Operational Excellence in Project Management

I´ve seen and read thousands of articles, posts, books and presentations in how to fail as a Project Manager… As I am one of them I´ve decided that it is time to collect tips and tricks and share with the community, here we go:

• Fail to address issues immediately - two members of your project team can't stand each other and cooperation is vital to the success of the project, find a way that they can work together professionally do not procrastinate it will just make the things worse.
• Reschedule too often - You can change due dates, assignments, and schedules, but be aware that there is a cost every time you make a change, and if you ask your team to keep up with too many changes you are risking to make mistakes, missed deadlines, confusion, and possibly stress team.
• Ignore quality to reach project milestones – Focus on complete the project on time and within budget but not on quality, having done that to each deliverable means that you will some up more quality problems in your project prior to delivery to the customer.
• Micromanaging isn't pretty- The most able managers know when to share responsibilities with others and to keep focused on the big picture.
• Risk Management – if you don’t manage project risks then you are the risk ! Don´t let it happen you will risk the project and your job
• Communication is bothering and annoying – believe me a thousand of issues could be avoided if you adopt a very effective communication in your project
• I always say yes to my customer- yes you can always say yes in a different ways but please think before you act understand the impacts in your project before to say yes and if you say yes tell him also how to do that.

The biggest challenge is your discipline to run the project in a continuous way not your technical expertise, think about that.

Scope Creep  is the name that project managers give to additional unplanned deliveries in the project. 

These extra deliveries, or changes can mean the difference between success and project failure. 
Uncontrolled scope augmentation is the worst enemy for any project manager if you do not manage the situation properly. 

All of you have probably faced this monster during the execution of your project, a  small increase in the scope can stop the project, cause budget/schedule overrun, schedule or even worse resulting in customer loss causing major damage to the company. 

There are several techniques and tools such as WBS , PERT .and others that can help you in the scope of management, you can find them in a good project management book. My proposal here is to contribute with 6 management tips that can help you in this situation:

1. Project Vision - Ensure full understanding of the project vision. Meet with project stakeholders and reinforce this vision and do not forget to communicate the change management process for those interested,
2. Manage expectations of stakeholders - No matter the size of the delivery of your project and since the beginning of the project you must manage customer expectations , communicating what is expected to be delivered and what will not be delivered , failure at this point means dissatisfied customer , unsuccessfully project and loss of new business opportunities, do not be afraid to say "NO" and be polite !
3. Know the process of change management - It is important to know what the process is and how to use it. The less you expect the scope creep can materialize , you have to be prepared...
   If you are unsure about the process, look for information with the account manager, project committee or in the worst scenario you have to manage the situation by yourself. Establish a action plan once you realize that there will be scope to increase after that talk with your account manager and discuss the impact on the project.
4. Document the requirements in a clear and detailed way and search for formal approval,
5. Communicate with the team - you must communicate clearly the scope of the project to your team. In addition, they should know that ideas are welcome and can bring benefits to the project, but this should be discussed before its execution. I consider this the most important point. Meet weekly with the team and ensure that working packages are documented in WBS and those packages are  clearly defined schedule to be reviewed.
6. Mitigation plans - Risks can quickly become serious problems when the subject is increase the scope, plan ahead (be proactive and yes t I'm being redundant ), try to have a separate budget to manage this these risks.

The scope is the essence of the project and determines whether the result is successful or not. The project stakeholders have different business needs depending on the type of work, domestic policy, bonuses, and other factors which require you extreme care and caution regarding the appropriate treatment in this situation.   Understand these conflicting interests must be considered in order to maintain the project .

The client is not worried about what's in the contract, he is concerned about his business! 

In short

• Understand what your customer wants to achieve,
• Collaborate to produce a possible solution,
• Define the scope that will produce this solution,
• Produce a cost impact analysis, term, etc ..
• Write the details of the service being provided,
• Seek approval of the committee if any.

Good luck !

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