Project Management

Finding the Shortest Path to Project Success

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Categories: Teams


What's the shortest possible path from project initiation to completion?

You might say it depends on the size of the project or the work involved. But there's always a shorter path than the one you have in mind -- even for larger projects.

There's always a solution that makes better use of resources while providing faster delivery times. It's like when you play Scrabble® and come up with a word combination that uses the fewest letters and still gives you the highest point value.

Say you walked into a job interview, for example, and you were hired on the spot. Although it seems impossible to get hired just by walking into the room, it's the ability to recognize the possibility that allows you to open yourself up to ideas that you'd otherwise discount.

So what's wrong with the way you currently manage a project from initiation to completion? Maybe nothing. But what if you could get there faster?

Try asking these questions to help you create the space in which actions towards the shortest path will arise:

  • What am I assuming about the project, team or requirements?
  • What am I considering as a roadblock?
  • What decisions had I already made about the project before it started or before I took it on?
  • What are the actual project requirements?
  • What limitations did I already impose on my team, the organization and myself?
Consider this not as an insight, but as an exercise to get to the shortest path. What do you now see possible?
Posted by Dmitri Ivanenko PMP ITIL on: March 14, 2011 12:55 PM | Permalink

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