Tips and Reminders for Project Managers

Here are my essential tips and reminders for those new to project management or hoping to enter the profession:

• Project management has a definite beginning and end. It is not a continuous process.
• A plan is not a project; it is a tool.
• Thirty-five percent of projects get consumed in overheads and administration.
• Gain knowledge and understanding before starting a project.
• Projects must meet customer requirements, be on time and budget.
• Always remember revision numbers and to check that all those involved in the project are using the same version of the project plan.
• Know who's in the project environment and manage them.
• Projects need good communication. Ensure that a suitable communications infrastructure exists.
• Projects don't run without politics so control the politics.
• Analyse the impact each of the players in a project might have.
• Ask for the information you need to run a project well, for example, a weekly breakdown of costs and hours.
• Keep the project momentum going.
• Monitor and control any risks.
• Ask how much money do I have, how much time and what deliverable is required.
• Know what you own. Personal success factors are, for example, product fit for purpose and customer sign-off.
• Agree with the customer the critical success factors for the project. These maybe just a few items from a long wish list. Deliver what the customer decides.
• Project managers are rarely hands on with project tasks. The running of a project is work enough.
• Manage, minimise and control.
• Project failures will happen.
• If there is anything to do, do it.