Complexity Theatre: Why We Over-Complicate Projects (and How to Stop)
Project management has a problem. Somewhere along the way, we started confusing looking professional with being effective. We’ve built elaborate […]
Top Tip #8 – Capture – and circulate – actions, not minutes
It is a very rare project indeed that requires a verbatim account of the meeting details.
What about the sponsors?!
Project sponsors are vital to the successful delivery of projects, but they are often overlooked when it comes to support. How can we prepare sponsors better for their roles, and whose job is it to make sure that they understand what their role is?
Top Tip #7 – Regular cost and schedule reviews
‘…people frequently create the schedule or cost plan and then leave them untouched for weeks at a time.’
Top Tip #6 – Have you tried… Removing AOB from your meeting agendas?
‘Any other business’ is just that – other business!
Top Tip #5 – Framing your risks
When you’re capturing risks, a useful model to use is “Because of X, there is a risk that Y.”
Top Tip #4 – One to ones
Your project meetings are great for seeing how the team as a whole are doing, but make sure you make time to have individual catch-ups with each member of your project team.
Top Tip #3 – Is everyone clear what they’re up to?
It is often easy to assume that everyone knows what they are doing, but it’s not always the case. And it’s almost always true that people are making assumptions about the role others are performing
Top Tip #2 – Have you tried… Checking in on your project objectives?
It’s worthwhile re-visiting the project objectives regularly, but if you haven’t done so in a while, it will be especially valuable.
How is your (project) hygiene? – with two free templates!
A good project routine will help you stay on top of the small stuff – so you don’t end up sweating it later.