7 – Resolutions to better manage your Projects in 2018

Project Management Resolution for 2018:- The year 2017 is almost over; it is time to take your good resolutions for 2018. And if you decide to better manage your projects? Alone or at the head of a team, managing its projects is not improvised. As a project manager, you are the conductor. Plan tasks, mobilize resources and limit unforeseen events: Ensuring the smooth running of a project from start to finish requires preparation, organization and determination.

Project Management Resolution for 2018

Here are the 7 resolutions to take to better manage your projects this year.

1. The Objective to be reached you will Define

What goal do you want to accomplish with this project? In order to effectively manage your project, clearly define the objective.

Avoid vagueness and confusion, and be specific: indicate what you expect from this project as well as the means at your disposal to achieve this.

To help you, use the SMART method:

• S for Specific: Your goal must be clear, precise, simple and understandable in order to be easily measurable. The complexity and the wave slow down the action.
• M for Measurable: You must be able to measure the progress of your goal. It must therefore be quantifiable or qualifiable.
• A for Acceptable and Ambitious: to be accepted by the team, the goal must be reasonable but ambitious enough to be a challenge and stimulate motivation.
• R for Realistic: Set yourself a workable goal to stay motivated.
• T for temporally defined: set a target date to which the target must be reached.

Then, draw up the specifications: it formalizes the project with precision, details the conditions of realization and describes the expected characteristics.

This document is essential for planning and steering the progress of tasks. It is the link between you and the customer.

2. The list of tasks to be Completed

Once your objective has been identified, establish a list of tasks to accomplish. Tasks are the actions to be carried out to reach your goal and realize your project.

You can again use the SMART method to create your action list.

Is your to-do list ready? This is the time to set up a dashboard.

As with the driver, the dashboard informs the project leader about the progress and operation of the project. This tool greatly improves the efficiency of decision-making. Using significant indicators, it shows the current progress of your project.

For an effective dashboard, choose few indicators, but indicators that are relevant and understandable by all. Use colors to make it easily and quickly readable, and update it daily.

3. The time and Budget for Each task you will Assign

Your tasks clearly identified, and then you have to allocate them a budget, resources and a lead time.

Budget too tight, unrealistic deadlines … Avoid these problems by assigning a function to each member of your team.

Name a time custodian whose mission is to ensure that everyone respects their deadlines. As a project manager, you can also perform this function.

Also designate a budget officer, responsible for alerting the team of overruns as budgetary resources.

4. The schedule of tasks you will realize

Planning is essential to achieve the objectives set.

In order to manage deadlines, you must organize the different stages of the project over time.

Do you know the Gantt chart? Often used in project management, this very efficient tool allows visualizing the progress of the different tasks constituting your project. It is an improved planning.

Use the schedule as a guide. Do not forget that nothing is frozen. A long-term project can evolve over time and the planning must adapt to the unexpected. So review your schedule from day to day.

5. A Regular Follow-up will be Carried out

Regularly meet to review the progress of the project, but especially to anticipate risks and problems.

This is the time to check your dashboard and focus on the indicators in the red.

Meetings should be brief and effective. In short regular meetings (once a week, for example) will be more efficient and consume less time and energy than a long meeting once or twice a month.

6. A report will be Prepared

After each meeting, it is important to write a report that shows the progress of the project, the decisions taken and the actions to be taken.

The minutes of the meeting are essential in order to:

• Provide the same level of information to all project participants;
• Keep track of conversations, decisions made and actions taken;
• Avoid confusion and misunderstandings;
• Distribute the actions to be implemented (and their deadlines) to each member of the team.

The report is also important for analyzing errors and good practices that have occurred during project management. Perfect for improving your next project. It is also important to centralize all your reports within the same platform so that they are accessible to all stakeholders in the project.

7. At its resolutions you will stand

Taking good resolutions is good, sticking to it is better!

Follow these tips for better management of your projects in 2017. If you are determined, you will succeed. Finally, know that there is project management software to help you better manage your projects. They are perfect for collaborative work, helping you stay organized and communicating easily with your team.