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Each and every task need complete attention and preparation to attain the successful result. Every task somewhere involves a few project management methods and hence project management becomes exceedingly important. Project management helps us in the planning and managing of all sorts of tasks, especially complex activities coming in the way of project completion. Now question arises that, when it comes to web design project, then what kind of skills are expected to see in an effective web design project manager? We have gone through a deep study and find out fifteen main qualities which every web design project manager should necessarily have.
We are presenting here top fifteen Project Management skills which when possessed by any web designer project manager, will make him the superman of IT industry, especially web designing stream. So get ready to march through this post and find what is best for you project. We hope this post will be liked by you and you will find it beneficial. We are desirous to know your thought that what you feel about this post. Please convey your message by dropping a comment in the comment section.
Project Management Jargons
Project Management jargons prove a milestone in the successful completion of any project. This term, actually means understanding the principles of the project undertaken. Before preceding the project, one must be familiar with the project management jargons, i.e. what the project is intended for, what is the objective of the project and so on? The project management jargons increase your understanding of the work involved in the project undertaken; it may differ from company to company.
Project Planning
Project Planning is the first step and is the most challenging step before anyone gets ready to start any project and hence need extra nary plan. Project plan or making a mental picture of the project flow is very much essential for getting the desired outcome. Really a project is nothing without proper plan. It is quite obvious that if you will try to complete any undefined project in undefined amount of time, it will never get done. It is here, where project planning comes into effect. Thus, if enough importance is not given to the planning phase its effect is seen throughout the project. The plan includes scope, schedule, requirements gathering, financial and quality management, risk and procurement management, etc. For this the project manager should get in the habit of completing scopes of work, i.e. understanding the requirement of the project and outlining what needs to be done.
Communication
Effective communication is perhaps the most important quality of a project manager. Usually, there are multiple stakeholders found in a single project each having their own communication preferences. For example: while one wants to keep him up-to date daily via email, others prefer making phone calls. Now, it’s your duty to co-ordinate with them, taking in consideration which stakeholder prefers how to communicate. It is advised to practice all sorts of communication as preferred by the stakeholders and occasionally holds meeting as well, as face to face meeting is the most effective form of communication.
Initiation Documentation
Documentation is the overall summary of the project, so it is very much required. It defines the scope and clarifies the need for the project, charts out the roles of each team member, and show the way how the project is to be executed so that it could be completed within specified time period and hence meet the time lines. It brings clarity to everyone.
Time Estimation
Time estimation is the most important factor for any project and hence a project manager should be very conscious about it. There is a limited time period given by client to accomplish the entire project and thus time estimation for each and every method under the project should be estimated carefully. A project with proper time estimation provides an idea to the team about when they need to start as well as complete what set of activities so that it can be delivered to the client within time period fixing the revenue and knowing what the profit margins are.
Organization
As we know, projects are a clutter of milestones, expectations, plans, ideas, people and messages. Thus it’s the duty of the project manager to organize this work in appropriate and efficient manner that can get the job done. Generally it is seen that poorly organized projects leave a bad impression on our clients and are always a source of misery. Thus it is suggestible to constantly evaluate different methodologies implied in the project. A well organized project can help you keep milestones, goals and communication on track.
Estimation and Managing Costs
Cost management and effective cost estimation is another factor which has a broader impact on any project. A good project manager needs to ensure that the cost invested in the project must not exceed the budget resulting in losses. To prevent such type of situation, costs involved in the project must be tracked and accounted time to time.
Breakdown of Work
A project is a huge task which cannot be accomplished at a time. Thus, in order to make it easy and manageable, it is very much necessary to break it into various smaller tasks in a methodical manner. It should be break down in such a manner that one part must be independent of another and can be completed in random manner without waiting for any other process or tasks. Each work should be assigned to every members of the team so that it can be completed in asynchronous manner.
RACI Matrix
RACI Matrix represents ‘Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed’. It means that to achieve the desired result, task is ‘Responsible’. The Person who is in charge of the accuracy of task is ‘Accountable’, Subject matter experts on the project are the ‘Consulted’; and the people kept informed about the progress made are the ‘Informed’.
Reporting
Reporting is another important stage in the course of project completion. It is essential to report to the clients about to what extent, the project has reached and made progress. The stakeholders should be reported about the progress, issues, milestones met, budget status, identified risks, mitigations etc. The reports are usually created by project managers, so the project manager should be careful while creating the reports and must mention these things in their report so that it can help to analyze trend lines.
Networking
A single project involves lots of people. So it is very much necessary for project manager to expand his network and get familiarized with those who are within his network by his contemporary networking skills.
Negotiation
The skill of negotiation is one of the important characteristics of an effective project manager. While the course of entire project, many situations comes, which you need to negotiate. Many times you feel how to tackle any certain situation; every situation will come across you as a unique situation. Negotiation is a bit tough to experience. Having quality to negotiate with a variety of people is regarded as a valuable skill. For example, if someone won’t budge on a project detail, a project manager should get to the root of the issue; thoroughly understand the other party’s need, i.e. what is their objective, try to understand fallback level etc.
Handling Change Management
Changes are the key characteristics of any project. It is quite impractical to expect a project without any changes in its work, time or budget. Thus, as a project manager, it is very much necessary to have capability of handling change management which requires deep understanding of the situation and too much patience.
Leadership
An effective leadership plays a vital role in managing the projects efficiently and attaining the goal defined. The personality of team leader should be flexible according to situations faced. It is said that a project manager is the best team leader as he as all the necessary knowledge of the project undertaken and hence he can guide his team in the direction of a project as per necessity. A project manager must possess effective team leading capability such that it benefits the outcome of the project. Also, it should be the duty of a leader to let their clients and stakeholders know time to time that he is leading the project as they are desirous to know who’s in charge of their project.
Project Review
The final stage of any project is the project reviews. Project review lets everybody to evaluate whether project objectives has been met or not, if not, what are the better ways to do the project, how the project was executed and much more related to project. These all in turn acknowledge how to execute the next project in a more efficient method in order to get optimum results.
Conclusion
Project management requires extra-ordinary skills for the betterment of result. The above given are some of the promising skills which every project manager should possess. But, the skills don’t stop here, there is much more ahead of this. We hope whatever skills provided above will serve as solid beginning of the project making project managers flexible and adaptable to any situation.
