6 Guiding Principles Every Project Manager Should Live By

Nowadays a project management certification is a necessity. The basic principles of the project management have been used for some time and change is now required in order to take project management to the next level. There were many researches in the project management area that concluded that every project is based on some basic principles and these principles should be explained in detail so that everyone can have a general idea about project management. In this article, we present the basic principles of project management which are an essential part of every project.

1. Goals and оbjectives

If you want to successfully execute a project the result or outcome of the project should be in mind before the start of the project. Goals and objectives of the project should be clear to everyone who is involved in a project. You should explain the vision and the mission of your project to the team members and co-workers. You should define a crisp path to everyone for the achievement of goals of a project. Encourage co-workers and team members for better project results.

2. Project milestones

Fulfillment of the project goals and objectives will enable you to increase the project efficiency, including the team member’s motivation, effectiveness, and dedication to the project. You can define milestones for the successful execution of a project. You should observe the employees closely and their achievements in completing the project milestones.

3. The importance of meetings

The meetings will be required for all members of the project management team. You should first define who will be the part of the project. You should also describe the basic rules for meetings and number of meetings to be held. Finally, you should assign a person who will be responsible for taking notes and distribution of meeting decisions and details among project members.

4. Organizational structure

You should keep informed all project stakeholders and team members. Co-workers, project management teams, stakeholders and others who are directly or indirectly related to a project, must be kept informed. This will enable you to manage the new initiatives within the project. For organizational adjustment, you should use frequent communications and meetings. You should stay in touch with staff members through e-mails, groupware tools and through training. You must involve the stakeholders in your project permanently, or they could hesitate or will lose interest for a new initiative in a project.

5. Implementation plan

This plan will enable you to resolve the issues and to determine the best possible solutions through gap analysis. You can apply a comprehensive root cause analysis – for quality management issues. Through comprehensive analysis, you can choose a best possible tool for the resolution of an issue. Based on the selected tool you can draw a map for the execution strategy and can implement intervention with flexibility. The implementation plan will also define the responsibilities of project members and identifies the members for the implementation of an intervention and execution strategy. It will identify who will do what, when, how and why.

6. Measurement and accountability

At the project closure, you should determine if it was successful. For accountability purposes, you have to create a performance report of all team members. A performance report is the best way for the accountability of employees, leaders and team members. Using this performance report you will uncover the best-performing employees or team members. You must encourage and motivate the team members with coaching and training to achieve the specific requirements and expectations from them. The rewarding will motivate the team members and they will maximize their efforts for the success of a project.

These are the basic rules which are usually accepted and by following these rules you can successfully fulfill the project’s goals.