In his book, The Project Management Book, Richard Newton discusses a number of ways that project managers can deliver their projects faster. If you need to get your project done in less time, here are some of his ideas for getting work done in a speedier fashion.
1. Avoid the problem
If you know that your project is going to be subject to time constraints, can you start it earlier? “Often the need to go faster is driven by delays in starting a project,” Newton writes. “Start as soon as you can.” This is good advice for personal workloads as well – don’t procrastinate and you’ll find it easier to hit that deadline, which will come round sooner than you think!
2. Reduce requirements
What can you cut out? Talk to your project sponsor about taking out the optional requirements and reducing the scope to a realistic amount of work that is achievable within a reduced time period. “Reducing scope and removing ‘nice-to-have’ requirements can shorten timescales considerably,” he says.
3. Set expectations
Manage your communications to the business owners and stakeholders. What is driving the desired delivery date? “Often there is no real business need to deliver quickly beyond a senior manager’s commitment and a desire to avoid embarrassment,” Newton writes. This is a very valid point, and with a bit of negotiation and the active management of the expectations of those in charge, you could influence the end date to buy yourself a bit more time. This isn’t a way to deliver faster (as you actually end up with more time, assuming you are successful) but it is a strategy to use if you find yourself being asked to deliver within tight timescales.
4. Increase work in parallel
What project tasks can be done in parallel? It is worth reviewing your project plan to see if there are any strands of work that can start earlier and run alongside other tasks. But be careful about your resource management, as you can’t have one person scheduled to do two tasks at the same time. You may have to bring in more people to help manage this if you do increase the amount of work happening at any one time.
5. Stop multi-tasking
As many reports and studies have shown, constantly switching from one task to another is not a practical way of working. Your mind takes time to switch off from one task and to focus on another, so it isn’t a great way of getting things done faster – in fact, you’ll end up working more slowly. Check in with your team members and make sure that they have enough time to provide some focused, dedicated time to each task each day. They will get more done, be less distracted and be more able to complete their work to the deadlines.
6. Cut out dependencies
While dependencies are really important in project scheduling, and are a key component of your plan, they do mean that the project tasks have to happen in sequence. Get out your Seavus Project Viewer plan and review those dependencies. What is essential, and what’s a nice-to-have? “Review all dependencies to check that none of them can be removed,” says Newton. “In most cases you will find that some of them can.”
7. Increase the risk
It might seem counterintuitive to take greater risks, but you may find that you have planned conservatively. If that is the case, what changes can you make in order to be able to deliver faster? “Projects are inherently risks and project managers should not simply avoid risk – but manage it,” Newton says. So if this applies to your plan, look again at the assumption you have made when planning and see if by reviewing any of them you can cut time out of the schedule.
8. Prioritise
Ask your project sponsor to prioritise the workload and the requirements. They can do this at a project level but also at a portfolio level. If your project has a higher status, you’ll find it easier to get resources and you’ll be able to dedicate more time to it yourself, especially if you are taken off lower priority projects while also working on this one. Talk to your Project Management Office team, manager or steering group to see if they can influence the way that this project is prioritised in the portfolio. “Making something faster in this way means something else must go slower,” Newton says. “If you do not accept this you are paying lip service to prioritisation.” In other words, not all projects can be top priority.