Very few people apply to be a project manager. You get handed a product launch, a system rollout or the annual conference, usually on top of the day job, and you work it out as you go. Deadlines slip, stakeholders appear from nowhere, and the plan lives in your head.
In last week’s free Skills Booster, Productivity Ninja Lee Cottier walked us through the basics that our Project Management 101 workshop builds on. Here are the highlights.
Work out what kind of project you’re in
The Project Management Institute defines a project as “a temporary effort to create value through a unique product, service or result”. It has a start, a middle and an end, which is what separates it from business as usual.
Not every project behaves the same way. Lee shared a simple matrix built on two questions: how clear is the vision, and how clear is the approach?
- Painting by numbers: clear vision, clear approach. You know what the finished picture looks like and how to get there.
- Live television: clear approach, unclear vision. You know the process, but not how it ends.
- Going on a quest: clear vision, unclear approach. Your first conference, for example. You know what you want, not the route.
- Walking in a fog: neither is clear. “Make the world a better place” lives here.
Knowing which one you’re in tells you where to start. A fog project needs the vision pinned down before anyone builds a plan.
Write the aim in one sentence
A lot of project drift starts with a fuzzy aim. Lee’s rule: one clear sentence, no jargon, describing what the project will achieve rather than how it will operate or what it will deliver.
Then break it into two or three SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) focused on outcomes, not tasks. The common slips are vague targets (“increase enquiries” by how much?), no way of measuring progress, targets borrowed from industry benchmarks instead of your own numbers, and no deadline.
Alongside these, write your success and failure criteria. Deciding up front what failure looks like makes it far easier to spot early.
Pull one lever and the others move
Every project balances four parameters: time, cost, quantity and quality. Change one and the others feel it. Cut the budget and something gives on scope, quality or the deadline.
Lee asked attendees which of the four their organisation prioritises. Ask your project sponsor the same question at the start and you’ll avoid a lot of difficult conversations later.
Plan for risks and for people
An issue is something already happening. A risk is something that might. Score each risk from 1 to 5 for likelihood and for impact, multiply the two, and deal with the highest scores first. Then pick a strategy: prevent it, mitigate it, transfer it, plan a contingency, defer the decision, or accept it.
People need the same thinking. Map your stakeholders by how much power they have and how interested they are:
- High power, high interest: engage closely
- High power, low interest: keep satisfied
- Low power, high interest: keep informed
- Low power, low interest: minimal effort
Then decide how and how often you’ll communicate with each group.
One thing to try today: go through your project plan and make sure every task starts with a verb. “Venue” becomes “Book venue”. “Budget” becomes “Agree budget with finance”. A list of topics turns into a list of actions someone can pick up.
Watch the full session
Want your managers to run projects with a clear, repeatable framework? Our Project Management 101 workshop takes people from scope to stakeholder plan using their own real projects.