CONDUCTING PROJECT: CARE OF FIVE POINTS
We all know that to conduct a project we pass through essential phases of planning, implementing, monitoring, evaluation and response. However, the process usually takes different scenarios. Among lots of conducted projects and plans I come up with five points that, in my humble opinion, are useful and worth sharing.
PLAN-A and PLAN-B:
Project leaders usually have Plan-A, and if failed they are ready with Plan-B and even Plan-C. I think this is inappropriate. We do not know exactly what are the root causes of failure to Plan-A or at which stage the plan will stop.
We need to acknowledge that emergences usually pop up and disturb the proposed plan. This will be followed by denial and acceptance phases that will surely disturb the project timeline. The good preparation is that if Plan-A did not work, My Plan-B statement is "I am 100% prepared that Plan-A might face challenge and might not work and I am ready to think and implement a new plan according to the current situation". Here it comes our preparedness and acceptance to emerging challenges. Here it comes our soul to rethink and design a new performance road. Surely, this can be applied to a “Project Plan” and it is totally not applied to “Organizational Disaster and Emergency Plan”.
LOGISTICS:
A good project leader is the person who can visualize project physical and abstract requirements and make them ready for utilization to accomplish the project goals and objectives. That is to say, to identify every single item that will be needed and to make sure this item is available, workable and competent to achieve its purpose. This could be human resource, financial resource, equipment, information or technical support and backup and many more. Logistics could be the role of the project leader or could be outsourced depend on the organizational capacity.
COMMUNICATION:
The one and only golden principle in project success is the Effective Productive Communication. It is the art and tool for project achievement. It reflects how the leader can be inspiring to his team, and vice versa, how the team can surprise leaders and achieve required targets in a smooth and planned way. Without it, incoherence, misunderstanding, preventable mistakes and repetitions frequently occur and not to mention huge loss of time, effort and money. Consequently, It is advisable to verbally communicate easily, clearly and simply; communicate details in writing; implement a feedback or read back mechanism to ensure understanding and proper delivery of the message and finally, follow up communicated message and process. The Golden Rule in project communication is “If you cannot communicate your plan, you are not ready to do it”.
PATIENCE:
Patience is a trait of inspiring leaders and world figures and therefore, it is the trait that you will require to achieve the project goal and celebrate "Mission Accomplished". If you find yourself impatience i.e. restless with anything that cause delay with the project success, you have to train yourself to overcome this distressing trait. Try to make some of the followings your new habits: stand in long queues, site relaxed on your chair, do one thing at a time and complete it, do not interfere others while they expressing their ideas, train yourself to listen carefully.
CELEBRATING FAILURE:
Once you find a true unmet challenge to your success or resistant obstacle leads to undesirable outcome, Celebrate. This will give you the chance to admit you are human and not a hero, to refresh to overcome the rising contest and to see the world around you from different angle and by fresh eye. It also reflects that in this organization we acknowledge failure and we will work together to overcome it. This will surely enforce the organizational culture of clarity, trust and hope. Celebrating failure can take different shapes like: one day trip, humble friends party, a walk with the one you love, eating your selection in your favorite place, or even listening to your favorite music with a cup of hot tea or coffee.
To sum it up, project management is a complex process but certainly it is doable and enjoyable when you are ready and well prepared to do it.
