3 Keys to Effective Project Management

I was recently a part of a project at work that went sideways pretty much every way it could. Anybody that has done any kind of installation work, whether it's IT work or otherwise, you know that these things just happen sometimes. Even so, it has brought about several conversations about project management. I quickly started to realize that project management is definitely a skill that takes training and practice to develop. So who am I to talk about project management?

I have supervised people in the two most highly regulated industries in the country; securities and nuclear power. I have trained on and overseen the transfer of millions of dollars of other people's money. I have supervised maintenance evolutions on multimillion dollar pieces of mission critical equipment. Evolutions that halt operations of organizations that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per day to operate. So now that you have my qualifications, here are my top 3 keys.

1. Make a decision, move forward.

There is saying by an Army General (if you can help me cite this, please do)that goes something like "I'll take an 80% decision now over a 100% decision any day". I figure if it's a good enough theory to stand up under fire (literally), then it is good enough to hold true for more menial projects.

Many times when we hit a snag in a project, we don't have the answer right away. So what happens next? Analyze, analyze, analyze. Stop right there. Now I'm not advocating you just react without thinking, but there is a point of diminishing returns in this scenario that is reached very quickly. Within a few minutes you need to take the best idea and drive it forward. If your decision isn't correct you will know fairly quickly and you will have narrowed your choices by one. There is nothing worse than a stalled project.

2. Perfection is your enemy.

I'm sure that one probably got your attention. It has to be said though. When a major operation is halted awaiting your project, and your project is halted, it's time to find the fastest route to a stable state. A stable state in this case means an operating condition that will continue to operate safely, without jeopardizing personnel, equipment, or the integrity of the overall project. Once operations are back online, you have the time to rethink your approach and figure out how you should proceed at the next opportunity. In addition, removing the pressure to produce a solution immediately will often times help you produce a solution. Kind of like when you can't find your keys anywhere and the minute you stop looking you find them.

3. The details will make or break you.

At first glance, this seems diametrically opposed to #2. Here's the difference. #2 is a damage control technique. For some projects, you will be in damage control mode for most of the project. But those are hopefully the exception and not the rule. Once you have a direction and you are moving forward, each step of the project deserves attention to detail.

I used to do a lot of dirt bike riding and with a lot of dirt bike riding comes a lot of dirt bike repair. A two stroke dirt bike needs to have the engine rebuilt every 80-100 hours. During the process of rebuilding an engine it can be easy to miss a step. We would always joke that the more parts you had left over at the end the better job you did. It was always pretty funny, but the truth is that engine probably won't hold together very long without all the proper parts. So now a you may have turned a two hour job into an hour and a half, but that left over part just forced you to start that two hour process all over again.

Most of all, good project management takes time and practice. Any experienced project manager will have their fair share of war stories about projects gone horribly wrong. The key is to reflect on the project, figure out where you went wrong, and decide how you will avoid making the same mistake on the next project.