Projects go through initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, closure, and typically their estimated duration is identified even in the early stages. However, some of them end up extending more than they should, completely deviating from the schedule.
This can happen due to numerous factors, including scope creep, low team engagement, cost changes throughout the project, operational changes, errors during planning, poor time management, not being part of the day-to-day and company culture, etc.
Prevention is the best solution
Despite being a cliché phrase, it really works, including for Project Management.
Planning, for example, is a crucial phase that can directly influence the success of a project. In this phase, it is necessary to analyze and organize everything needed for the work to be done with agility and care. It is in the planning phase that we define goals, scope, tasks, necessary resources, budget, and, most importantly, the schedule. In this stage, we visualize the project from start to finish strategically, always considering the company’s priorities.
Another important aspect to avoid projects extending beyond the schedule is aligning expectations. Many other ideas will emerge, but what is the central problem that the client or project sponsor wants to solve? The project manager, the client, and the team must have their expectations properly aligned and clear goals.
The definition of deadlines and schedules should reflect reality because they are directly related to a limited and essential resource, which is time. The people who will carry out the activities related to the schedule need to be involved in this stage since they have other daily activities besides the project.
The schedule needs to have realistic deadlines; otherwise, the activities will not be completed, and the project’s final deadline will be just a fictitious date for the purpose of filling in all the fields of a project form. It is necessary to find a balance to neither rush deadlines nor allow the project to be sidelined and eventually forgotten in day-to-day operations.
SMART Goals
One of the most efficient ways to be successful in projects is to establish clear and realistic goals, and the SMART methodology can contribute decisively to the success of a project.
The word in English means cleverness, intelligence, and quickness, which is exactly what the methodology proposes: to help you establish and achieve goals and objectives quickly, practically, and intelligently.
To facilitate this, when setting a goal, it is necessary to ensure that it is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
To learn more, read the full article by our partner Fabiana Brugmann, from FB Project Management, by clicking here.
Time Management in Projects
As you may have already noticed, one of the factors that most influences project duration is Time Management.
It may seem obvious; however, some studies indicate that the percentage of projects completed on time is significantly lower compared to those completed late.
For effective time management throughout the project, it’s important to choose a methodology that fits your needs, dedicate yourself to strengthening communication within the team, detail and define the project scope together, and establish the project’s start and end dates.
The schedule, in turn, should be defined with the other professionals involved. This ensures that everyone agrees on deadlines and avoids future errors and delays that may disrupt deliveries.
Know the Risks
Many things can happen during a project, and mapping and monitoring risks can help prevent them. And if they do happen, they were already anticipated, making it easier to overcome the situation.
For example, in a house construction project: if risks such as bad weather and delays in material delivery by the supplier are not anticipated, deadlines will be unrealistic and the project may become much larger than expected.
In the case of organizational projects, metrics can be used to assess whether everything is going as planned. After all, it’s no use meeting all the deadlines if the quality of the deliverables is not as expected.
But if none of that works and the project ends up taking longer than expected, the secret is to focus on motivating the team involved.
Additionally, use project management software so that all projects within the organization follow the same standard and all stakeholders have easy access to documents, making management more efficient.
In fact, Interact offers the Project Management solution, composed of the Project Manager, Governance Manager, and Document Manager modules. With it, you can execute all stages and supervise them, ensuring agility and efficiency.
And, recently, after updating to version 10 of Interact Suite SA, the solution also offers monitoring of the project’s financial progress and the S-Curves tab to present both the financial evolution chart and the physical project monitoring.
Visit our website to learn more.
Author:
Bianca Wermann
Journalist, Communication and Marketing Analyst at Interact Solutions
