Lies, Reports, and Videotape: Project Planning and Reporting - What They Can Do For You and To You
Project Management Lifecycle
Liquid Threads.
English: Strategic planning barnstar received toda...Ever wonder how PMs become successful jugglers of projects? There are definitely some warning signals and techniques that can assist you in properly recognizing patterns and traps so that you can take corrective actions early and decisively to avoid project failure. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons why projects fail, but most of the time it is due to a variety of problems associated with planning and reporting. By nature, PMs are typically task-oriented people with strong, pointed focus getting started on a project and finishing it all the time developing a sense of urgency. This hurried behavior often times relegates itself to skipping strategic planning in favor of starting work. Ever heard of the phrase, "Plan your work, and work your plan"? This is so simplistic, but it is paramount if we are to be successful PMs. Resist the urge to dive in immediately before stopping and thinking. Thinking will save you time, frustration, money in the long run, and maybe even your reputation. Remember the 5 P's - prior planning prevents poor performance - and the importance that they bring to you in managing your projects; they are invaluable (Dobson: p.88).
It's really not surprising that companies report bad projects have a historical basis of common flaws which usually are the product of weak front end planning or planning that was non-existent. Successful PMs obtain the definition of success before the project starts. Conceptual thinking is the friend and ally of a PM and one should start by looking at the end of the project -the last achievement-the success token and work your way backwards. If you can't define or know your end product, then you cannot plan successfully. Metrics...