The PM Finish Line

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

 

Many projects start well. There is a bright idea or shiny new goal that everyone is excited about working on. The book is wide open and all the pages are blank so that you can fill them in with your brilliance. The course lies ahead of you quiet and empty. In fact, some people are addicted to new projects; like resolutions, they start on them with energy and excitement.

But when the rubber meets the road and the work starts in earnest, it can be easy to get bored or discouraged. It is vital in project management to learn how to finish well. After all, if your resume only shows that you start projects--not finish them--potential employers might start to get suspicious.

Finishing well is not something that just happens because you have a great schedule or work plan; it is something you need to work on constantly throughout the project. You need to have the right pieces in place and you need to take the time to plan out the entire project and pace yourself so that you can finish just as well as you started. The ability to work through a project and thrive in the race to the finish line--and then be able to hold up your head and finish well--will not only help your resume, it will help your entire team finish as well as you do. But how do you get there from here?

Set the Pace
First you need to set the pace. If you run a marathon, you do not spend the entire race …

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