Category Archives: Project Management

guest blogger, Project Management, Project Management Training

Why The Role Of A Project Manager Is Often Overlooked And Why It Shouldn’t Be

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A project manager is essential to the success of any project. Without utilizing this invaluable resource, projects will operate inefficiently, team members will lack motivation and miss deadlines and the overall project will cost significantly more than originally budgeted resulting in losing long-term clients.

Liaison

The project manager is the glue that holds the entire project together. They will act as the liaison between team members and upper management. In some instances, they may also act as the liaison between the company and the client. Each project management role will be slightly different; however, the level of importance of the role for successfully completing a project on time and on budget while ensuring the client is satisfied is equally important in all organizations.

Communication

Communication is key to the success of all projects. Today, most people work on a number of projects simultaneously. Without the direction of a project manager, every person on the team must wait for another member to complete part of a task before they are able to complete their job. Communication in these circumstances is appalling which leads to delays and frustrated team members without the guidance of a project manager.

Lifecycle

Motivation

Part of the role of a project manager is to keep team members motivated. A happy team member is a productive team member. By being in constant communication with the team, the project manager maintains their motivation and focus on the project at hand. If a team member is not performing as well as the others, the project manager will be able to work with the team member to determine ways to increase their level of productivity.

Deadlines

Part of the importance of constant motivation is to keep team members on task to meet deadlines. A project manager will follow up on task assignments to ensure each milestone and deadline is met. These deadlines are created with both internal and external clients. Missing deadlines in business will cost companies money and long-term business partners. Managing deadlines is a critical role of the project manager.

Budget

One of the most important reasons to hire or assign a project manager is to ensure the project does not exceed the predetermined project budget. Poor communication will result in poor efficiency and poor efficiency will lead to missed deadlines. Any misstep will lead to greater expenses. A project manager will monitor the cost of the team, materials and any other expenses directly related to the project to ensure the budget remains on target. Because emergencies do occur, the project manager will be able to immediately communicate such emergencies to directors and executives so that the client will be informed as soon as possible to prevent any dissatisfaction from the client.

To ensure the success of any and all projects, a project manager should be utilized. They will act as a liaison, enhance productivity, keep tasks on target and the budget in check. Companies that use a project manager will have far greater success than companies that do not.

Sally writes for Milestone UK who specialise in Primavera courses and Oracle training in the UK, to learn more about their enterprise solutions.

guest blogger, Observations, Planning, Project Management, Project planning

The 5 Laws of Social Project Management

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Classic project management in many ways is no longer realistic in today’s world. The tough economy
has provided the perfect opportunity to encourage self-motivation and independence
amongst employees. A new approach to project management has emerged; social project
management. Social project management incorporates both social technology and software with the
basic elements of traditional project management. One important aspect of social project
management is having an online project management tool like LiquidPlanner, which brings together social
technology and an adaptable project management architecture.

The 5 Laws of Social Project Management

The 5 laws of social project management shown here illustrate
how and why social project management can be so effective when it allows the unique abilities of each team member to contribute in a collaborative environment towards a shared project goal. Learn social project management laws, like
why autonomy and transparency must be maximized in social project management, and how projects
can be managed to allow every team member to contribute fully and efficiently.

Published by LiquidPlanner

guest blogger, management advice, Project Management, Project Management Careers Advice, Project planning

How to Handle Stress When Coming Up On a Deadline

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Deadlines are a key component of project management. One might argue that deadlines are the reason that project management exists as a career. The ability to manage deadlines is a crucial project management skill, but unfortunately even in those that are fantastic at deadline management, coming upon a due date can be a time of immense stress and anxiety.

That’s because all deadlines are naturally stressful, and in some cases this stress can cause severe anxiety if it continues too often. Project managers experience something very similar to lawyers (a group notorious for intense anxiety and depression) – their ability to handle a project is too black and white. Either you meet the deadline or you don’t. Either you succeed or you fail. As a result, even the best project managers tend to experience this degree of intense anxiety when coming upon a due date.

