Before starting a new project with a remote team, a remote project manager must ensure that all the steps required for executing a successful project are taken care of, such as availability of all the relevant information and resources, risk analysis, a structured plan, etc.
Although certain situations and pressure from other people can tempt you to take shortcuts for starting a project, it can cause great damage to you, your team and your organization in the long term.
If you are a project manager who is about to start a new project, below are some excuses and shortcuts you should avoid to succeed.
1. Starting Without a Proper Plan
The most important thing for a project to be successful is to have a plan. You as a project manager must ensure that the work to be done, goals, and objectives are clearly defined. You need to tell your team what needs to be done.
People might tell you there is no time to plan everything but it is your responsibility to make sure there is a plan.
2. Not Following Structured Project Management
Many people assume that structured project management is not for small projects but only for the large ones. However, every project requires the same amount of information such as:
– Why are we executing this project?
– What outcome do we want?
– What tasks need to be performed?
– Who is going to do what?
3. Not Assessing the Effects of Unexpected Outcomes
It is not a hidden fact that some projects are more unpredictable than others. If you are working on such a project, it is your duty as a remote project manager to assess the effects of uncertain and unexpected outcomes and you must communicate it to your team.
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4. Not Involving Important People in Decision Making
You should involve the people you know have the required expertise and skills before making any decision. This way you can also have different ideas about how an issue can be solved.
5. Failing to Prepare Procedures and Systems for Remote Team
If you want your project to be successful you need to prepare systems and procedures to track your project’s and team’s performance. You must define how you will assess whether you are meeting the deadlines, how much effort the individuals are putting for achieving their assigned tasks and how much funds you are spending to get the required resources for the project.
6. Working without Following the Plan
Once the plan is developed, evaluated and approved it is your responsibility as a project manager to make sure it is followed throughout the project.
7. Ending the Project without closing it properly
Many managers jump to the next project without properly wrapping up the current project, mostly due to the lack of resources or short deadlines. However, if you do this you will never really know how successful your project was and you won’t gain the experience.
If you are a manager of a remote team who will be starting a new project, do remember to avoid these shortcuts.
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