A mature, upbeat attitude with a diplomatic skill set can assist a project manager in being viewed as approachable by the project team members. They ask themselves whether or not they are listening to the concerns of team members, and they explore the atmosphere they've created for the project and it's team members. Web-based project management software will enable the team members to collaborate from any location and will instill accountability. If your team members see that you strive to live up to the high standards you require from the project team, they will inevitably be more productive. It is also vital that the project manager provide the project management software tools or equipment that may be needed that will expedite the project and effectively assist the project team in meeting the project goals & time lines.

It simply proves that you understand risk is part of any project and that you do your best to assess and minimize it. Well, for one thing, too many project managers pick heroes based on their can-do attitudes instead of their ability to consistently deliver software on time and according to specs. Giving carte blanche to project heroes sometimes - but rarely - leads to high-quality software developed in record time. More often than not, the result is a pattern of schedule slips that are not acknowledged or reported until it's too late, built up frustration amongst team members, and a lot of I told you so when your champion fails. He is the founder of The Project Mangler (http.

He can be reached via The Project Mangler (http. You can (a) leave it up to the development team to pick and choose their favorite features to implement, or (b) give them a clear sense of direction by prioritizing the requirements. Unless this is your very first software project, you know that time is always a constraint. In other words, you're managing the schedule instead of letting the schedule manage you. Have them start with the must-haves, followed by the nice-to-haves.

Ideally, the project is well organized so that the manufacturer and/or business can plan on the project being completed at a certain time. Project management aims at being efficient, and still producing high quality. By setting specific dates and having the entire project sometimes over-seen by a project manager generally makes employees work more efficiently. Project management usually involves setting up a timetable. Project management is a very important business concept because it is in place to ensure that projects are completed in a timely fashion as well as to the best of the company's ability.

In other words, don't be a Project Mangler. In other words, if a project comprising of 4 major milestones is estimated to last 6 months, but you need to reduce it by one month, you'd take 20 days, and divide it by 4. Can Project Managers prevent projects from slipping. Richard is the founder and editor of The Project Mangler, a Web site dedicated to turning techies into managers. Stick to the basic principles behind the project management triangle.

For many people, the terms manager and leader are synonymous.

Since the code is locked, managers reason that developers are now free to work on other projects, and therefore reassign them to other teams. He is the founder of The Project Mangler (http. As a project manager, you must keep honest. When code freeze is declared, the project dynamics change considerably. The source repository is locked, processes are tightened to ensure no one introduces a change that could destabilize the load, and in some cases, development teams are dismantled.

Given a project a team or an individual just jump in and do with little or no planning. How and to whom do you communicate the project's progress outside the project team is critical. Not only for future projects by the team but also for each project individual who will be on other projects and will some day lead their own project. Making a Plan B helps the project team members to know how to react immediately without having to make on the spot decisions during a potential crisis. And that sponsorship needs to be visible to management and the project team.

Action learning involves teams of organizational members working on real organizational projects and problems. Many projects have severe time constraints that would not allow sufficient time for reflection and discussion for the project team. To maximize the learning in an action learning project, the coach or facilitator must know how to extract learning from the team's work. For example, many coaching discussion topics can be based on the real-time learning that takes place in an action learning project. Obviously, action learning projects (like any other organizational learning methods) are not a cure-all for every learning need.

Finally, in totaling the costs of a project, don't forget to factor in the costs of the team in time and money. In fact, your project team will probably be lauded for their achievement. To make the required analysis I suggest that one of the project team members be your cost accountant or chief financial officer. Count the costs of materials used, the pays of all involved and the time spent by all on the project. Almost all projects I have read about in journals present the savings of cost and time.

A Project Manager must be able to schedule activities in a logical sequence. He is the founder of The Project Mangler (http. You never get as much time as you'd like to plan your projects. In the second case, you're a Project Mangler. Imagine that someone hands you a list of activities that need to be completed for a given project, along with the overall effort.

If a similar project is already underway, then there is great value in the new project team attending - a customer for the knowledge. The project leader needs to attend, as do key members of the project team. Take a photograph of the project team, and ensure that you record contact information (e-mail and telephone) to make follow-up conversations easy for anyone reading he lessons learned. Project Foxtrot completed ahead of schedule because the project team remained in-tact throughout the design and execution stages. On time-critical projects, ensure that the project team remains consistent throughout the design and execution stages of the project.

The only way to give people a sense of ownership is to involve them make them believe that this is primarily their project and that the expected outcome will benefit them in may ways. Team members should be able to have fun together. It improves motivation, increases moral, team spirit, and performance. Therefore it is vital to make the change project, their project as well as yours. Everybody participating in a team must have respect for each other.

Treat it that way by developing a project plan, obtaining sponsorship, getting commitment to participate from key players, etc. Check the facts first to be sure that you and your team understand the problem the same way, and that you have data to confirm that the problem is important. Assumptions have a way of creeping into all parts of a problem-solving project. They're often wrong, which can lead to a lot of wasted effort and even cause a problem-solving project to fail entirely. Testing assumptions throughout the problem-solving process will greatly improve your chances of solving the right problem successfully.

Since Six Sigma projects are about helping the organization make more money it makes sense to share some of the cost savings from Six Sigma projects with the Six Sigma team. One of the more ambiguous elements of a Six Sigma project is the level and type of compensation the organization should give to its Six Sigma leaders and team members. Such recognitions should not be strictly limited to Black Belts either, as acknowledging the achievements of all who participated in and benefit from the Six Sigma project should receive some sort of recognition to boost morale. In addition to base pay, you can find creative ways for recognition for completed projects. Monetary bonuses are another way to compensate people for successful Six Sigma projects.