The extra mile: adding project management techniques to your toolbox. Adopting project management tools into your daily routine will help to organize your work more effectively. Modern project management started in the 1960s and identifies five major phases of a project: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing. Within the planning phase are three important tools for managing people, tasks, and communication. Becoming familiar with these tools and using them will help you organize those that work with you by their involvement in the project and influence. Below is a brief description of each tool. List of project stakeholders: a tool that identifies all people that are affected by a particular project or have influence either directly or indirectly over the project. Each project should have a list of stakeholders. The list also outlines each stakeholder’s perspective as it relates to the project, which includes their interests, rights, and values. Knowing this information as an administrative assistant helps you relate effectively to each stakeholder. The work breakdown structure, WBS: a tool that identifies all the people responsible for a task or deliverable in a project. The person is listed on the WBS along with a description of the task to be completed and the start and end dates. The WBS makes it easier to identify who does what in a project and hold them accountable for completing the task according to the dates on the WBS. The communication plan: a tool that lists all the project stakeholders and performers. It also lists the method and frequency of communication between them. This plan will help to structure how and when you should communicate with people, preventing lapses in communication. This is a valuable resource in your toolbox. These three tools represent a fraction of what project management offers. Learning project management methodologies enhances the skill of the administrator. You do not have to pursue a career in project management in order to study it. Project management offers many tools that are applicable to almost any function within an organization.
