Do you hold the keys to successful project management?

For many years, project management has been popular. But there is project management and… project management!

How do you get the project off to a good start in order to achieve the objectives you have set? What is the best way to establish follow-ups? What do you do once the project has been completed? By taking the time to think about these questions beforehand, you give yourself the keys to success!

Before goals… collaboration

Is collaboration important? You bet it is! And in the context of project management, it deserves to be in the spotlight!

In fact, before tackling the goals of your project, it is crucial to establish the basis for quality collaboration between team members and with the various stakeholders who will be called upon to contribute.

Without collaboration, quality teamwork is impossible. It opens the way to better communication, generates commitment among members, increases creativity, and stimulates problem-solving. In essence, these are components that we certainly want to integrate into project management!

By clearly establishing the mechanisms of collaboration within the project team, we can ensure that we take advantage of the strengths of all its members: one more step towards success!

Launching properly to engage well

A well-launched project is a clear project! And this clarity — in terms of objectives as well as collaboration and follow-up mechanisms — is one of the keys to successful project management.

The goal of the project launch is not only to present the project but to generate enthusiasm among all the people who will be called upon to contribute to it! To achieve this, a kick-off meeting is definitely in order! This is an opportunity to, among other things::

• Ensure that team members can get to know each other.
• Present the same information about the project to all the stakeholders who will have a role in the realization of the deliverables, including a clear chronology of the different stages of the project.
• Establish explicit working methods and conditions for success that work for everyone.
• Create the right climate for the project to succeed.

Having these elements in place is a great recipe to build engagement!

Follow-ups: a must-have

When we think of project management, we usually immediately think of follow-ups. And you, when you think about these follow-ups, what image comes to mind?

Meetings where you leave full of energy, knowing exactly where you’re going next?

Or endless meetings that are more like a grocery list than an action plan, and that make you sigh when you see them on your schedule?

Although project follow-up meetings are an important forum for sharing information on the progress of the various project components, they are not always used to their full potential! In order to go beyond monitoring compliance with the schedule, they can be an opportunity to:

• Share best practices that can be useful for the project
• Create a space to find and share solutions to encountered pitfalls
• Ensure that the quality of the collaboration meets the expectations of all team members

By considering follow-up meetings as an opportunity to further develop synergy, and not as simple monitoring, you are setting yourself up for success!

The postmortem: not to be neglected

The project is FINALLY delivered! What do you do? Celebrate and go home?

Certainly, a celebration is in order! But you must also go a step further and allow yourself one last essential step: the project postmortem.

This is the perfect opportunity to learn important lessons from the experience, not just individually but also as a team! Indeed, by examining what happened not only through one’s own point of view but also that of others, one opens the door to greater learning, to better development.

Why not take advantage of all that has been revealed by this project experience to set up conditions for future success? It’s up to you!

So, do you hold the keys to successful project management?