Project management has a few core problems that happen to almost everyone in the market. Projects are delayed, exceed budget, and in many cases the projects don’t come out as designed.
68% of projects either fail or are seriously challenged
Everybody knows about it. We’re not telling you anything new here. But have you ever stopped and thought why this is happening? With over 10 years of experience in the project management industry, and based on extensive research we discovered the secrets to solving these problems. I have laid out simple steps everyone can take to make their projects successful in my book The Project Management Formula: The Five Steps To Complete Your Project on Time. , after all, everything we do in life is based on project management.
One of the main secrets to successful projects is knowing the rules of the game. Think about it as a basketball game. You might have a team of very talented athletes who can pass the ball, dribble and shoot hoops. But if they don’t know the rules and how to play as a team, the chances of winning are not so good. Their game looks like a game of kids in the schoolyard. There is a lot of activity, but there is no strategy or planning behind it. Now imagine these same kids playing against a professional. The score will be something like: 137-2.
We all run projects as part of our daily life activities. Let’s say a fun dinner party is a project. This project includes several tasks and people and can be run using common management concepts. The best part is that you don’t need any special background, education, or skills to use this project management formula. These simple steps will radically change your thinking about how you invest your time, what you focus your primary energy on and what’s really important when it comes to making money and managing your life and business projects.
Step 1: Define project objectives and collect requirements. Not defining the project’s requirements and objectives is considered to be the number one reason why projects fail.
Step 2: Define the priority of the requirements and features. Identify the requirements that are most important to achieving the project’s success and goals-those should be marked as the highest priority features.
Step 3: Planning iterations. Iteration is defined as the act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal, target or result. Each repetition of the process is also called an “iteration,” and the results of one iteration are used as the starting point for the next iteration.
Step 4: Running the iterations. With the iteration schedule ready and all the tasks assigned to team members, each person should be tackling their tasks. Remember that everything needs to be completed by the end of the sprint deadline.
Step 5: Present the product to the client. At the end of each iteration, you should meet with the client to present the features that were developed.
Having a straightforward formula to follow will really help you to stay on track and to efficiently eliminate any difficulties that may arise.