Rules To PM Success

As project manager, it is your job to steer your team toward completing the project at hand in the best possible manner and shortest time possible.

For this, you must:

• Always follow the mission statement throughout the course of a particular project.
• Before you begin, you must develop a strategy, or plan of action that will help you meet all the project objectives.
• In case of disputes, try to develop consensus on the nature of the problem. The reason you look for the correct problem is that unless you know its exact nature, you’ll end up developing a solution to the wrong problem.
• Ensure that the project stays within the original scope of work.
• If you can, try to choose the right people for the project team. These team members should be able to provide you with a different perspective and solutions to the problem at hand.
• Work as a team. If all members of a team operate individually, the end product will be as disjointed as the team was.

Make sure to do a post mortem review of projects—review both group dynamics and task implementation.