Three essential skills for project managers to manage progress well

"Three unique skills" allow project managers to easily manage progress

Special skill 1: Reasonably allocate resources

1. Allocate "hard resources"

"Hard resources" refer to the labor, materials, machines and other production factors that must be invested to complete the schedule. What the project manager needs to do is to find the "gap" in the construction period between the schedule and the ability of existing resources to complete the plan, and then make up for the "gap" by optimizing resource allocation and using resource replacement time to ensure the realization of the construction period target.

2. Configure "soft resources"

"Soft resources" refers to the management environment in the process of completing the schedule plan. During the organization and implementation of the project, it must be inseparable from the supervision and inspection of external organizations such as the government, industry, owners, supervisors, corporate legal persons, etc. We call these individuals or organizations "project stakeholders" (referring to those who can influence decisions and activities). or resultant individual, group or organization). Project stakeholders have different management purposes and have different management expectations for the project.

Therefore, if the schedule plan is to be completed smoothly, the project manager cannot treat the project in a static system, let alone treat the management requirements of the project stakeholders as interference," but should be regarded as a "Resources".

According to a 2013 StandishGroup survey, 61% of successful projects were due to effective support from senior management and the organization, while 70% of failed projects were due to lack of support from senior management. Lack of ability and support. Limited by management perspective and professional capabilities, project managers should not expect project stakeholders to actively understand and support you. Instead, they must clarify and manage the needs of relevant parties and try to unify the expectations of all relevant parties. Thereby creating a good management environment for progress implementation

Trick 2 Mobilization and Incentive Mechanism

1. Full participation

The project manager should organize all staff to participate in the progress. The formulation of the plan can not only fully obtain information and brainstorm, but also unify thoughts and clarify goals.

2. Create an atmosphere

It is not enough for the project manager to formulate a progress plan. We must also learn to "build momentum". In addition to traditional slogans and slogans, we must also rely on the power of new media such as the Internet and mobile media. The role of new media is not only to have a wide range of influence, but also to reflect the dynamics of the project in real time, thereby influencing outstanding employees. Achievements should be recognized in a timely manner. The positive role of theoretical guidance should be exerted to strengthen the confidence in completing the construction period goals.

3. Phase incentives

Not only can the final acceptance node be set in the progress plan, but also the final acceptance node can be set in the progress plan. Milestone nodes should be set. A milestone node is a "small goal", but it has a significant guiding role. A beacon in the dark night will give people the motivation and hope to keep moving forward. Therefore, the goal should not be too far away and should be motivated in stages. Using positive motivational means such as encouragement and rewards will keep the project team energetic and passionate, and then rush from one milestone to the next, ultimately achieving the project deadline goal.

Trick 3: Good self-management

1. Manage emotions

During the implementation of the schedule plan, you will definitely encounter various difficulties, problems and setbacks. In this case, the project manager serves as the "leader of the entire project" ", we must maintain passion, convey positive energy and positive thinking, and must not pass negative energy such as complaints to the project team to avoid the "kicking the cat" effect in management. The project manager must be full of confidence in the deadline goal and must win. Be inspiring and have influence. If you don’t even believe in a schedule, how can you lead the team to realize it?

2. Manage your body

As a project manager, you have to stay up late and work overtime, Communication and entertainment are unavoidable. Therefore, maintaining good physical fitness is obviously impossible to follow the regular schedule proposed by health experts, but maintaining a healthy mentality, moderate exercise, and nutritious diet are still necessary. The work efficiency of project managers determines the efficiency of the organization to a certain extent. If they are not healthy, the efficiency of the organization will be compromised. Project managers should learn to manage their bodies and not sacrifice their bodies to complete project tasks.

Trick three: good self-management

3. Management time

In schedule management, the project manager can neither be a "hands-off shopkeeper" nor a "hands-off shopkeeper" Fire-fighting hero". A competent project manager "takes action when it's time to take action" and can quickly and effectively solve important and critical issues encountered during the construction organization process, and will not slow down the entire construction progress by waiting for the project manager's decision-making. Some project managers are always so busy that their feet hit the back of their heads. This may not necessarily mean that they are dedicated, but it may also be that they do not manage their time well.

According to the "four quadrants" of time proposed by American management scientist Covey, work is divided into four categories: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. Many project managers are always busy with the urgent and important things in the first quadrant, while neglecting to manage the important but not urgent things in the second quadrant. As everyone knows, many urgent things evolve from non-urgent things. Therefore, project managers must learn to manage time and liberate themselves.