Unconventional Tips for Project Managers

This forum is for members to share and gain knowledge of Project Management. Got a question about project management? Need help with a problem? Wish to offer tips and advice? Post here.
Post Reply
User avatar
dhaughey
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 495
Joined: Sat 19 Dec 2009 4:39 pm
Location: London

What’s your unconventional tip for project managers?

What I’m looking for is not the usual textbook suggestions, but something you do, that’s not in any textbook. Large or small, let’s share.

I’ll kick off with this valuable tip that has stood me in good stead with my customers.

Always mark new documents you share with your customer as draft. Why? I found early on in my career that there’s a big difference between a document marked as draft and one that’s not. My customers assumed that the documents, not marked draft were closed for discussion. They became unhappy that I was imposing my will upon them. As soon as I added the word draft they changed. The word draft says this has yet to be decided. There's still time to change your mind and make updates.

It’s a small thing that makes a big difference.

How about you? What’s your unconventional tip for project managers?
stonesfan
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu 15 Aug 2013 1:43 pm

I've always found using the phrase:

"I've listened to what you have just said"

Can assist in pacifying those stakeholders who feel their opinions are not being taken seriously.
sebi21
New Member
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon 23 May 2016 12:59 pm

Hi there,

This is my first of hopefully many posts. :-) Excited to be here.

Ok the most unconventional... I got rid of the phrase "Next Steps" or even "Next Step" because for me that implies something in the future. In other words: It's good to have a next step written down but for me that souded always like "let's do this tomorrow".

So I don't write "Next Step" anymore, I write "Current Step" in the project communication to make clear that somebody is actually working on that step actually right now.

I find this unconventional but it has a big psychological impact for me.

What do you think about that?

Best regards,
Sebastian
jayashree
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu 28 Apr 2016 12:03 pm
Location: Bangalore
Contact:

Prioritizing the person in front of us or giving them importance can definitely help in creating a positive impact as a Project Manager.
fashihah
New Member
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu 02 Jun 2016 9:34 am

hi there...
In my opinion, the unconventional tip for project management is managing the time efficiently by making tomorrow's list before today ends. Anything did not finish today will be pushing it tomorrow and become the priority task to be dive into first.
User avatar
dhaughey
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 495
Joined: Sat 19 Dec 2009 4:39 pm
Location: London

Write 'live minutes' for your conference calls. This helps people in remote locations follow the topics being discussed and see the actions they have been assigned. The minutes are available immediately the call finishes and don't become a chore to be completed later.

My team really like this approach. I am starting to use 'live minutes' on other projects with great success.

Tools: Skype for Business and Evernote.

Duncan
Post Reply