Helpful tips for project managers who must manage multiple projects. Describes the problems and offers solutions to overcome issues. Influenced by Andrew Filev.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf(CBTL), Business strategy case study
Managing Multiple Projects: 5 Most Common Mistakes and Strategies to Resolve Them
1. 5 Most Common Mistakes and Strategies to Resolve Them
October 28, 2013
Debra Evans
debra_evans00@yahoo.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/debraevans
2. Micromanagement and Doing Everything Yourself
Careless Project Planning
Keeping Project Plans Separated From Each Other
Turning From a Project Secretary Into a Project
Leader
Poor Interactions Within Team and With
Stakeholders
Tactical Applications of Strategies
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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3. Micromanager must personally
make every decision
take a lead role in the performance of every task
dictate every small step to complete the tasks
Micromanagement is mismanagement
Micromanager, Team members and the business customer all suffer
Strategy to Resolve: Delegate
You’ll never have time to do the entire job for all of your projects
Team members are experts in their own areas
Together, a collective brain can solve more than an individual
Guide and empower your Teams by giving them opportunities to
excel
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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4. Resist great temptation to immediately dive into doing
Nonexistent, out of date, incomplete or poorly constructed project
plans lead to mistakes in project execution
Failure to monitor and influence project progress may delay
deliverables or cause missing delivery dates
Strategy to Resolve: Keep Your Plans Realistic and Up-to-date
Review, Re-evaluate, Revise, Republish
Team must believe in project's goals and schedule
Be ready to react to unexpected changes and adjust your plans
Consolidate project information and keep related items together
Make project data accessible to the appropriate people
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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5. Avoid managing multiple projects in separate places, using different
tools for planning and tracking
Hours can be wasted trying to reconcile shared
resources, tasks, schedules and other information
You’ll never have a good idea of the big picture
Strategy to Resolve: Integrate Project Schedules
An integrated project plan will give a bird’s eye view of what’s going
on
Identify major project milestones and their dates
Reflect all the tasks and action items of all projects in shared
location
Tell at a glance what’s going on with projects
Ability to report high level status in minutes instead of hours
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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6. Beware of only collecting information, updating the plans,
constantly copying information back and forth
Strategy to Resolve: Be a Leader
Provide guidance, instruction, direction and leadership for projects
Inspire a shared common goal by enabling people to feel they have
a real stake in the project
Have familiarity with the PDLC/SDLC to guide Team through
transitions from one stage to the next
Be aware of the technical and business objectives to be achieved by
your projects
Helps determine intra projects priorities
Keeps projects on track to hit goals
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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7. Inefficient communications when managing multiple projects
Poor communications lead to misunderstandings and mistakes in
project work
Customer may have different vision of final product than Team
Miscommunication results in loss of time and money, more stress
Strategy to Resolve: Integrate Project Schedules
Listen to Customers, Stakeholders and Team members; pay
attention to feedback
Analyze and address communication constraints, constantly
More effort required if Team not in the same office and can’t
collaborate face-to-face
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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8. Meet 1on1 with Stakeholders, Customers and/or Director of project domain
Higher visibility and impact projects, meet with more senior stakeholders
Understand technical and business gains for eBay as well as prioritization and timelines
Be aware of the wants and needs of Stakeholders and Customers
Be ready to resolve conflicts with Team members’ wants
Set project timelines and schedules as soon as possible
Team will consider projects without a target complete date lower priority
Milestones, checkpoints and deliverables can be determined later
Factor in external dependencies and influences outside your control
Use active listening communication technique product
Structured way to listen, understand, interpret, evaluate what you heard
Collaborate on building schedules and determining deliverables as a Team
Dependencies better be understood and more team buy in
Continuously reassess projects. Tweak as needed
Debra Evans, debra_evans00@yahoo.com
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