Managing a project can get pretty stressful, especially when you don’t have a clear plan to successfully use your resources. This article offers some tips on how to keep the project on track and within budget.

If you want to be a top project manager, you must learn how to deal with pressing matters effectively, avoid time-wasters, and be boost productivity. Managing a project can be a demanding process. However, if you have the right resources, take your time to communicate well with your team, and evaluate results regularly, you’ll find yourself on the right track to success. Here are some tips. 

Identify Project and Team Requirements

Before you start actual work on the project, make sure you clearly understood the client’s demands and expectations. Secure any resources – equipment, software, office space – you need to implement the project and start assembling an effective team. As a project manager, you have to do your best to gather capable individuals who are driven to work together towards a common goal.

Define Project Milestones

Once you’ve carefully picked your team members, start working together to create a viable plan that will allow you to meet your deadline. Break down the project in smaller increments and assign a designated amount of time for each one. Make sure to leave a few days aside to test or evaluate your results. This is also the perfect time to sit down with your team and establish clear goals for each member, to ensure everyone knows what they have to do. 

Manage Risks

Risks come with every type of project. By creating a risk management plan, you can limit your exposure to those risks and establish contingency guidelines to fall back on in case anything goes wrong. For example, what would you do if a piece of equipment suddenly broke down, or a key team member becomes unavailable? What would happen if you lost access to the Internet? Wolfpac, a company offering web-based enterprise risk management solutions, raises some interesting questions in their blog.

A good plan will allow you to mitigate risks and take action before they get out of hand. Your previous experience with similar projects can help you identify and control project risks before they turn into actual problems you have to deal with.

Communicate

Maintaining an open line of communication between team members is crucial if you want to make sure that everyone is working well together. Regular meetings allow you to remind the team about your common goals and discuss any issues that may appear along the road. Ensure that everyone has the information necessary to make decisions and proceed with their tasks.

Evaluate Regularly

Assess your results periodically to determine whether or not you’re following your initial plan. If you’re falling behind your schedule, make adjustments to remedy the situation. Also, every time you make an evaluation, be sure to create status reports based on the project information and updates; this way, you can keep your team in the loop.

The key to completing a project on time and with high quality results is to find the right balance between planning, monitoring and evaluating. By establishing a plan for completing each project, as well as overseeing your team’s work effectively, your chances of meeting your client’s expectations are considerably high.