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.

Risk Management is one of the most overlooked project management areas, and for some managers the most tedious task to do...

Why do so many project managers fail in risk management, or rather not manage the risks of their projects?  

This is a question that I really would like to answer, may be I will include this research in my master study in Business Administration...but surely manage project risk and their critical path are essential activities. 

Keeping track of risks, you always help you to discuss them with your team, so ensure that risks be included in its agenda periodicals meeting you will have with your team and discuss it with them. 

Still the decision is yours, but I will list down a few benefits  that you can deliver to your business by registering and controlling the risks of the project.

Planning - It helps you to schedule activities in the most appropriate order, because the risks which may happen as a result of the planned actions needs to be handled, for example mitigation.  Do not expect that your team do their regular project tasks (you have to monitor !!) and much less risk mitigation activities. Have with you your risk register to identify the mitigating actions and a schedule control tool which will support you to have a complete picture of the work required to be performed by the team.

Prioritization - One of the major functions of a risk register is to capture all risks to the project centralized in one place (the famous data repository..). That's great, but it is necessary to prioritize these risks, ask yourself "What risks would cause you more problems in the project?" and list your risks in order of priority so that you know what to focus on before. 

The longer the project risks, the greater the chance of them discontinue the project in some way! 

Remember, risks come and go and Murphy always comes along, so when a risk has passed, take it off the record, or at least mark as closed. This allows you to focus on the risks that still pose a threat - do not spend your time prioritizing actions that direct things have passed away.

Help  (or hinder) your project budget - your project mitigating actions are subject to cause spending or bring new opportunities (even if only the cost of labor in the project team). Look at your risk register and work thinking about what it will cost to manage each risk effectively. Then you can add these costs to your project budget.

Of course, you may find too expensive to manage all risks the way you want, which is where your risk prioritization activities comes. Distribute all of its available funds for the risks of highest priority.

See if you can identify a positive risk as well, and here comes the opportunity! These are risks that cause no problems but bring benefits such as additional revenue that can recover or increase the scope of your project or; anticipate a delivery. This is why when we manage risks on projects we have to constantly remember that we must seek for winning opportunities!

Who does what and when - Another feature of the risk register is to assign an owner for risk. Someone must be responsible for managing the risks, even if do not do all the work by yourself. Besides being a great opportunity for a younger member of your team to be noticed and feel recognized. Enjoy the famous LEADERSHIP skill and delegate it . Do not assume responsibility for any risks you might have several other things to do.

Best Project Management - When you manage the risk properly and proactively they work for the benefit of the project and the company.

With advance view of the problem you will have the chance to work in advance with the team, increasing the chances of success of the project and avoiding project excuses like: "I did not know", "No one warned me" , etc... 

Concluding:

• Discuss the risks with your team, they have better technical view than you,
• Make sure that those risks be included in your meeting agenda to be discussed and managed,
• Bring the main risks with you during the committee meetings and present its response plan

Reflect on what I have written, you shall be considered a pro-active manager highly valued feature in today's companies.

Every project manager must take risks, but do it methodically and safely 

I hope it helps you !

Nelson Rosamilha,PMP,Prince 2 Practitioner, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
https://br.linkedin.com/in/rosamilha

Risk Management is one of the most overlooked project management areas, and for some managers the most tedious task to do...

Why do so many project managers fail in risk management, or rather not manage the risks of their projects?  

This is a question that I really would like to answer, may be I will include this research in my master study in Business Administration...but surely manage project risk and their critical path are essential activities. 

Keeping track of risks, you always help you to discuss them with your team, so ensure that risks be included in its agenda periodicals meeting you will have with your team and discuss it with them. 

Still the decision is yours, but I will list down a few benefits  that you can deliver to your business by registering and controlling the risks of the project.

Planning - It helps you to schedule activities in the most appropriate order, because the risks which may happen as a result of the planned actions needs to be handled, for example mitigation.  Do not expect that your team do their regular project tasks (you have to monitor !!) and much less risk mitigation activities. Have with you your risk register to identify the mitigating actions and a schedule control tool which will support you to have a complete picture of the work required to be performed by the team.

Prioritization - One of the major functions of a risk register is to capture all risks to the project centralized in one place (the famous data repository..). That's great, but it is necessary to prioritize these risks, ask yourself "What risks would cause you more problems in the project?" and list your risks in order of priority so that you know what to focus on before. 

The longer the project risks, the greater the chance of them discontinue the project in some way! 

Remember, risks come and go and Murphy always comes along, so when a risk has passed, take it off the record, or at least mark as closed. This allows you to focus on the risks that still pose a threat - do not spend your time prioritizing actions that direct things have passed away.

Help  (or hinder) your project budget - your project mitigating actions are subject to cause spending or bring new opportunities (even if only the cost of labor in the project team). Look at your risk register and work thinking about what it will cost to manage each risk effectively. Then you can add these costs to your project budget.

Of course, you may find too expensive to manage all risks the way you want, which is where your risk prioritization activities comes. Distribute all of its available funds for the risks of highest priority.

See if you can identify a positive risk as well, and here comes the opportunity! These are risks that cause no problems but bring benefits such as additional revenue that can recover or increase the scope of your project or; anticipate a delivery. This is why when we manage risks on projects we have to constantly remember that we must seek for winning opportunities!

Who does what and when - Another feature of the risk register is to assign an owner for risk. Someone must be responsible for managing the risks, even if do not do all the work by yourself. Besides being a great opportunity for a younger member of your team to be noticed and feel recognized. Enjoy the famous LEADERSHIP skill and delegate it . Do not assume responsibility for any risks you might have several other things to do.

Best Project Management - When you manage the risk properly and proactively they work for the benefit of the project and the company.

With advance view of the problem you will have the chance to work in advance with the team, increasing the chances of success of the project and avoiding project excuses like: "I did not know", "No one warned me" , etc... 

Concluding:

• Discuss the risks with your team, they have better technical view than you,
• Make sure that those risks be included in your meeting agenda to be discussed and managed,
• Bring the main risks with you during the committee meetings and present its response plan

Reflect on what I have written, you shall be considered a pro-active manager highly valued feature in today's companies.

Every project manager must take risks, but do it methodically and safely 

I hope it helps you !

Nelson Rosamilha,PMP,Prince 2 Practitioner, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
https://br.linkedin.com/in/rosamilha