An easy-looking task with overwhelming set of responsibilities to take care of – yes, we are talking about project management which seems easy to anyone but not to the one who’s doing it.

Project management involves identifying the work, planning, strategizing, and communicating the same with the team and stakeholders.

Once the planning and execution are done, you need to make sure the whole process moves smoothly.

The main intention of project management is to get the project done with less struggle and stress, and to deliver it within the budget and on time.

1. The basics of Project management

Understanding what is to be done, which sub-tasks will be needed to accomplish and what will be estimated time to complete it.

These are some important things which you should understand so that planning and organising remains smooth.

There has to be a good understanding of what is needed to be delivered and tasks which should be included.

The best way would be breaking the large components of the project into smaller steps of work to get a better picture.

Make sure to include the personnel and their ability who are going to be working in the project.

In this way, one can estimate the time taken for the projects in a better way and there are lesser chances of missing anything.

2. Creating a Schedule

Foremost thing is to identify an efficient team and the tasks & dependencies.

Make sure about the responsibilities assigned and the time-taken to complete them.

In this way, better time estimations can be provided and the information can be gathered from the people who are working.

They can be equipped in a better way to meet the target dates since they were involved in creating the schedule.

In this way, you can have a hold on the team.

3. Setting up Milestones

After the schedule is created, identify the milestones as periodic targets so as to stay on track.

Milestones are markers used to track the status of the project.

They may be designed by the client or based on the delivery focused. They are not designed just for project end, but they are throughout the project schedule which may be used for communication and monitoring the status of the project.

4. Budget

Plan the budget before starting the project, which helps in getting a clear picture of the money that you will be spending for executing the same.

Clarity about the budget on which products you are going to spend this project is needed.

If the expenditure is evaluated at the beginning itself, it would be easier to track and execute the project.

It ensures that you don’t miss anything or spend more than the expected amount.

5. Strategize the Potential Risks

Make a plan for handling potential risks that may occur during the project and be ready to handle it.

Make use of your previous experiences in handling any kind of situations.

The team’s experience can also be used to create a plan and handle each and every risk, as it arises.

6. Execution

Once the tasks are divided into smaller goals, work with the team to execute them.

Communicate with the team regularly regarding their progress and make sure to remove any roadblocks that may help to make the team stay on track.

7. Tracking

Deciding every element is important, but tracking each element is also necessary.

Many a time it will happen that the things are not going exactly the way you had planned.

Make a note of the times where planning went off the track.

It helps you in the creation of the further projects.

Also note the factors by which the planning went off the track, you will consider those factors next time when you plan.

8. Risk Management

Keep a check on the risk management plan throughout the project.

Communicate with the team members regarding the potential risks that may occur and identify them at the initial stages.

This is one of the major things to consider while managing the project.

If any potential risks occur, execute the plan that you have created initially.

9. Communication

Keep communicating regularly with stakeholders and team members.

Share the status of the project to everyone to make them aware of how things are progressing with the project.

Manage their expectations throughout the way and keep every member informed to gain their confidence and trust.

10. Never Lose Focus

Opportunities and distraction can take away your mind from the progress of the project.

So, stay focused on the right work and don’t let other things divert the focus.

Help the team to stay focused and to complete the activities while reaching the project goals.

Have a regular communication with the team, even if they are uncomfortable having the conversation, in this way the bandwidth to work can be known.

By staying focussed and communicating with the team, you can manage taking up the work from higher authorities.

Apart from these project management tips, there are some factors which should be kept in mind while managing a project:

  • Check if the workforce, you have employed to complete a project, is potent enough to complete the job (and that in time).
  • Is your team sufficient? The size of team as well as the expertise is to be considered while judging it.
  • Timely feedbacks to the team members and continual checks are important to ensure that everyone (and the project itself) is moving forward in the right direction.
  • Boosting morale of team, confirming if any resource deficiency or complexity is causing delay in progression and documenting everything for further use are some other requisites.
  • Give credit to the team, because they are the main support for any project. Praise them for success even it’s a small win.

These tips, if followed well, will definitely help you to achieve success in project management.

Using them, you can run your project smoothly without any hitch. Increase your project delivery success and these are commonly used by many project managers.

Author bio:

Sanjay Darji works as Software Analyst at SoftwareSuggest and Marketing expert in Callhippo. He always try to introduce something new in my piece of article to give audience a new and better taste. Sanjay is passionate about project management, ecommerce and all things digital. Follow twitter at @sanjaydarji01.