Technology has brought a lot of change to businesses. More competition, intense projects and the need for speed are all part of the fourth industrial revolution. Organizations have to adopt these new changes by distributing their projects over different time zones and global teams to succeed.
Project Managers have to follow best project management practices and create a clear structure for their projects. Here on the blog, I lay out the ten most essential Project Managers principles you should use and leverage to ensure success.
What Is Project Management About?
Project managers place a massive amount of stress on themselves to ensure projects go smoothly; project requirements and resources get more complex as geographies get closer.
It’s not easy to manage a project, especially modern projects, and it requires a lot of discipline and skilled managers to handle those projects. That’s where project management comes in.
Project management is the practice of using tools and techniques to deliver something of value. It can be a software package that improves an existing business process, the construction of a building, or even disaster relief efforts.
Project Management is a career that has turned into a highly-respected profession. It has simplified the project management process and made it more efficient. Project Management provides value at the strategic and organizational level and provides valuable training for those in the field.
It can help people from different sectors, and job profiles become better at their role and ensure better value and outcomes. Project management skills can also help deliver innovative solutions on time and within budget, helping organizations save millions of dollars on failed products. Not just in IT, but project management can also help with marketing, HR and finance.
One successful project includes a set of principles that assist in creating a path to completion. You can apply these project management principles to any level or branch of a project that falls under a different area of responsibility in the overall project organization.
What are the fundamental Principles of project management?
Let’s learn about the twelve basic project management principles. These principles provide the foundation for project success and can be applied to all projects.
- Principle of Success: As a project manager, it is essential to have a strong mindset and strive toward success before starting a project. It’s not enough to complete your project on time and within budget; you should also deliver what the client expects and do whatever you can to ensure quality.
- Principle of Project Manager: As a project manager, it is your responsibility to make sure that everything is done correctly. You are in charge of getting the resources, schedules and budgets set up and working with everyone involved to keep the project running smoothly.
Project Managers must have a diverse skill set that includes good technical knowledge, good people skills, communication skills and the ability to upskill. - Principle of Commitment: It would be best if you committed before a project is started. Everyone involved in the project should work to reach their objectives and goals, and that commitment should happen before the project is set in motion.
- Principle of Structure: This refers to the structure of your project, including what resources are needed, what is required in terms of time, and the goal of your project. By knowing these three aspects beforehand, you can better plan out how to get your project done.
- Principle of Definition: A project with significant stakeholders involved with many ideas and opinions can be challenging. Project managers must ensure that everybody is on the same page and that each picture is made clear for anyone who may want to give input.
- Principle of Transparency: The foundations of a good project are transparency and trust. Transparency means to be open about the progress of your project, not just you and your team members but also between you and the stakeholders and customers.
Your responsibility is to ensure the stakeholders are clued in on what is always happening in the project. Several tools allow you to communicate and share project status. - Principle of Communication: It’s essential to communicate with all of your stakeholders, whether they are part of the project team or not. As a project manager, you need to engage and motivate people using your excellent communication skills.
- Principle of Progress: To effectively plan a project, there must be milestones with clear definitions and clearly defined progress thresholds. There should be a clear understanding of the overarching objectives, goals, and scope. With this in mind, there should also be a proper risk assessment strategy.
- Principle Life cycle: The project development lifecycle includes all stages that the project goes through, from inception to rollout and phasing out. The phases are essential parts of the project’s overall success, so You must involve planning and initiation. The milestones tell you what’s going on with the process, and if you reach them, you know it’s a booming stage.
- Principle of Culture: Organizational culture can impact the success of a project. A positive work culture can lead to innovation, growth, and a more positive attitude among the workforce. Team members can speak without fear and freely put forth their ideas and suggestions. Conversely, a hostile work environment can demotivate the entire team and increase the chances of project failure.
- Principle of Risk: Risk is a part of any project, and a task without associated risks would be an unthinkable idea. Risks must be identified so that you can mitigate the potential good and dire consequences to ensure that the project is not adversely affected. Risk management is an integral part of project management and must be practised by every team. Too many risks in one project can create problems that become a bottleneck on completion.
- Principle of Accountability: Progress on a project is only as good as the team working together and holding themselves accountable. Checking that milestones are met and measuring progress against the original estimate helps teams complete projects faster, more efficiently, and successfully. Those measurements also help identify top performers in groups and motivate and reward them inappropriate ways.
Also Read – 5 PMP Terms You Need to Know Before having PMP Exam
Responsibilities of the project manager.
The Project Manager oversees the development of the project plan, manages project tasks for the team and secures acceptance of deliverables from the sponsor and stakeholders. The Project Manager is accountable for keeping everyone informed about what’s going on and handles any issues you cannot resolve internally.
Project managers must have the following attributes with other project-related responsibilities.
- Technology knowledge is essential when it comes to project products.
- Understanding complex management concepts
- Strong interpersonal skills for clear communications
- Understanding how an open system interfaces with its environment
What defines Project success?
Project success goes beyond the parameters of time and budget. It encompasses how well you have handled your stakeholders during the project—in context to being open and transparent right from the start.
Let us look at some of the parameters that define project success:
- Project Scope: The project has delivered what the stakeholders needed and aimed for.
- Project schedule and cost: The project was completed within budget and on time.
- Satisfied teams: The team accomplished a lot in a short amount of time and delivered their best performance.
- Happy customers: The stakeholders are satisfied with the quality and quantity that this project has produced. Continued customer satisfaction will help increase organizational reputation in the market.
Conclusion
A Project Manager must have follow these project management principles when planning, Preparing and pursuing projects to make sure they succeed. People often say that making things happen is difficult, but following a few rules can help form effortless habitual success.
Knowledgewoods™ provides a variety of project management training courses, which enable aspiring project managers to obtain expertise in their field and prepare for licensing examinations like the PMP.