Introduction
Project management and coordination of the associated tasks represent a significant challenge for numerous organizations, largely due to the difficulties selecting a coherent and effective framework for project management practice. A good project management practice will offer a leader the tools for communicating project goals effectively, assigning roles and responsibilities to team members, and controlling the performance of the staff (Schwalbe, 2019). However, with a broad range of project management practices existing as possible solutions, choosing a particular one is quite complicated. For this reason, considering some of the best project management practices is vital since it will provide a functioning tool of distilling the most effective and the key issues related to project management. This paper will consider ten project management strategies that are most likely to lead to positive outcomes in project management. Although the strategies considered below are diverse and unique, they share a common characteristic of offering a way of connecting the key project management processes and reinforcing the quality of communication and collaboration within a team.
Principles Overview
It is worth noting that project management practices are not a monolith; instead, they represent several categories based on their focus and the goals of a particular project. Schwalbe (2019) explains that the existing project management practices can be split into three tiers, namely, those of the project, the program, and the portfolio (Schwalbe, 2019). Therefore, at least three of each need to be considered as the examples of meeting the goals linked to building a project, a program, and a portfolio respectively.
Project
A range of projects suffer from the lack of consistency and cohesion in managing internal issues, as well as controlling extraneous factors. Therefore, introducing a homogenous system according to which the key tasks will be accomplished is vital in project management (Schwalbe, 2019). For this purpose, the use of standardization as a tool that introduces options for developing a systemic approach to task management within a project seems to be an entirely reasonable suggestion. Defined as one of the primary strategies to be deployed for project management, it cements the idea of building a consistent and reusable system for approaching project tasks and processes.
Managing the control cycle within the project is another principle suggested by Schwalbe (2019) that supports the idea of streamlining key tasks and aspects of project management while also retaining the general understanding of the interconnectedness and complexity thereof. Mainly, the proposed tool implies introducing monitoring options that allow eliciting the outcomes to be used for future projections, therefore, setting expectations, which is a vital stage of project management (Schwalbe, 2019). Confirming the necessity to view project management as a single mechanism incorporating different parts and processes, the described principle allows maintaining these processes running.
Promoting transparency within the project setting and in the project management team is another vital practice that leads to a faster implementation of key goals. The proposed tool contributes vastly to the proper management of procurement processes, which constitute avital aspect of the logistics process. Namely, since the procedure in question implies consistency in communication and coordination of actions the issue of deadlines is addressed accordingly, and the necessary items are transported from suppliers to manufacturers to retailers without any delays. Establishing the cause-and-effect relationship between different aspects of project management while also emphasizing the importance of its procurement part, the specified principle aligns with the previous two by representing project management as a hierarchal system of tasks.
Encouraging feedback is another principle that contributes to keeping the processes streamlined and consistent. Moreover, it emphasizes the interconnected nature of these processes, which links it to the rest of the strategies listed above. The focus on reciprocity in communication leads to improved management of project goals.
Program
Assessing the process of program activity sequencing is one of the key practices used in regard to controlling and navigating the program itself. Remarkably, even though the specified principle introduces a framework for navigating the program as opposed to the process, it also requires promoting a homogenous framework for task management and goal-setting (Schwalbe, 2019). Managing issues and risks, the proposed tool, the proposed tool implies building an effective communication system (Schwalbe, 2019). Therefore, it is inherently connected to the three frameworks mentioned above, allowing a project to come to fruition.
Introducing flexibility into the program so that it could reflect the need for change should also be regarded as one of the critical principles in effective project management. The focus on incremental innovation is connected to a variety of tasks that embody the very notion of project management, such as risk management. Specifically, by introducing pliability and flexibility into the process, one can ensure that risks and obstacles are managed creatively and effectively.
Maintaining realistic expectations and avoiding creating the ones that are divorced from reality is a vital principle to which a project manager should adhere. Being connected directly to setting expectations as a vital aspect of project management, the described idea reflects the need for embracing the project management processes in their entirety.
Reflecting on the outcomes of the project is another crucial standard that project managers must incorporate into their toolkit. Linked to the management of emergent issues, the specified principle helps to determine the nuances of project management processes, therefore, recognizing their mutual connectivity.
Portfolio
Controlling the use of costs and compliance with the budgeting of the project is another framework offered by Schwalbe (2019) as the means of practicing project management effectively. The focus on the budgeting issues helps to ensure that the needs of all stakeholders are managed properly, which is an essential part of implementing a project successfully (Schwalbe, 2019). Remarkably, even though the specified principle places the management process into an entirely different dimension of financial issues, it still demands that the key processes within project management should be streamlined and homogenized. Thus, the proposed practice can be likened to the previous ones.
Building a sustainable resource plan is another critical practice that is likely to lead to significant improvements in how a project is implemented. Moreover, the proposed technique suggests that the key processes within a project are arranged and interconnected, which links it to the techniques mentioned above and introduces homogeneity.
Conclusion
Though the project management practices considered above deserve being recognized as unique and inimitable, they share several crucial characteristics, such as their potential for connecting the key processes within project management into a single entity and ensuring effective communication across the company. Therefore, each of the strategies above allows building a functioning control system that allows navigating the process of project management freely and collaborating with all participants across different areas. By providing a multidimensional perspective on project management and offering a path toward much more effective workplace communication, the project management practices above need to be regarded as some of the best ways of delineating project goals and meeting them consistently.
References
Schwalbe, K. (2019). Information technology project management (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.