Getting over that deadline

Tips for Controlling That Stress

Due dates are ongoing, and there are usually many of them. That’s too much stress for one person to handle. So to combat that stress, consider the following tips:

  • Create Sub Goals and Sub Deadlines Well in Advance

You already likely do this in some form, and it may seem unlikely that more deadlines helps with anxiety, but so much of the stress and anxiety that comes from coming upon a deadline is the result of not knowing what’s done and waiting on things that need to be completed, etc. If everything for the project has a short deadline, and every little bit is mapped out, you’ll have a better idea of what you need at every given moment. Essentially there will be no deadlines, because every day you know what’s getting done.

  • Start By Exercising On the Day of the Deadline

There is a tendency to want to get started at work right away, but the best thing you can do is immediately tire out your muscles and fight some of your anxiety symptoms. One of the best ways to do this is with exercise. Exercise releases calming neurotransmitters and tires muscles so your physical symptoms will be less severe throughout the day. Anxiety builds upon itself, so if you’re more physically relaxed with fewer symptoms, the day will not get to you as much.

  • Time Yourself With Breaks

You also need to take breaks. It’s not always something that comes easily, but if you spend time only focusing on the deadline, you’re going to suffer. One dual method that appears to be effective is giving yourself short timely deadlines throughout the day. Set an alarm for 1 hour, for example, and work as hard as you can for that hour. Once that hour is over, force yourself to take a 15 minute break. Do something fun, call someone on the phone – take your mind off what’s going on. Then set the alarm again and doing it again.

  • Don’t Clock Watch

Watching the clock has never helped anyone when coming across a deadline. You’re not going to work faster just because it’s 3:01 instead of 3:00, and time spent checking the clock is time wasted. Find any way you can to turn the clock off, unless a specific time is necessary for your work.

Planning, Living, and Being Happy

It’s not the way you do your job that needs to change when you have stress leading up to a deadline. Chances are you’re great at your job, and the stress still gets to you. What matters is how you spend all of the other time. If you can manage how you handle the issues that cause you stress and reduce the likelihood of experiencing anxiety, you’ll find a greater chance of relief from your anxiety symptoms.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera suffered from intense anxiety and panic attack symptoms at his work. He writes about overcoming anxiety at www.calmclinic.com.

CV Tips, CV Writing, Project Management, Project management CV, Project Management Lessons Learned, Stakeholders

Stakeholder communications – lessons learned

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Stakeholders play a huge role in projects and effective communication is key to success, working closely with the team to ensure we are all singing from the same song sheet.

So why do so many not talk about their stakeholders in their CV? Your CV is the first piece of communication a hiring manager sees from you, by omitting detail about arguably one of the most important aspects of your role from the CV you are selling yourself short.

Let’s take a look at the fundamentals of stakeholder engagement:

  • Establishing who your stakeholders are – once engaging in a new project it is important to understand who your stakeholders are and list them in order of importance to the project.
  • Create a communications plan – work with your stakeholders to schedule in regular contact, understand their other commitments and set up a style which fits with this.
  • Honesty – don’t hide major issues from your stakeholders, talk about them and provide tangible solutions. You aren’t doing anyone any favours by keeping them in the dark, being upfront but constructive is essential.

Stakeholders

Adding this kind of detail alongside some context such as stakeholder locations, involvement and difficulties (yes we have all dealt with tricky customers), you can really start adding value to your CV. It is the anomalies and how you manage them which really start to set you apart from your peers in the field.

I have seen far too many CVs which place all the emphasis on the projects and none on how you work – yes, we want to know what the projects are but remember the CV is about you so we also want to see how you work. Simply listing a string of skills just doesn’t cut it with employers, actually adding in detail about what this means in your role is where you really add value. Forgetting the stakeholders is not giving the right impression and this is the first impression, so work on creating a CV which is inclusive and really tells the reader about you.