Do you want to reduce burnout and increase your business’s productivity for upcoming projects? You need to have a good strategy in place. No matter how large or small the project, they need to be broken down into actionable, clear steps with concrete deliverables.
Read on to learn our top five tips for how to create a sustainable project management strategy for your small business!
1. Define Success
When you own a small business, you’re wearing several hats at once. You want to overdeliver to clients, reach deadlines, and go above and beyond in order to make a name for yourself. However, these goals are vague–it can be hard to determine when you reach them or if you ever will.
Instead, focus on defining success for each project in concrete, tangible terms. You can also think of these as goals for projects. Here are a few to get you started:
- Project is completed on time
- Project completed on or under budget
- Project has high-quality deliverables
You can judge the quality of deliverables based on whether you can showcase them in a portfolio.
2. Identify Challenges
Next, you’ll want to identify any challenges that may come up during the project. This helps you meet the expectations of your client as well as prepare employees and guard them against burnout. For instance, a client might want a rush job on a project but also expect high-quality work.
If you know that you can’t deliver quality work in the timeframe provided, identifying this challenge ahead of time will help you communicate expectations with your client and discover workarounds together.
Remember that an Agile Scrum Project Management Firm can accelerate time cycles and help you optimize.
3. Document Processes
Once you’ve communicated with stakeholders about the project deliverables and any challenges, it’s time to put it on paper. A project scope statement is essentially your mission plan. It documents the work necessary in order to reach your goals.
You’ll then create a project plan that documents all the processes necessary in order to successfully complete the project. It’s important to keep this as brief as possible. Then, you can identify areas where you need more detail, such as creating tasks for employees.
Here are a few ideas:
- State all the benefits
- Document all the major steps
- Write down any issues that you might encounter
- Establish the goals that will show that the project was completed successfully
Everyone involved in the project should be given this documentation so that expectations are clear. This can also help employees stay on task.
A Project Management Strategy Creates Success
By taking some time to create your project management strategy for each project you encounter, your business is far more likely to reach success. First, you’ll know what it means to be successful and can feel proud of the work you accomplished if you go above and beyond.
Next, by identifying challenges early and communicating with stakeholders, you’ll be able to set clear expectations. Client expectations and what is actually possible for your business to achieve can be at odds. By educating them and communicating with them, you can resolve issues before they even begin.
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