How to make sure that your project is delivered on time and within budget.
Did you know most organizations have 70% project failure rate and only 2.5% of companies complete 100 percent of their project successfully. It has been more than 50 years since the inception of project management but still 50 percent of project fails. Even after advancement in technology and easy availability of resources, why do projects fail?
Although the circumstances might be different but cause mostly swings between — time or budget. These two factors can either make or break any project. Often companies face the dilemma whether to provide extra fund or to delay the project until department budget improves. If you provide extra fund, there are chances of cost overrun and if you delay the project then you can miss deadline. So what do you do in order to deliver on budget and time? Following are some tips to help you with same.
Scope and Objectives
The basic but principal step that often people tend to ignore. Defining scope and objectives is a very crucial step. Each and every member of the organization needs to be on the same page. The project manager must make extra efforts to ensure that the project goal is clear to the team.
A rigid scope of the project needs to be determined and informed to the entire team. What is the end goal? What the project aims to achieve and how? These are some questions that should be asked while defining scope and objectives.
Communicate and Coordinate
Make certain that there is frequent and ample communication. If they don’t know the details than you can’t hold them accountable if the project functioning gets disrupted. Coordination among team members should be encouraged. Their roles and responsibilities should be properly discussed so that there is no internal conflict.
Held status meetings and keep everyone(including stakeholders) informed about the status of the project, important milestones achieved, risks to overcome, time remaining and the budget. Listen carefully to the concerns and questions of your team members and held them accountable for the task done instead of ignoring them. This will develop a sense of responsibility and encourage them to put more efforts.
Unexpected Delays
There is no certainty that even after risk assessment and having a proper risk management strategy, it would be possible to mitigate any critical situation that may emerge. Any undesirable situation may arise that can derail the entire project. So always be prepared. A small portion of budget should be kept aside for emergency. The timeline should be kept ahead of the deadline so that there is enough time to rectify the errors and also deliver on time. Team members can lose morale in such circumstances. Keep optimistic approach, address the issue and create a plan of action to solve it.
Progress Report
One way to ensure project success is to keep track. Hold meetings on a regular basis so that everyone in the team is on the same page. Monitor the milestones achieved and make sure it stays on schedule. Make sure everyone is focused on the original task and be willing to implement changes if required.
What strategy do you follow to be on time and in budget?
