PM ADVISORY:

How to Manage Projects Step-by-Step

Projects can often be chaos. To remain focused and achieve success, you need to work in a step-by-step manner. That way, you will have complete control over every action you take. So read on, to learn....

By Jason Westland

You have a choice in how you manage projects. If you manage in an unstructured fashion, then much of your time will be spent fire fighting and trying to control the project scope. This is known as “project chaos”.

Instead, if you manage in a more structured step-by-step fashion, then you can control the project delivery and ensure it proceeds according to plan. So here’s how to do it....

Define the Project Roadmap

At the start of the project you need to define the Roadmap. This is a diagram that shows the major steps that need to be taken to deliver the project from start to finish. Another name for this is the “Project Life Cycle”. Every step is clearly defined and the steps are placed in a logical order, from Project Initiation to Project Closure.

After creating your Project Roadmap, get buy-in from your Project Sponsor and then clearly communicate the steps to your team. That way, everyone knows what has to be done to deliver the project, from start to finish. MPMM includes a complete Roadmap for projects.

Base your Plan on your Roadmap

If you haven’t done so already, create a detailed Project Plan that lists all of the tasks needed to complete the steps in your Roadmap. If you have already created your plan, then review it to ensure that all of the roadmap steps are listed in your plan and that your plan is perfectly aligned with your Roadmap.

To read entire paper (click here)

About the Author Jason Westland Author Jason Westland has over 15 years of experience in the project management industry. He has recently started a website based around a solid Project Management Software. His website (Projectmanager.com) includes a complete Roadmap for projects to help you get started. Every step in the roadmap is defined in depth, so you know what has to be done and when, to deliver projects from start to finish.