What is project success? The project is completed on time, within budget and meets all client’s needs and expectations.
Our business is built and continues to rely on completing every project successfully.
Each project is a reference for our next project. A project failure reduces our chances to continue to be successful, not to mention the losses associated with the failure.
Most of our projects are from concept to commissioning. Our clients are totally reliant on us to ensure that they receive the radio or wireless communications system that they need and expect, on time, and within budget.
The fundamentals of strong project management and a clear, sound and enforceable project management plan and process are essential to the success of a project and the cornerstone of all our projects.
We were recently involved as a sub consultant (subject matter expert) on a large public project which required us to rely on our client (our prime consultant) for the project management of our portion of the work.
It eventually became clear to us that the client (the prime consultant) appeared to be short on project management resources or ignored project management fundamentals for its sub consultants, which we regrettably discovered too late.
Consequently, the project was a continual flurry of disconnected and unplanned activities because of our client’s apparent lack of strong, (or maybe competent) project direction that ultimately resulted in disappointment for us and our client and premature contract termination.
What we re-learned from this experience (and never should have forgotten)
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Never assume a large and apparently successful company has the sophistication, structure, discipline and knowledge to understand and integrate very specialized expertise (that they lack) into a sound, realistic master plan and to be able to manage the project effectively.
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Never take on any work for which you do not have project management authority and responsibilities, or as a sub consultant until you have accepted, a practical, realistic and disciplined plan with clear, defined tasks, schedules, milestones and deliverables.
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Never lose sight of what it takes for a sound, strong, practical and enforceable project management plan and process to ensure project success.
Project Management Essentials For Success
After 38 years and dozens of projects, we still need to be continually diligent throughout each project, that the essentials for strong and successful project management are always forefront and that we do not allow someone else’s project management weaknesses or deficiencies to affect our work or our project success, which regrettably we allowed to happen in the case of the project mentioned above.
Every successful project needs all the ingredients below.
Any of the following that are not fully embraced, dramatically increases the risks of project failure.
So, what is essential for sound, practical project management plan and strong competent project management?
Strong project leadership with:
- Objective, knowledgeable, competent and experienced project management capability
- In-depth understanding of each critical task and milestone and impact on project
- A focus on outcomes and a practical process
- Excellent communications and the ability to convey confidence and calm and display rational pragmatic behavior
- Recognition of each team member’s skills and capabilities and areas of incompetence, and curtail attempts of team members to work outside their core competencies
- Vigilant and focused monitoring, tracking and follow-up of each task
Strong project direction by the project manager in accordance with the project management plan to:
- Establish clear, concise and realistic objectives, goals and tasks, and ensure each task, milestone, deliverable and expectation is communicated to each team member in simple, clear and timely written directives
- Ensure realistic timelines and deadlines for deliverables
- Avoid creating panic driven, deadlines and schedules
- Maintain consistent and routine follow-up with each team member to ensure task objectives and schedules are being met and to identify timely remedial actions
- Work with the project team to avoid unrealistic timelines and schedules
- Avoid crisis management
Competent and committed project resources that include as a minimum:
- Highly qualified, experienced project team members
- The necessary expertise for the task
- A clear vision of the path to the successful completion of the project
- Ability to recognize deficiencies and risks that lead to project failure
- Strong ability to provide written and oral communications clearly and concisely
- The ability to clearly convey and help resolve problems as part of the project team
- Recognition and declaration of personal skills deficiencies, lack of knowledge, and incompetence related to specific tasks, project oversight and project direction that prevent or hinder success.