All of life is a
series of projects. A project is a complex task. It is often called a multitask
job. This type of job requires the coordination of efforts of several people,
each of whom is responsible for a part of the job, with every part of the job
being necessary for successful completion. Your ability to handle these multitask
jobs is a critical skill for success. All achievements of consequence are
complex, and they involve the cooperation of many people.
The
Key Management Skill
A study by
Stanford University of the qualities that companies look for in promoting people
into the position of chief executive officer concluded that the ability to put
together a team to accomplish a task was the single most important identifiable
quality of an executive who was destined for the fast track in his/her career.
Your ability to put together teams to do multitask jobs, ability to complete
complex projects, and visible qualities of leadership will determine the course of your career
as much as any other factor. It will enable you to multiply yourself times the
talents and efforts of others, and accomplish vastly more than you could do on
your own.
A
Learnable Skill
Project
management is a learnable skill, like riding a bicycle. It can be divided into
a series of steps, each of which you can master, one at a time. In managing any
project, you begin by defining the ideal desired result of the project. What
exactly are you trying to accomplish? What will the project look like if it is
a complete success? Start by defining a successful completion of the
project, the ideal desired result.
Start
at the Beginning
Once you are
clear about your desired result, you then start from the beginning. Determine
what you are going to have to do to get from where you are to the completion of
this project, on schedule and on budget. Determine a specific deadline or
target to aim at. Make sure that it is realistic and achievable.
Assemble
the Team
Bring together
all the people whose contributions will be necessary for the success of this
project. Sometimes you need to assemble a team before you can even decide upon
the ideal result and the schedule. Remember that people are everything. Take
ample time to think carefully about the people who are going to be the team
members.
Share
the Ownership
Instill ownership
of the project in the team members by sharing the job with them. There is a
direct relationship between how much a person feels a sense of ownership for
the job and how committed he is to making the project a success. One of the key
jobs of management and leadership is to instill this feeling of ownership in
each member of the team, so that each person feels personally responsible for
the accomplishment of the overall project. You accomplish this by discussing
every detail of the project with the people who are expected to carry it out.
Develop
a Shared Vision
A shared vision
is an ideal future picture of success that everyone buys into. How do you
develop a shared vision? You sit down and work with the team to answer the
question, “What are we trying to accomplish?” You encourage everyone to
contribute, visualize, and to imagine the ideal outcome or desired result of
the project. Once this vision is clear and shared by everyone, you move on to
the development of “shared plans” to achieve the vision.
Set
Schedules and Deadlines
Once you have a
shared vision and shared plans, and everyone knows exactly what is to be done
and what the ideal results will look like, the next step is for you to set a
deadline for project completion based on the consensus of your team.
Create
a List
Create a to-do list and write down every task, function,
and activity that must be completed, right down to the smallest job. Make it
easier for yourself-get the project finished on time and break the project down
into individual jobs and tasks as much as you can.
Organize
the Project
Organize the
different parts of the project in two ways: sequential tasks
and parallel tasks. You organize by sequence when you determine
which jobs must be done before other jobs can be done, with each task in order.
Sequential organization is necessary where a particular task requires that
another task be completed before it can be started. In almost every case,
before you do anything, you have to do something else first. Organize the tasks
sequentially with a logical process of activities from beginning through to the
end of the project.
The second way to
organize the tasks is through parallel activities. Parallel activities exist
when more than one task can be done at the same time. Two or more people can be
working on two or three different tasks independently of each other.
