Top 5 Tricks Project Managers Use To Meet Deadlines
Scope creeps, supplier failures, poorly estimated timelines, unexpected staff illnesses and erratic time management are just some of the many things that can (and in all probability will) make your deadlines go astray. Time and schedules—common most metrics for efficiency measurement—are easily calculable; and any non-adherence to the same may lead to loss of reputation and money alike. As a project manager in the same boat, you may like to leverage the many advantages of these 5 tips that ensure timely project delivery, high quality results, and under budget performance.
1. Everyday Scrums are Super-helpful
There are few things worse than finding that a particular team member is not only running behind time, but has not yet initiated the task assigned to him—that too when you are just on the threshold of your project’s deadline. To avoid this, it’s important to conduct regular check-ins on all project proceedings, with ample troubleshooting space in store. But then, your best efforts may prove to be less too. So, go ahead and schedule a 15-20 minutes scrum, say at 3.20 pm, for the entire team. This helps the project remain within the gamut of prescribed deadlines and permits you to troubleshoot any setbacks while leveraging each member’s skills sets to the optimum levels.
2. Get all Facts and Project Requirements in Place
At the very onset, analyze all project requirements completely, and in details. You should be conversant with all areas that may be ambiguous, Ensure total clarity. Have your business requirements documented by professionals and gain complete knowledge of all design requirements and functional specifications. Any time lags in the scope of work can ruin your project’s deadline. With this in view, it’s essential to deal with such situations adroitly. In case you are finding it difficult to handle designated time frames, refrain from adding any unplanned new features that require unprecedented integration time.
3. Allocate Tasks without Overlapping Responsibilities
Each task, responsibility, or role should be assigned to clear owners. Here, Gantt charts and different project management tools come in handy and allow you to record the correct time frames for each activity, along with knowing who’s doing what. It’s essential to define clear cut responsibilities as any overlaps may lead to the duplication of efforts, inferior product quality, and time wastage.
4. Pen Project Development Phases
Every project has its own shortcomings and success factors and it becomes important to have a fair knowledge of them all. Along with serving as historical information for other projects that may necessitate similar activities, writing down of going-ons helps in measuring the overall progress of your project too. You may like to use a project dashboard for obtaining a high-level, visual, overview of all the successes and failures that are taking place on a daily basis. It’s also a good idea to keep taking stock of all facets of the project regularly, and updating the project dashboard as and when required.
5. High-level Performers Paired with Procrastinators
Along with propagating the culture of timeliness in your team, it is also important that you mix proactive performers with those who have a knack of postponing things until the end moment. The success of your project will be positively impacted by the application of peer pressure, and you’ll be able to meet all deadlines with ample time in hand. The flip side of this tip is that your entire team may just transform from being ‘very punctual’ to ‘overtly lazy.’
Way Forward
Last but certainly not the least; map all relevant infrastructures such as human resources, tools, hardware, software, documents in time. This will help you chalk out your time frames in the best possible way, much before any development starts. Create practical contingency plans for dealing with potential risks, arrange sub-activities in logical ways, and avoid unnecessary meetings. You may also want to brainstorm regularly for attaining ready solutions. Also, think of investing your resources in essential training modules. Yes, these are the ways to go!
Go ahead, these 5 tips that help project managers meet their deadlines will help you too!