6 New Year Resolutions for PMs & Organizations

Bruce is the founder of ProjectManagementHacks.com, a resource for growing IT project managers.

  Career Development  

Even given the ongoing pandemic, the new year still brings the promise of new potential. In that spirit, I want to share six habits for you and your organization to consider testing. Pick one habit to take for a test drive this quarter and see if it makes you more successful.

Project Management Habits for Individuals
Use these ideas to refresh your personal work habits:

1. Get clarity on project success upfront every time. Sometimes, there is a disconnect between how a project manager defines success (e.g., on time and on budget) and how the executive sponsor sees success (e.g., transformative success). Failing to address these disconnects upfront leads to difficulties. More communication is one way to solve this. Meet with your project sponsor to determine what kind of result they envision as success.

Use these questions as prompts:

• What result from this project would put a smile on your face 12 months from now?
• What has disappointed or frustrated you the most in previous projects? (Sometimes exploring negative experiences can reveal valuable clues.)
• What would success on this project look like in terms of feedback from employees or customers?

2. Apply backup thinking like a Navy SEAL. Project management requires coping with uncertainty constantly. Given that fact, it is somewhat foolish to assume that our first plan will always work. The “two is…

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