{"id":105,"date":"2014-11-05T17:06:45","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T17:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105"},"modified":"2014-11-07T21:00:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T21:00:35","slug":"3-how-to-always-have-successful-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"3. How to always have successful projects."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If the project fails, it was your responsibility. If it\u2019s successful, it\u2019s because of your team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>So a couple of things I\u2019ve learned in running projects as a project manager, in no particular order:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Beware of being overly comforted by minutiae. I am always wary when I get lots of GANTT charts and presentations tracking a million milestones. <strong>You need to track outcomes<\/strong>, not activities. So if the goal is to implement 15 capabilities by a certain date, you need a one pager that shows what you need to deliver, what&#8217;s been done, what more needs to be done, and when you expect them to be complete against the timeline. You need to keep the team focused on the work relative to time.<\/li>\n<li>Keep your presentation <strong>consistent and simple<\/strong> for updates. Format wise it\u2019s usually 1) executive summary, 2) a timeline\/major deliverables\/status view, and 3) next steps\/what you need from the group you\u2019re reporting on. If it&#8217;s not a good update, you&#8217;re going to need to pre-sell the information (see number .<\/li>\n<li>Here\u2019s how \u201cstatus\u201d should work with projects: <strong>Green<\/strong>&#8211; all good, on track, <strong>Amber<\/strong> \u2013 issues which put the target date in jeopardy, but \u00a0you have a viable Plan B that bears watching. <strong>Red<\/strong> \u2013 we are going to miss the date, and are still working on a plan to mitigate the risks. I have seen too many projects stay green when they really shouldn&#8217;t be. <strong>Be honest about the project status<\/strong>. Usually in order to get back to green, big decisions need to be made: getting more resources, deferring functionality. By keeping it in green, you\u2019re just lulling everyone into a state of complacency and kicking the can down the road.<\/li>\n<li>Team membership typically changes depending on what phase you\u2019re in: when you\u2019re in analysis and design, you tend to have a different group than when you\u2019re in implementation. <strong>Don\u2019t be afraid to switch out players <\/strong>in order to get the right people around the table, but do it sensitively. People will want to stay&#8230;moving them into an &#8220;advisory capacity&#8221; usually helps.<\/li>\n<li>Speaking of team members, you must <strong>trust every person on your team<\/strong> to be the expert on the function they represent. If you don\u2019t, get a new person. You won\u2019t know everything\u2026so they have to.<\/li>\n<li><strong>It\u2019s your job as the project manager to make the hard decisions<\/strong> (e.g.\u00a0changing report\u00a0status, swapping out team members, pushing back on requirements). That\u2019s not a group decision. The group should provide input into the decision, but it\u2019s you making the final call. They&#8217;ll respect the decision if they think you&#8217;re being fair.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Let your team do what they need to do<\/strong>: there is a difference between active management and micro management. You&#8217;re allowed to micro manage when things are bad, but you&#8217;ll wear everyone out if you do it right out of the gate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The devil\u2019s in the details<\/strong>: Requirements documents are critical and never get the amount of time they deserve. It&#8217;s hard for a word document to convey process, data complexity, and the 20% of the inputs which won\u2019t be standard. Make sure it\u2019s done right. I once saw a project delayed by months and lots of money because the\u00a0coder\u00a0interpreted ONE data field incorrectly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>People are smart<\/strong>: if they think you\u2019ll throw them under a bus if the project fails, they will start backing off quickly. If your attitude is that you&#8217;re accountable if it goes wrong, but they&#8217;re the winners if it comes through, they will do what it takes to get the job done. I\u2019ve never seen a situation when they haven\u2019t.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If the project fails, it was your responsibility. If it\u2019s successful, it\u2019s because of your team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-management","tag-project-management-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>3. How to always have successful projects. - My Lessons Learned<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3. How to always have successful projects. - My Lessons Learned\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;If the project fails, it was your responsibility. If it\u2019s successful, it\u2019s because of your team.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"My Lessons Learned\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-05T17:06:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-07T21:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mylessonslearned.co\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mylessonslearned.co\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mylessonslearned.co\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eb1c7092243063c426cc3a3d2063da4b\"},\"headline\":\"3. How to always have successful projects.\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-05T17:06:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-07T21:00:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105\"},\"wordCount\":636,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"project management\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Project Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105\",\"name\":\"3. How to always have successful projects. - My Lessons Learned\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-05T17:06:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-07T21:00:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eb1c7092243063c426cc3a3d2063da4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?p=105#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"3. How to always have successful projects.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/\",\"name\":\"My Lessons Learned\",\"description\":\"(and still learning)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eb1c7092243063c426cc3a3d2063da4b\",\"name\":\"Mylessonslearned.co\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f4eec5114c11cee3db7bfb9335855c39ac01b1166422a88fccbc56d5fbd2f339?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f4eec5114c11cee3db7bfb9335855c39ac01b1166422a88fccbc56d5fbd2f339?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f4eec5114c11cee3db7bfb9335855c39ac01b1166422a88fccbc56d5fbd2f339?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mylessonslearned.co\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mylessonslearned.co\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3. How to always have successful projects. - My Lessons Learned","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3. How to always have successful projects. - My Lessons Learned","og_description":"&#8220;If the project fails, it was your responsibility. If it\u2019s successful, it\u2019s because of your team.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105","og_site_name":"My Lessons Learned","article_published_time":"2014-11-05T17:06:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-07T21:00:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":850,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mylessonslearned.co","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mylessonslearned.co","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105"},"author":{"name":"Mylessonslearned.co","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/#\/schema\/person\/eb1c7092243063c426cc3a3d2063da4b"},"headline":"3. How to always have successful projects.","datePublished":"2014-11-05T17:06:45+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-07T21:00:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105"},"wordCount":636,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","keywords":["project management"],"articleSection":["Project Management"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105","url":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105","name":"3. How to always have successful projects. - My Lessons Learned","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","datePublished":"2014-11-05T17:06:45+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-07T21:00:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/#\/schema\/person\/eb1c7092243063c426cc3a3d2063da4b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","width":1280,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?p=105#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3. How to always have successful projects."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/","name":"My Lessons Learned","description":"(and still learning)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/#\/schema\/person\/eb1c7092243063c426cc3a3d2063da4b","name":"Mylessonslearned.co","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4eec5114c11cee3db7bfb9335855c39ac01b1166422a88fccbc56d5fbd2f339?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4eec5114c11cee3db7bfb9335855c39ac01b1166422a88fccbc56d5fbd2f339?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4eec5114c11cee3db7bfb9335855c39ac01b1166422a88fccbc56d5fbd2f339?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mylessonslearned.co"},"url":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5P6Ou-1H","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mylessonslearned.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/successful-projects.jpg?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylessonslearned.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}