But I don’t want to be a project manager – Running a project when it’s not your day job.

What do you do if your primary focus is within a business function and your asked to provide project management support?

• Rule number 1 don’t panic!

• Rule number 2 don’t panic!

  • Not to get into a Fight Club analogy, but that truly is a key trait, that ability to remain calm and focused when issues arise, and they will.  I like to say that if projects didn’t have issues, I wouldn’t have a job, they would be so simple, you just need to develop a plan, give everyone their tasks with required due dates and sit back. I can’t every recall a project that didn’t require risk mitigation and issue resolution.

• This leads to rule number 3.

  • Don’t be so focused on your plan that you’re not managing the project, you’re managing the plan. My point here is that plans will deviate and as noted above issues will arise, that’s part of the reason that someone in leadership asked you to manage this effort. You do need a plan, but your plan is a roadmap, it is a course you plotted before all potential obstacles were identified. When these roadblocks occur, you need to work with your SMEs (subject matter experts) and vendor team, if this is a SaaS (Software as a Service) implementation. If timing is critical and meeting your completion date doesn’t have any slack time, then discuss other potential resolutions. Using your charter and other developed initiation deliverables, take a look at scope and definition of done. Are you able to cut some scope and install in a more iterative fashion, delivering some of the scoped items and still cover key requirements that will meet the critical aspects of your definition of done? 

What are some steps you can do to help follow the above rules and keep your project moving forward?

• Have a charter developed, I can’t emphasize the importance of this document enough. This is where everyone agrees what is considered to be true at the time of project initiation. You can find multiple templates online or you can check with your IT or PMO (if available). Your charter should hold key aspects including:

  • Defined key milestones.

  • What is your definition of done?

  • Identified roles and responsibilities.

  • What is in scope and what is out?

• Consider aspects of your project management plan, not a timeline plan, but your overall plan on how you’re going to manage the effort, this includes areas within:

  • project governance

  • communications

  • required deliverables

  • timeline plans

• If this is a SaaS solution, in most cases, a vendor PM will also be assigned; this person should become your partner and key contact throughout the life of the project. They can also be a key source of PM knowledge, so don’t feel like you can’t tap into that experience; one caveat to keep in mind, their focus is implementing the system in alignment with your contract. You need to make sure that isn’t at the sacrifice of quality nor critical business needs in order to meet a deadline.

•   Write it down, take meeting minutes, record decision points and key action items so that everyone is aligned. Like you, your team members have other responsibilities so what is critical to the timeline might need to take a backseat to other efforts. A gentle reminder of needed follow-ups of action items or the need to complete a task is greatly appreciated; offer assistance if you’re able to.

• If you’re at a critical point, perhaps near a due date or if you’re working on resolving an issue, consider using an agile activity called a daily stand-up. Keep those short, no longer than 15 minutes and focused on the key task at hand.

•   If you’re in life science or other regulated industries, don’t forget the validation and regulatory requirements, if they’re not already, make sure that you have Legal, Procurement, Compliance, QA, and internal IT, as part of the team and defined in the charter. These are key stakeholders, who will ensure that you’re not only following internal guidelines, but that the vendor is following required compliance requirements as well.

This covers some of the key aspects and hopefully helps you take a breath. Remember a project is a team effort and everyone wants the same successful outcome, your job is to help guide them there. Rely on your SMEs, from both a project and business point of view, get their input and work with them when a risk becomes an issue, or something just suddenly pops up. If you follow the above guidance I believe you will greatly improve your chances of success.

 No one can honestly say they can provide you 100 % guidance on what needs to be done during a project without having a lot more detail, but if I added a rule number 4, it would be to remember rules 1 and 2.

Have a need for someone to help guide an internal business resource, whether during project discovery or execution, then let’s connect.