Keeping others on track. Almost every task that requires coordination among various persons could be deemed a project. A project is a temporary endeavor to reach a common goal by several entities. This could be inter-departmental, departmental, or external with a vendor. There may be times when you are called to lead a project or sub-project. Keeping those on track presents both logistical and political challenges. In project management, the project manager is skilled in holding project performers accountable and producing their tasks on time and in good quality. They accomplish this by documenting the name of the person responsible for the deliverable, item or task owed to the project. The work breakdown structure, WBS, document is the tool they use to monitor the deliverables of all project performers in an easy-to-read format. We spoke about this tool earlier. Now you will get specifics on how they work and how to use them. The key to using a WBS is the level of detail you break down the task. Each task in a project should be broken down to a level where individual components and personal responsibility are identified. The start and end dates are then identified. To get this information, you should meet with the project performer and their manager to solidify the deliverable. The more the detail, the better. If you are given vague information, it will be difficult to hold the performer accountable. Here are some questions you may need to ask: Are there any tasks this deliverable is dependent on? Is the person assigned the only one working on this task? If you get a yes to any of these questions, then record this on your WBS. The next tool a project manager uses to hold performers accountable is the communication plan. The key to using this tool is to establish predetermined intervals of communication before the project begins. Set this expectation as you have the ability to contact each performer without appearing like a micromanager, which could cause conflict. When creating your communication plan, incorporate intervals where you can communicate with the performer on a weekly basis. If a project is a quick project, then every couple of days is recommended. This way you are not reaching out to them only when things are falling behind. In your plan, schedule meetings for larger projects. The best thing about these documents is that you will distribute them to the project team once they are complete. This public discourse of who does what and your schedule of when you are going to call on them for updates creates a natural desire to get things done.
