Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/74024
www.iltanet.org Keep Meetings to a Minimum As with the number and complexity of the artifacts, the number and frequency of project team meetings need to be carefully assessed. Your busy team members' calendars are already full with firm and departmental meetings. The last thing they need is another one or two meetings per week on their calendars. And the last thing you need is for project management to be viewed as "busy work." So what's a dedicated project manager to do? Here are some suggestions: • Where possible, create an internal collaborative website in SharePoint, an MS Project Web Access site or a hosted project management website. • Provide your team members with an easy way to update their project tasks online and communicate with other team members. That is easiest if you have a shared website, but you may also want to explore using Outlook Tasks or even having them message you directly so that you can make the updates. • Be proactive in reaching out to team members by phone or walking over to chat with them about the status of the tasks assigned to them. You will reduce the number of meetings and possibly increase the amount of time team members devote to the project tasks, thereby increasing the likelihood of a project finishing on time and on budget. You will also cease to be a "faceless person sending nagging email messages" and be perceived as a more active participant in the project. Just Enough Is Just Right In order to ensure the greatest success and acceptance of project management, all of us need to practice "just enough" project management. We should apply the appropriate measure of project management process based on the scope and goals of each project. Here are a few things to keep in mind: 18 ILTA White Paper • Project team members will revolt if there is too much process and they are required to prepare documentation on a weekly basis. Your team members usually have a core responsibility to the firm in addition to project work, and your job is to help them get these additional responsibilities accomplished as efficiently as possible, often on a tight timeline. Adding too much complexity to the processes could also adversely affect the cost and time it takes to complete the project. • Meetings for the sake of meeting are a waste of valuable task execution time. Find creative ways of collecting and sharing information. Only schedule meetings when the project status requires a meeting. For example, building team consensus may require a face-to-face discussion of the possible alternatives for making a decision. A significant project issue may be causing schedule slippage or budget overrun, and the team might need to brainstorm a resolution. These are good reasons for in-person meetings, but a weekly meeting in which there is no new information to be shared isn't productive. • Project sponsors and other stakeholders need to know the status of any project's schedule and budget. If you do not make the right decisions on the project management processes and tools you use for your project, you may not be able to provide them with the tracking and reporting they require. However, most sponsors and stakeholders do not need to attend project status meetings or receive a lengthy project status report. An online project status dashboard may be the best way to present the sponsor and stakeholder with the information they need on the status of the project. • Many attempts at instituting project management in firms have failed because the same measure of project management was applied to every project. Start slow and small to gain acceptance of the