environmental conditions or the qualities required for the product or service to be effective;
• Transitional: they describe the temporary capacities necessary to pass from the current state to the desired state in the future;
• Project: they describe the actions, the processes or the other conditions that the project must satisfy;
• Quality: they describe any condition or criterion that validates the successful completion of a project result or the fulfillment of other project requirements.

But why are the requirements so important for a project?

When requirements are not clear, projects are at risk; they may not produce the desired and necessary result.

At least, the missing requirements involve reworking.

In short, the lack of project requirements or their poor definition produces negative impacts on the program and on the budget.

Obviously customers, as well as team members, will not be happy with these shortcomings.

We examine the essential steps to arrive at a correct identification and processing of the project requirements.

Collect the project requirements

A project manager can not expect the project requirements to be delivered on a silver platter.

Stakeholders may not know exactly what they want and should therefore be helped in formulating their requirements.

A good project manager knows how to gather the requirements. In case he does not know, he will have to ask for help from those who possess the skills.

The tools for gathering the requirements

Here are some tools and techniques that can be useful for gathering the requirements:

• Brainstorming: also called as group thinking or group creativity. Usually people with different roles and functions are brought together for this This technique is very useful when you do not have fixed needs and you want try to explore new requirements and new horizons
• Interviews / questionnaires: this technique is usually used in the case of large groups. Having a large number of interested parties does not allow to organize an individual interview. Be careful, however, to ask the right / pertinent questions for a correct and real collection of the needs of the interested parties.
• Interviews: a tool that involves personally stakeholders in order to understand their needs. Interviews can be facilitated through personal meetings or phone calls.
• Benchmarking: in this technique, a comparison is made between existing practices and market best practices. With the gap analysis with respect to these examples of excellence, possible project requirements can be.
• Context diagram: these diagrams represent a pictorial visualization of various interactions between users and different systems. Therefore, they describe the necessary steps to obtain the results and they may be suitable for identifying the requirements.

Requirements analysis

The word “analyze” means to break down or examine in detail the constitution or structure of something.

If the situation allows it, one of the most powerful ways to analyze is to create prototypes or diagrams.

When users can see and / or touch things, it’s easier to see what they like and what do not like. A prototype or a diagram is more tangible than simple data.

Furthermore, in some cases, the priority of each requirement is examined during the analysis. In order to do this, you should ask yourself some questions. Here are some examples:

1. Which features and functions offer the maximum benefit for the project?
2. Which ones can cause the greatest risk?

Once analyzed, the requirements are documented and formalized in the project document.

What the project manager must do in general is to keep his team and client focused on clearly defining project goals and mapping valid, detailed and understandable requirements.

All this, in order to create a final solution that provides what the customer really wants.

The criteria for a project requirement

In general, a good requirement must meet four basic criteria:

• A good requirement must satisfy a specific need
• A good requirement is verifiable
• A good requirement is reachable
• A good requirement is understandable by all stakeholders

A good requirement must satisfy a specific need

A requirement is basically a declaration of something that someone needs.

That something is a product or a solution that performs a service or a function.

Even if it is verifiable, reachable and well declared, a requirement that is not necessary for the final solution is not really a good requirement.

Of course, the definition of the need will depend on the context and circumstances and must be deepened by the team and the client in each specific situation.

A good requirement is verifiable

A requirement must state something that can be verified through quantification, inspection, analysis or testing.

It is also important to determine the specific criteria for acceptance, which will consequently guarantee verifiable requirements.

A good requirement is reachable

The requirement must be within the budget and must be technically feasible.

It is important not to write requirements for things that can not be built or that are not reasonably within the budget or project timeline.

This is not always easy to determine and a project manager may not have the experience to judge whether a requirement is technically feasible.

In this case, it is necessary to ensure to include the members of the development team in the review process in order to predict technical problems.

It may be necessary to do a research in order to determine the feasibility of a requirement before it is added to the project baseline.

A good requirement is understandable by all stakeholders

A good requirement is understandable by all the subjects involved in the project. It expresses a single thought, is concise and is written in short and simple sentences with coherent terminology.

In this way, as you progress in the design and development phases of the project, the requirement will not change in meaning and will always remain clear to everyone.

Another advice is to formulate the requirements with affirmative language whenever possible.

For instance, it is easier to develop and test a product that does something specific than one that does not do something specific.

In conclusion, we can say that a thorough understanding of how to design, modify and adapt the requirements processes is the key for a successful completion of the project.

Have you ever found yourself in difficulty in collecting and analyzing the requirements? How did you handle the situation? Tell us about your experience.