By Michelle LaBrosse

If the beginning of the year already seems like a distant memory, take heart. It’s easy to lose sight of progress on projects amid unexpected events, changing deadlines, crises, unforeseen circumstances and distractions.

 

If your projects are not getting the traction they should thus far for 2010, it could be because you are losing or changing priorities and focus, or you’re encountering too many obstacles en route to your goal. Fortunately, it’s still early enough in the year to get back on track.

Here’s how:

 

What’s the Priority?

The secret to staying on plan is staying focused. Have the priorities of your department or company changed? If so, have they changed by design or by default – by getting sidetracked?

 

In my business, I’ve found that the most important step is to set up the project correctly so that it proceeds quickly and efficiently to achieve the goal. This means getting the team aligned on what is required to do the project, setting up the project agreement and project plan together, and then agreeing on the overall project priorities.

 

Every project should include:

• A Project Agreement (scope, boundaries, risk tolerance, constraints)

• A Project Plan (schedules, budgets, milestones, risk management, change management)

• A Team Communication Plan (status reports, approval process, email distribution)

• Lessons Learned Records (what worked and did not work about the project so you can increase your chance of success on future projects).

 

If your team starts off on the same page with techniques and rules already in place it will be easier to stay focused and not become sidetracked. When new information, new circumstances, or new technologies arise, you – and your team – will have methodologies in place to handle the new circumstances, document the changes in your project agreement and adjust your timeline and tactics accordingly – and (hopefully) not break your stride.

 

What’s the hang-up?

To keep a project moving and moving on the right track, the project team, the team leader and the project sponsor must all work together to remove or prevent obstacles that can stall or even derail a project.

 

There are many variables – some in your control and many outside your control – that can sidetrack a project. Here are some thought starters about what could be getting in your way:

Inaccurate time estimates: If your targets or milestones for the first quarter haven’t yet been met, maybe they are more appropriately timed for the second quarter.

 

In reviewing your results/scheduling, look for clues in patterns such as: -other competitive priorities which suddenly emerge - delays or bottlenecks with key stakeholders or partners - insufficient time allowed for internal meetings, accidents, emergencies, vacations by staff or stakeholders, attendance at trade shows, etc. -quality control rejections, missed deliveries, weather interruptions or other circumstances.

 

A review of time spent in the previous quarter might be instructive in planning for the rest of the year. It may be a matter of including more contingency time, or addressing the root causes of delays by other stakeholders directly.

 

Changing circumstances in the workplace such as reorganizations or consolidations can create extra challenges or new assignments for the team as a whole. Managers facing “mission creep” need to meet with their project sponsors in senior management to clarify the priorities among projects. The key questions to bring to such a meeting:

-Which of the projects in my project portfolio contribute the most to the company’s long-term strategy?

-What additional resources are available to me and my team to meet these new assignments?

-If there are no additional resources available, where can resources be shifted from other projects to handle these new demands?

 

Often a new product or design is slow to advance because of refinements added at a customer’s request. One solution I often recommend is to “freeze” the design of the product or service, including the set of features, at a specified time in the project. The earlier this is done, the faster your project will move.

 

However, in today’s competitive environment, it’s difficult to deny a customer -- even though every change in a project triggers numerous other changes and slows the project’s progress. In that case, it’s a matter of prioritizing customer requirements. This can be as simple as “must have” (5 points), nice to have (3 points), and not that important (1 point). Extra features or refinements can be judged based on these criteria, with each member of the team voting on each requirement.

 

Changes that don’t make the first cut can be stored in a “futures” file for later use. A rule of thumb is to limit the number of customer requirements to no more than seven. Taking stock every quarter, starting now, is one guaranteed way to make sure you learn the lessons of the previous quarter and continue to progress through the rest of the year.

 

“Project Management” offers proven tools and methodologies that can help set up, monitor, implement and duplicate successful teamwork and successful projects and goals, both professionally and personally. For more information on how “Project Management” can help keep your projects on track, consider becoming PMP® certified. It’s one achievement that will pay you pack handsomely with a solid foundation to build on for every goal to come, for the second quarter and all the quarters beyond.

 

Michelle LaBrosse is the founder of Cheetah Learning, the author of the Cheetah Success Series, and a prolific blogger whose mission is to bring Project Management to the masses. For more information, go to www.cheetahlearning.com