Project Management

Is the complexity of the project work growing as more people from different parts of the company are needed in the project?  Is the project management becoming steadily more difficult as the complexity of the required analytics grows? Is the change management becoming less successful as increasing buy-in is required for the project conclusions?

Many clients face this type of project management challenges, and have been increasingly unhappy with the quality of the project manager and the project work. Many of them have also tried using management consultants, but have concluded that this only leads to large invoices and another type of project failure.

GSMkonsep Internasional incorporates the following 5 Goals in its Project Management Services.  These goals are generic to all industries and all types of projects. Regardless of your level of experience in project management, set these 5 goals for every project you manage.

Goal 1: Finish on time

• This is the oldest but trickiest goal in the book.  It’s the most difficult because the requirements often change during the project and the schedule was probably overly optimistic in the first place.
• To succeed, you need to manage the scope very carefully.  Implement a change control process so that any changes to the scope are properly managed and documented.
• Always keep the plan up to date, recording actual vs. planned progress.  Identify any deviations from plan and fix them quickly.

Goal 2: Finish under budget

• To make sure that your project costs don’t spiral, you need to set a project budget at the start to compare against. Include in this budget, all of the types of project costs that will accrue, whether they are to do with people, equipment, suppliers or materials. Then work out how much each task in your plan is going to cost to complete and track any deviations from this plan.
• Make sure that if you over-spend on some tasks, that you under-spend on others.  In this way, you can control your spend and deliver under budget.

Goal 3: Meet the requirements

• The goal here is to meet the requirements that were set for the project at the start.  Whether the requirements were to install a new IT system, build a bridge or implement new processes, your project needs to produce solutions which meet these requirements 100%.

Goal 4: Keep customers happy

• You could finish your project on time, under budget and have met 100% of the requirements—but still have unhappy customers. This is usually because their expectations have changed since the project started and have not been properly managed.
• To ensure that your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders are happy at the end of your project, you need to manage their expectations carefully. Make sure you always keep them properly informed of progress. “Keep it real” by giving them a crystal clear view of progress to date.  Openness and honesty are always the best tools for setting customer expectations.

Goal 5: Ensure a happy team

• If you can do all of this with a happy team, then you’ll be more than willing to do it all again for the next project. And that’s how your staff will feel also. Staff satisfaction is critical to your project’s success.
• With a happy motivated team, you can achieve anything!