The Best 10 Project Management Tips for Start-ups
Start-ups are hectic, I get it. Its go, go, go and then suddenly stop. Your supplier hasn’t delivered what you’ve expected; your board is annoyed at the blow out in delivery time; and the masses of emails are just too much to go through to figure out what was agreed.
Clarity in deliverables, scope and expectations are critical to the success of any project. You will most likely groan at the thought of extra paperwork, but let me assure you, when things don’t run smoothly, you will be thankful for the extra time you put into the paperwork. Communication is critical.
When I use the word project in this context, it is around the management of the development of an idea, or a concept. From my observations, many Start-ups disregard basic project management as they see it as a business. When you are just starting out and you’re trying to develop the product of a company, it really needs the tender loving care of project management.
The biggest tip I can give, is do not over complicate it. Don’t go out and purchase a heavy project management tool that promises the world when you don’t have the time, money or patience to get the full value from it. Also, don’t get caught up in all the project management lingo!
With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 things we have used in our start-up to help us along the way.
1. Contracts
Clear, simple contracts with everyone. Everyone. Having the right contracts is critical. Make sure that it covers things like who owns the IP, expectations in delivery time, how to handle variations (see point 3), payment schedules, milestones, deliverables and the scope of work. If you’re unsure with some of the legalities, seek advice.
2. Have a clear timeline
There are multiple benefits to having a clear timeline: It creates urgency within the team; it holds people responsible; and it puts everyone on the same page. Everyone is getting the same information about the deadlines and project milestones.
Microsoft Excel has a pretty simple Gantt chart that you can download from their templates. It isn’t fancy, but it’s free (as long as you have the Excel licence). I have no doubt many others have multiple platforms that they can suggest, Excel is the one I use the most as it is the easiest to share without people needing to download another program or open another app.
With Excel, there is no critical line created and you can’t assign resources as you would in a more complex system. Save your øre/pennies until you are a big company and have project managers who will spend their days updating and monitoring the timeline.
3. Manage your project change requests (variations from scope)
Possibly one of the worst things to have to do is go back through 100’s of emails to figure out what decision was made and by who, was it actually agreed upon? To see what may or may not have triggered a change in scope.
I highly recommend using Project Change Request (PCR) templates and also a summary sheet on the status of each one. There will be some projects where you may have dozens of PCRs and you need to keep track as to what has been signed, the amount in variation etc.
Make sure your PCR includes (at a minimum):
- PCR number
- Title
- Affects the change will have on the project (time, cost, documentation, etc).
- Signatures from all affected parties agreeing to the PCR
- Clear description of why the PCR is being triggered. What functionality is included, or in some cases, what functionality is being removed.
4. Traffic-light reports
Quick and easy way to keep your board (and others) up to date quickly on the status of critical tasks and milestones. They are self-explanatory through the universal colour system of traffic lights. Green everything is go, we’re on track. Red — we haven’t started yet, or we’ve been stuck at the light for too long and now we’re delayed to our destination. Yellow — unsure about whether we should be slowing down or speeding up. Including a percentage complete will also assist in the clarity of the task status.
5. Be clear who is responsible for what
Maybe more management than specifically project management — making people clearly responsible for certain tasks will go a long way in making sure people get things done and don’t have a scape goat when something isn’t completed. It creates urgency.
This type of information can also be placed into the job description, which I also encourage all businesses to give to each employee.
6. Chart it
If you’re unsure how a process is meant to work, or you think you are missing a step, put the process into a flow chart. Even the thought process of creating the flow chart will trigger further ideas and challenges within the entire process, where you may need extra information, missing documentation or a critical check. These can then be used in the quality control process for a testing procedure, for example. I use Lucid Chart since Visio is typically too expensive for Startups, and it has enough functionality for what most need.
7. Quality Management
It is important to have someone on your team, who may be at a slightly more technical level than yourself, to be responsible for the quality management of the project. This person should never be the same person as the project manager, as the quality manager is typically more involved in the technical detail and ensuring that the product is meeting the technical specification as outlined in the contract.
8. Sort out your filing structure
Sounds like a straight forward thing to do, but so many don’t do it. Work out a structure that will fit for your project. It can, and will likely, change through the course of the project but start with something that is logical, and fits the structure of the project. For example:
- Management
- Contracts
- Financials
- Timeline - Development
- Testing
- Quality Management
9. The dreaded emails
Don’t have multiple conversations within an email that has a subject heading completely unrelated, especially when it is critical to the project. When an email thread starts to move away from the original subject, create a new thread. Where a critical decision is being made, document it in a separate document, not only in the body of an email.
10. Communicate, communicate, communicate
Make sure that you are providing all the information possible that your team needs to enable them to do their job to the best of their ability. You have likely hired your team because they provide complementary skills to yours, so they know how to do their job better than you do. Don’t put up road blocks to stop them getting the information they need to do their task, it will likely create issues down the line when the project is closer to completion (and you will have disgruntled employees). Whether it is through a weekly stand-up meeting, a team lunch every Friday, make sure your team has everything they need to do the job.
