Project Management Best Practices

Project management best practices are those steps and practices that should not be skipped in any project plan, especially if you want effective project management. While project planning can vary by company and definitely by project, with smaller goals taking far less planning and documentation than larger ones, there are certain practices that should be part of each project to make sure that it's well-defined and that the goals are reasonable and achievable.

While some experts might argue about the best project management practices that should be included in the list, there are some that every experienced manager agrees are necessary for successful project planning and management. The best methods make planning easier, and help the entire team work more efficiently toward a shared goal—the successful conclusion of the project.

Best Practice #1: Clearly Define the Project

This might seem like common sense. After all, if you don't know what your goals are, how can you possibly achieve them? But just knowing what the outcome of the project should be doesn't constitute something that's clearly defined. If you were assigned a project with the goal of creating a promotional campaign for an event, you have a very broad definition of the project in that description.

Within that description, however, there could be several important objectives. Obviously, event promotion is one goal. But the promotion might be designed to attract the attention of other event planners and organizers to drum up future promotional business. In promoting a specific event, there could be another motive such as drawing attention from a certain group of people. If you're familiar with the group you're trying to attract (business people, general consumers, future clients) then you know how to tailor the campaign to aim at that demographic.

Defining the project is one of the project management best practices that will also allow you to determine exactly what the outcome will be. It's not enough to say "design a promotional campaign." Instead, list the deliverables. There may be a brochure that requires specific artwork, there may be a set of image banners to be placed in key areas around town, there may be a press release, and so forth. Know exactly what's expected and what each item's purpose is for the best results.

Best Practice #2: Risk Management

This is one of the most important project management best practices, and unfortunately it gets skipped frequently, especially in smaller organizations and for smaller projects. Some of the reasons risk assessment is often skipped seems to be because so few people really understand what it entails. It sounds much more complicated than it is.

If you were about to take a trip across country, you would most likely automatically do a type of risk assessment, perhaps without realizing it. You'd plan to have enough money to cover ordinary expenses like gas, lodging and food, and you'd want to have extra in case of a flat tire, extra need for food or water, higher hotel costs than expected and any unplanned expenses. You might also air up the spare tire and make an alternate plan to see different attractions if the ones you really want to see are closed or inconvenient.

Risk assessment for a project is essentially the same thing. You think of what could go wrong and what could cause problems during the project, and come up with a plan to overcome those problems or risks if they should arise. If your chosen printer can't do the job on your schedule, if the sales department can't sell enough ad slots or if the software training takes a few days longer than anticipated, these are the things you have already considered during the risk management phase. Knowing what can go wrong in advance helps you keep the project on track.

Best Practice #3: Monitor and Watch for Warning Signs

You've followed the project management best practices and defined the project in detail as well as identified the potential risks. Now, the project is underway. You can't just count on everything going as planned. You have to monitor the process and measure the results at each stage. And more importantly, you need to notice when little warning signs start to creep in, such as the scope of the project expanding but without longer deadlines or more resources.

Careful monitoring can help project managers catch this type of thing early and stop it. If the scope of the project starts to expand, then the plan needs to be redone to account for that, or the original project plan should be followed and the scope limited again. One of the biggest reasons projects fail is because the managers don't follow project management best practices and make sure that the original plans and goals are kept in front of the team's eyes. A laser focus is often necessary. When things change, the change management plan has to be adapted to reflect that. Follow these best project management practices with each new project and you'll get to your goals more efficiently and with fewer problems and failures.