7 Project Checklist Points For Successful In Project by Anurag Pattnaik T T T T Get notified with latest updates May 28, 2020January 17, 2023 Project management requires extensive planning & accuracy to meet the stated business goals. So every project manager should have a project checklist points for getting success in project management. Stakeholders & project sponsors are focused on the ROI. It is the beloved project manager who is tasked to guarantee deliverables meet business objectives, top ROI $$ along with utmost efficiency and productivity. Efficiency โ to be able to charge more, increase revenue and or profits with less Productivity โ get more done with less And Orangescrum is right at the heart of โALL of the aboveโ. Improve remote collaboration with Orangescrum Try it free Here is a quick project management checklist for project managers to excel at their role and consistently meet the organizationโs strategic and tactical objectives at all levels. Contents 1. Identify & Know your Stakeholders2. Take Requirements Gathering Seriously3. Finalize the Scope โ The Project BibleAs simple as that!4. Host the Kick- off meeting5. Execute the Project Plan6. Centralize all Communication7. Track and Report Project StatusConclusion 1. Identify & Know your Stakeholders Savvy project managers are well aware of the role of their project stakeholders. Identifying, understanding and knowing them early on is crucial to the projectโs success. Make no mistake to accept the fact that โ โEach stakeholder has their own goals, motives & expectations from the endeavor thatโs about to beginโ. As a project manager you must know that and plan to accommodate those expectations as long as they contribute to the projectโs overall mission and end goal. At the same time, make no bones about setting the right expectations of which of their objectives will and will not be met by the project at hand. Set up interviews & requirements review sessions to get an in-depth view of where they are coming from what are their prime motivators. You will be in a better position to get their skin in the game โ โsuccess of your projectโ. 2. Take Requirements Gathering Seriously Irrespective of a zillion strong mentions, some project managers still end up messing their requirements gathering process. Requirement gathering is what makes or breaks your project. Be very detailed in your approach and spend considerable time and honest efforts to this crucial project management activity. Meet with all stakeholders Capture requirements Review them with the project team as much as possible Set follow up and Q&A sessions with your stakeholders Ensure assumptions are listed, understood and agreed Set a deadline by which updates or changes to the requirements will be accepted Layout the expected results, quantity, quality, timeline & costs Pro-Tip: Set up a โRequirements Gathering task groupโ within your project in Orangescrum and list out all associated activities as tasks, subtasks and checklists. Assign to the stakeholders as well where needed. So they know how detailed and serious you are plus everything is easily tracked and traceable if needed J 3. Finalize the Scope โ The Project Bible Well, you have come this far โ met your stakeholders, understood their objectives, and reviewed the requirementsโฆ So, its time now to get to the dotted line! Scope a.k.a the project bible is one the most critical success factors. Many donโt realize it, but thatโs another story. The point is not to use it as a whip. Rather separate the real thing from the clutter. Get to the crux of whatโs important. Eliminate all โme tooโ and โnice to have or I want to haveโ type requests. As simple as that! A well-defined and signed scope will provides extreme clarity of Associated risks & assumptions End to end project requirements The ONE GOAL that must be met The Change Management process Project milestones & duration Pro-Tip โ Enable workflow with relevant status to track the life cycle of scope from gathering to approved! 4. Host the Kick- off meeting Bringing the team together is very important. The earlier, the better! Kick-off meetings are great ice-breakers for all involved in the project. The team gets to meet and greet the project sponsor, key stakeholders and hear straight from the horseโs mouth on the significance, expectations and vision for the project. Allow for enough team interaction so that they can get their question answered. Demonstrate value that the projects adds to their job, role and learning objectives. Answer whatโs in it for me (WIFM) upfront. Project kick-off meetings enable Teams to know each other Meet & greet with the stakeholders Understand the project goal Clarity of roles and responsibilities Q&A sessions for the team to understand all aspects of the project better 5. Execute the Project Plan Note, project plans are not meant to be just on paper. They must work in real life scenarios and get the work done. Hence pay special attention to some of the key attributes of a successful project plan: Well-defined tasks and milestone breakdown Clear timelines, estimated hours, assignee Systematic task classification with custom task types and labels Enable project visualization in custom views for clarity and smooth execution Sequence or flow of tasks are clear No confusion around what to execute next and when Pro-Tip: Project plans in Orangescrum help achieve all of the above plus you can reuse them for similar projects. 6. Centralize all Communication Project execution leads to numerous multiple channels, with information in different formats at different frequencies and the volume is just unmanageable. Donโt let that happen to your team! Make a robust communication plan and share with the team. Ensure the team knows when to contact whom, how on what media or platform. A well-defined RACI would come in handy & reduce unwanted information overload. Access to critical project information when required is important too. And then you need to ensure team members with the right authorization only access them. Implementing a project management and collaboration software is recommended: Enable automatic reminders, alerts and email notifications Daily check-ins and stand up meetings are interactive and efficient Comments, replies and information exchange happens over a single platform Precious time is saved from shuffling across multiple apps Teams know what to access, when, where and how Proper role based permissions are configured Pro-Tip: User role management, daily catch-up, GDrive & Dropbox integrations along with custom reminders and status updates are integral to Orangescrum. 7. Track and Report Project Status Monitoring project performance regularly and reviewing it with the team and stakeholders is a must. Agree on the reports and metrics that will be tracked for the project and the frequency at which they will be reported. Maintaining efficiency and productivity is crucial to keep the project on track. Hence, real time reports to track Planned vs actual hours Task progress, # of tasks completed Overdue tasks Resource Utilization Pending tasks Project overview Billable vs Non-billable hours When you have visibility to the above aspects, you are well equipped to steer your project away from unwanted delays. Timely reviews enable proactive identification of bottlenecks & course corrections. Also, as a project manager you are able to keep your stakeholders engaged, get their attention when required and drive decisions in the interest of the project. Conclusion The 7 point checklist cover the broad practical aspects of project management. The objective is to enable project managers to establish an effective model that is adept in handling the real world elements of project management right from Communication challenges Scope creep Resource management Time tracking Remote team management KPI & reporting management Process disconnects Lack of automation Increase 3X Productivity with Orangescrum Centralized project, task and resource management for growing teams Get Started Free Please enter your email. The success lies in putting a scalable system in place that allows for easy integration and alignment of our people and processes. The easier for your resources to adopt a process, closer you are to project success. Basically, project teams would be more inclined to contribute towards the project goal when you take away the administrative hassles from their work. And over a period of time, the process becomes an inherent part and teams find it easier to follow it and deliver efficiently. Orangescrum project management tool ensures you are able to initiate, plan, execute, monitor and improve your project teamโs performance and delivery. What is the current project model or checklist you rely on? Sign up to lead a well-organized project environment for your teams!