A project is a sturdy yet fragile entity. In some ways it is no different than your $750 smart phone with a glass screen and no case or insurance. It will serve you well as long as you need it, but one drop and the whole thing will shatter. So it is important to keep your phone protected and in great condition. Get it a case. Cover the screen. Make sure all of its functions are working properly. As a project manager, you are the protective case, the insurance of the project. You are in charge of leading the plan from the first meeting to the final deliverables. And just like you develop ways to keep your phone safe from flying through the air to its demise, you will need good habits to successfully manage a team through a project. Before you have the chance to settle into pesky patterns, equip yourself with best habits for leading your project to infallible fruition.
Mission Control
Your mission, should you choose to accept (well, you have to accept because you've been assigned to it) is to take charge of this project and lead a team to produce deliverables by the end of 3 months. That's right, you're in the driver's seat, holding the reins of the the operation. It is important that you use this control wisely right from the start to power an efficient and productive team. Before you jump into assigning tasks, start with the team morale. A happy team will collaborate and yield better productivity together. You don't want to lose anyone physically or mentally along the journey, so from the get-go you'll want to establish a foundation for a positive work environment. Empower creativity. Foster a collaborative space where all ideas are heard and discussed. Make the work environment a place where everyone can grow together as a team with the project. Ed Catmull, President of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation, believes that fostering this kind of positive work environment is key to successful collaboration:
"A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms. Lack of candor, if unchecked, ultimately leads to dysfunctional environments.” - Ed Catmull, President of Pixar & Walt Disney Animation, & Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios, Creativity, Inc.
Create a Project Plan
A solid project plan will become the backbone and support of the entire project. By having a solid path from the start, you can ensure to be on target, meet the goals that are set and arrive at your deliverables' destination on time. Begin your plan with a goal and state the objective(s) of the project. Who is the client and how will the outcome represent their brand and fulfill their requisites? What deliverables need to be met? Define exactly what needs to be accomplished and clarify any details and necessary materials. With this goal in place you know exactly where you are going. And to get there efficiently, it is important that the role for each team member is clearly identified. This will provide a clear picture of who is owning a particular part of the task and will lead to better accountability throughout the process.
Now that you know who is going to get you to the goal, it's time to map out how to get there. Essential to this is a realistic timeline and a concrete budget that form the baseline of the project. A clear baseline will be your guide for the duration of the project. It's the best way to stay on track, within budget, and out of trouble. For the budget you will need to itemize every last ingredient for the project. It sounds tedious and over the course of the timeline items may be added or changed. But having this guide will keep you from overspending and losing control of the project, financially. And you will be better off for having laid out the details in advance. Plans do change, but you're less likely to get lost with a strong project map. So stick to the plan and enjoy the ride.
A gantt chart is a great way to visualize a timeline and schedule. Backlog creates automatic gantt charts based on deadlines of issues assigned to the various team members. The gantt charts are accessible by opening an issue and selecting the gantt chart option on the left.
Tools for Organization
An organized team is an efficient team. And with project management tools such as Backlog, you have the ability to digitally organize your project and create immaculate transparency across the board. In Backlog you can first create a new project and invite team members to be part of it. Within a project, you or anyone on the team can create issues. An issue can be labeled as anything from a task, a bug, a request or other, and then assigned to a specific person with a start date and a due date. Each issue has a status including open, in progress, resolved or closed. Along the way the issue can be updated to whichever status it is, and comments can be noted within each issue. Already you can track who is in the project, what they are doing and when it is expected to be done.
As your project develops there are bound to be changes here and there. Keeping record of any and all changes and developments is an important habit to develop. By doing this you will create an archive of information which can act as a reference for solving inquiries and settling possible obstacles that may arise in the future. You can record these changes by creating a new issue labeled as "other" or by adding the information through the comments feature of a particular issue.
Own the organization and you will be on track to meet the project goal according to plan.
Monitor Progress
Keeping track of accountability is a huge part of ensuring that your project is headed toward the target. The impeccable organization that you have set up will become a database of information, your tool for monitoring the accountability within the project. With this information at your fingertips, it is easy to track the status of issues and pinpoint exactly how your team members are progressing (or in some cases not progressing). Backlog keeps track of project statistics for you. When you open up a particular project, the right side panel hosts a variety of measurements for you to evaluate. A burndown chart shows progress over time, graphing out time remaining versus work remaining. The burndown chart in Backlog also shows actual progress lined up against predicted and ideal progress. You can also view a chart that shows the status of all issues under the project, that expresses how many are open, in progress, resolved and closed. Milestones and categories are also graphed out in the same fashion. Depending on how you need to interpret the details, the right side panel provides several interpretations of the data for you to analyze.
Monitoring the status of your team and their assignments can seem a bit on the micromanaging side, and it may seem counterproductive to the open environment you created for the team. Fear not! This is actually a great opportunity to develop your relationship with the team and open up communication with them during any part of the process. The monitoring can in turn, reenforce that positive work space and encourage more interaction and productivity.
You either habit or you don't! So make these (good) habits of planning and organization part of your PM routine and you'll be well on your way to project management success.