Keeping Your Projects Off the Back Burner
Five Questions for Effective Project Self-Management
“How does a project get six months late? One hour at a time.” says Fred Brooks, software engineer guru.
Are you able to see a project through to completion? If you’re like those interviewed in a recent survey, you may not be.
Conducted and published by the American Society for Quality’s Quality Progress, the survey of 1,900 professionals revealed that:
- Only 47% of projects always or often meet their goals
- Only one-third of projects are always or often completed on time and on budget
- 46% of project goals were only sometimes, rarely or never clear
- 62% reported that project teams don’t often follow a standard methodology to define, plan and implement projects
- 42% were not clear on the roles of individuals on their project team
To move project teams to higher levels of performance, the authors call for “an integrated approach that addresses leadership, process discipline, the performance system, and interpersonal dynamics.”
Sounds great and certainly true. But for most of our straightforward projects, Gantt charts and project management software are often overkill. Yet it is my experience that even simple projects end up on our back burners while we put out other fires.
Take a look at your own annual goals—textbook examples of projects, but rarely managed as such. Are you making progress? Have some stalled because you’re not sure what the right next step is? Have some even fallen off your radar completely? How about your staff—are they able to manage their own projects or are you in effect managing for them?
In my experience, busy professionals significantly increase their productivity when they know and use some form of fundamental project self-management method. In fact, I consider ‘project self-management,’ i.e. the ability of non-project managers to manage their small projects, critical yet often undeveloped. I’d like to share with you a profoundly simple method that I teach as part of the GO System.
I recommend that my clients start their project by asking themselves or their teams these five questions:
1. Where are we now?
2. What is our desired outcome?
3. What specific tasks needs to be accomplished to get from here to there?
4. Who is accountable for each task?
5. When are the completion dates for each task?
Once we’ve answered these questions, we then create a Project Plan. Again, the technique is astoundingly simple. Using an Excel spreadsheet or Word table, create four columns called “What,” “Who,” “When” and “Done.” The answers to questions three through five are then transferred into the appropriate columns in the table or spreadsheet. Review the Project Plan regularly and ask team members to report on their progress. As they complete each task, make a note of it in the “Done” column. If you’re working solo on the project, it’s an effective way to break a large project into smaller tasks and keep yourself accountable.
Voila! A simple, effective way to get your project across the finish line.
Want to use this article in your e-newsletter or website? You can use this material in whole or in part, as long as you include this complete attribution and live link: Productivity consultant and trainer Cristin Lind of Clearwater Productivity helps busy professionals enhance their work and enrich their lives. If you’re ready to get more done with less effort, visit www.clearwaterproductivity.com.