Businesses of all sizes embark themselves on thousands of projects each year for new products and services. Unfortunately, most of them are doomed to fail immediately, or at launch, because the original criteria of success were not met. Some project failures lead to delayed product launches. Such as the Airbus A380, others like the Big Dig in Boston, that went way over the budget. These examples, as well as the results of survey after survey shows that some businesses have not been able to figure out how to consistently get the products and services delivered on brief, on time and on budget with the highest quality. The risk of the failure is that the projects can result in lost profits and lost customers.
For approved projects, managers must work within strict budget limitations with marginal room for error. The dirty little secret is that projects are rarely delivered on budget. Poor planning, resource distractions, and scope creep almost always see to that.
Therefore here are my 8 steps to deliver a project on brief, on time and on budget
-Listen carefully to your clients wants and needs so you can after make them match with the customer’s wants and needs
-The client will decide if the project goes or not, so be very aware of what they are looking for
2) Ready to deliver?
-You need to know where you are to know where you are going
-Define what will be included and what won’t be. Create the MoSCoW list. (Must, should, could, would)
-Get your business and IT teams ready for the action
-These will allow you to estimate resource, needs, costs and time lines
3) What if it is not working?
-Establish a strict change control
-In this stage the “must-haves” and the “nice-to-haves” list can lead you to failure if you are not realistic when making it
-Make sure that the list stays in budget
-Be ready to change strategies if they are not working for you or for the client
4) Cheer them up!
-Motivate your teams
-Define tasks and responsibilities
-Set reasonable expectations
-Create smaller projects within the plan that your team is working on
-Set small deadlines
-Be disciplined and work methodically towards the end
6) Train your team early
-If your IT and business teams don’t fully understand a new program or application, the project will be in jeopardy
-You need to train them before and regularly during the project development in order to be successful in the deliverance
7) Test, test and test!
-Test early and often
-Testing is the best way to uncover and correct errors
-You can use:
*Usability labs
*Focus groups or online surveys
*One on One
*Journey tracking
*Task completion test
8) Be adjustable
-There is more than one way to reach the goal, so be prepared and willing to make the necessary changes to deliver your project on brief, on time and on budget.
-If your project involves creating a web site don’t forget to see your checklist to make sure you tick them all!
-Checklist:
-Educational
-Informative
-Supportive of creativity
-Aesthetically pleasing
-Rewarding
-Satisfying
-Helpful
-Easy to remember
-Easy to learn
-Have good utility
-Effective to use
-Efficient to use
You must also always take into account, during your project development the Legal considerations such as:-Privacy and data protection
-Accessibility
-Copyright
-Service Contract
-Defamation
-Tax
-Suppliers and SLAs
-Client/agency
And for last GOOD LUCK!
References:
http://blog.method123.com/2008/08/20/deliver-projects-successfully/
Good post! I like how you point out real world projects that have failed or gone over budget. Some more images or a video would be nice as it would help break up the text. I personally always do the same thing on my blogs.
ResponderEliminarthere is a clear explaination that you give the audiences, I agree with you about " cheer them up" and and "listen to your clients",which are very import factors to be successful project! well done!
ResponderEliminarA good guide for meeting deadlines and reaching the targeted goals not only in projects but throughout life also.
ResponderEliminarIf every person in the world had such a bunch of skills, then the life would have been a paradise.)