The criteria for successful projects are simple: do what is asked well, on time and within budget. As simple as it sounds, delivering within those criteria takes more than just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. These are some of the critical factors for project success in a business:
The scope is kept to a minimum
Two words that can thwart any project success are “scope creep”. When stakeholders start to push their wish list to the forefront, a good project manager must have the mechanisms in place to make sure the scope, time and cost are kept to a minimum.
Project managers take ownership
In order to successfully deliver a project, the project leaders must take ownership of the responsibility for success. If the project managers take ownership they will make sure to address issues before they threaten the success of the project, thereby ensuring a positive result.
Communication is one of the top priorities
One of the biggest reasons for project failure is a lack of communication. Stakeholders need to be kept on top of the project and informed of all changes, no matter how minor. Successful project managers know this and make an effort to keep all stakeholders in the loop, particularly senior management.
The end-user is a part of the team
It makes sense to have the user’s input into a project from which they will benefit; however, too often they are not consulted. Having a successful project means that users need to know about it and be represented on the team. If they are kept out of the loop and presented with a solution to a problem they didn’t know they had, they will probably reject the solution and the project will ultimately fail.
Projects have clear business objectives
Having an idea for a project is all very well but unless it can benefit the business in a tangible way, it runs the risk of never seeing the light of day. Successful projects have measurable business benefits such as improving productivity, saving money, increasing profits etc. Having a clearly beneficial business objective that’s quantifiable goes a long way to securing the necessary buy-in from the management team in your firm.
Successful project management
News: July 2012
Successful project management
The criteria for successful projects are simple: do what is asked well, on time and within budget. As simple as it sounds, delivering within those criteria takes more than just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. These are some of the critical factors for project success in a business:
The scope is kept to a minimum
Two words that can thwart any project success are “scope creep”. When stakeholders start to push their wish list to the forefront, a good project manager must have the mechanisms in place to make sure the scope, time and cost are kept to a minimum.
Project managers take ownership
In order to successfully deliver a project, the project leaders must take ownership of the responsibility for success. If the project managers take ownership they will make sure to address issues before they threaten the success of the project, thereby ensuring a positive result.
Communication is one of the top priorities
One of the biggest reasons for project failure is a lack of communication. Stakeholders need to be kept on top of the project and informed of all changes, no matter how minor. Successful project managers know this and make an effort to keep all stakeholders in the loop, particularly senior management.
The end-user is a part of the team
It makes sense to have the user’s input into a project from which they will benefit; however, too often they are not consulted. Having a successful project means that users need to know about it and be represented on the team. If they are kept out of the loop and presented with a solution to a problem they didn’t know they had, they will probably reject the solution and the project will ultimately fail.
Projects have clear business objectives
Having an idea for a project is all very well but unless it can benefit the business in a tangible way, it runs the risk of never seeing the light of day. Successful projects have measurable business benefits such as improving productivity, saving money, increasing profits etc. Having a clearly beneficial business objective that’s quantifiable goes a long way to securing the necessary buy-in from the management team in your firm.
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