Five Key Component of a project you need to get right.
The most important factors that will contribute to a project being completed successfully can be broadly broken down into the following five areas:
Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful.
Developing the Product
Any new product, process or service needs to be developed or established solely to meet the defined business goals, which need to be articulated and documented at the very beginning of the project. Where a project involves a new process, it is important to prevent it becoming an opportunity to add or change related processes where they do not add real business benefit and do not affect the final outcome or contribute to the overall business aims.
Marketing
Focused marketing aimed at the right target audience is as vital for the simplest internal projects designed to change an existing operations process as it is to a new product with a global market. Of course, the realities of such marketing are quite different - internal projects are unlikely to have big-budget advertising campaigns for example - but it is still important to "sell" the product/process to those who will be buying or using it. In many internal projects involving major change to the status-quo the greatest challenge is to convince the end-users that they will be better off with the new process in the face of typical human reluctance to change.
Support
For the wide variety of projects that take place in organizations year-round, the provision of a support mechanism both before and after implementation is another key component to the success of the project. Support might come in the form of IT support (providing the right hardware and software), Human Resources for recruiting and retaining the appropriate staff, facilities for providing the necessary offices or other building space and any number of other support services relevant to the project.
People
There are different categories of people involved in projects and they all have different and specific roles to play, but they are all stakeholders with a vested interest in the project being a success:
Sponsor:
The sponsor(s) of a project is often a member of the senior management team of an organization, but can also be someone from outside the organization if a strategic alliance has been set up. Their role is to define the business objectives that are the driving force behind the initiation of a project, to ensure that adequate resources are made available to complete the project and to influence the completion date of the project by defining priorities. They will tend to have a good overview of the project, but not become involved in any of the detailed aspects.
Project Manager:
A professional project manager has the responsibility of creating a detailed project plan that meets the budget, schedule and scope determined by the sponsors. They advise, teach and motivate team members; resolve conflicts and issues with deliverable and deadlines and have a good understanding of all tasks required to complete the project. They also aim to manage and control risks and changes.
Team Member:
These can range from a subject-matter expert through to a recently hired novice, but all team members will have a contribution to make towards the end-product. Each will be responsible for completing individual tasks to a deadline, including resolving issues that arise related to their tasks. More experienced members of the team should help the less-experienced members by answering questions and giving advice to maximize the ability of the whole team to deliver projects successfully.
For MS Project Training or Component of a project module training pleas visit the links.
The most important factors that will contribute to a project being completed successfully can be broadly broken down into the following five areas:
- Strategic Planning
- Developing the Product
- Marketing
- Support
- People
Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful.
Developing the Product
Any new product, process or service needs to be developed or established solely to meet the defined business goals, which need to be articulated and documented at the very beginning of the project. Where a project involves a new process, it is important to prevent it becoming an opportunity to add or change related processes where they do not add real business benefit and do not affect the final outcome or contribute to the overall business aims.
Marketing
Focused marketing aimed at the right target audience is as vital for the simplest internal projects designed to change an existing operations process as it is to a new product with a global market. Of course, the realities of such marketing are quite different - internal projects are unlikely to have big-budget advertising campaigns for example - but it is still important to "sell" the product/process to those who will be buying or using it. In many internal projects involving major change to the status-quo the greatest challenge is to convince the end-users that they will be better off with the new process in the face of typical human reluctance to change.
Support
For the wide variety of projects that take place in organizations year-round, the provision of a support mechanism both before and after implementation is another key component to the success of the project. Support might come in the form of IT support (providing the right hardware and software), Human Resources for recruiting and retaining the appropriate staff, facilities for providing the necessary offices or other building space and any number of other support services relevant to the project.
People
There are different categories of people involved in projects and they all have different and specific roles to play, but they are all stakeholders with a vested interest in the project being a success:
Sponsor:
The sponsor(s) of a project is often a member of the senior management team of an organization, but can also be someone from outside the organization if a strategic alliance has been set up. Their role is to define the business objectives that are the driving force behind the initiation of a project, to ensure that adequate resources are made available to complete the project and to influence the completion date of the project by defining priorities. They will tend to have a good overview of the project, but not become involved in any of the detailed aspects.
Project Manager:
A professional project manager has the responsibility of creating a detailed project plan that meets the budget, schedule and scope determined by the sponsors. They advise, teach and motivate team members; resolve conflicts and issues with deliverable and deadlines and have a good understanding of all tasks required to complete the project. They also aim to manage and control risks and changes.
Team Member:
These can range from a subject-matter expert through to a recently hired novice, but all team members will have a contribution to make towards the end-product. Each will be responsible for completing individual tasks to a deadline, including resolving issues that arise related to their tasks. More experienced members of the team should help the less-experienced members by answering questions and giving advice to maximize the ability of the whole team to deliver projects successfully.
For MS Project Training or Component of a project module training pleas visit the links.
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