Caestra Consulting

“We need to change something, let’s make it a project.”

Without a clear task description and goal setting, you will have to live with the fact that “something” will be delivered – in case of doubt, not the desired result. We know of no professional project method – neither classic nor agile – that does not place value on the definition of project goals and their minimum acceptance standards.

Project goals should meet at least the following criteria to be effective:

• Specific: Goals should be clearly and precisely formulated so that there is no room for interpretation or misunderstanding.
• Measurable: It should be possible to measure the progress and success of the project using quantifiable metrics or criteria.
• Achievable: Goals should be realistic and achievable, based on the available resources and time frame of the project.
• Relevant: The goals should be relevant to the overall goal of the project and contribute to achieving the desired end state.
• Time-bound: A clearly defined time frame should be set within which the goals are to be achieved in order to enable clear structuring and organization of the project.
• Accepted: The goals should be accepted and supported by all relevant stakeholders to ensure a uniform alignment and cooperation within the project team.
• Flexible: Goals should be adaptable and revisable if necessary to respond to changes or unforeseen events in the project environment.

“The best expert should lead a project.”

No! The main task of a project manager is to coordinate tasks, lead a team, resolve conflicts, manage risks, and keep an eye on the project goals. The necessary expertise and personal skills for this are fundamentally different from the technical expertise required for the project subject matter. The best expert should be part of the implementing project team or brought into play in a separate expert role. Even if he or she is suitable as a project manager, the potential as an expert would be wasted in the role of project manager or limited in its effectiveness in a possible dual role.

Fun Fact: In doubt, your project manager does not need any specific technical expertise in the respective project topic at all. However, he or she should have project methodological knowledge that ensures the ideal staffing and role distribution for a project. Only if roles and tasks are correctly described and assigned can smooth and clear cooperation between all project members be guaranteed.

The most important project roles at a glance:

1. Project manager: Responsible for the overall management of the project, monitoring progress, resource management, risk management, and communication with stakeholders.
2. Team members: Carry out the specific tasks and work in the project, coordinate with each other, and contribute to achieving the project goals.
3. Stakeholders: Persons or groups who have an interest in the project or are affected by its results. They provide support, feedback, and resources for the project.
4. Subject matter experts: Provide subject-specific knowledge and support the team in solving complex problems or developing new ideas.
5. Project controller: Monitors and controls the financial and time performance of the project, prepares reports, and provides support for budgeting and planning.

“PowerPoint and good ideas – that’s all a project needs. We can do that on the side.”

That might be true – provided your project was to create a good PowerPoint presentation full of ideas. Even then, however, you would still have had to have the time needed to create it and the expertise needed to brainstorm ideas to successfully complete your PowerPoint project. And you would have still done your day job on the side.

If a project is not provided with sufficient resources, you can just end it. This will save you from throwing good money after bad.

The “Big Four” of project resources are:

Personnel
Expertise
Time
Project equipment and tools

Not so Fun Fact: In over 70% of the projects we were subsequently involved in, project members complained of massive double workloads from day-to-day business and project work, which made it impossible for them to maintain acceptable performance in both areas. The individual well-being of the individuals was usually negatively affected.

“No risk, no fun.”

Those who equate fun with “thrill” may be right here. For your project, unmanaged risks are a real threat.

Risk management is an integral part of project management and aims to ensure project success through the systematic identification, assessment and control of risks. The focus is on the early detection of potential risks, minimizing the probability of occurrence and the extent of negative events.

It is important to comprehensively identify potential risks at all possible interfaces of the project with its business environment and interested parties – the so-called stakeholders. Often enough, project-based risk management is limited to the evaluation of the project organization itself, without considering potential risks from outside.

Through the systematic identification, assessment and control of risks, negative impacts on the project progress can be minimized and the project goals can be efficiently achieved.

“CC everyone just to be safe.”

Ineffective communication ends in unread emails, unproductive meetings, contentless phone calls, and ultimately frustration. If the ratio of essential to non-essential information is out of balance, important information is lost – regardless of whether there was too much or too little communication. There is also the risk that a negative mood will develop within your team, which will have a lasting negative impact on the productivity of individual project members.

Here is an excerpt from our communication checklist before starting any project.

• Clarity and precision: How should information be formulated in a specific environment to be clear, concise and unambiguous in order to avoid misunderstandings?
• Completeness: How do we ensure that relevant information is communicated completely and transparently?
• Timeliness: What information should be up-to-date and current to enable optimal decision-making?
• Relevance: What information is relevant to which recipients?
• Understandability: In which language / style should communication take place?
• Openness and transparency: How do we achieve open and transparent communication to promote trust and cooperation within the project team?
• Regularity: Who needs to receive regular updates and status reports on what in order to maintain a common information base?
• Suitable channels: Which channels are used for communication?
• Feedback and error culture: How do we achieve an open feedback culture?

“The department X can do that together with the trainees. They don’t have much to do at the moment anyway.”

The selection of the right people with the appropriate personal and professional skills is crucial for the success of a project. Inexperience and – yes, even incompetence – in key roles can, on the other hand, endanger the project considerably.

Even experienced project managers are not immune to a lack of competence. New tools and methods are springing up like mushrooms and demand a continued willingness to further training. Not for nothing do relevant project qualifications have to be re-demonstrated at regular intervals in order to maintain existing certifications.

Experience, on the other hand, speaks for itself. A small overview of desirable personal and professional skills in the different project roles.

• Project Manager – Personal Skills: Leadership skills, communication skills, decision-making skills, assertiveness, organizational skills, time management –  Technical Skills: Project management methodology, risk management, cost management, scheduling, quality management
• Team Members – Personal Skills: Team skills, willingness to cooperate, communication skills, reliability, punctuality, resilience -Technical Skills: Expertise in the respective discipline, method skills, problem-solving skills
• Client – Personal Skills: Decision-making skills, assertiveness, communication skills, goal orientation, sense of responsibility – 
  Technical Skills: Knowledge of project goals and requirements, budget responsibility
• Consultant – Personal Skills: Communication skills, presentation skills, consulting skills, empathy – 
  Technical Skills: Expertise in the respective discipline, experience in consulting projects

“We have achieved our goals. Congratulations. The buffet is now open.”

From a project perspective, the project is indeed finished when the project goals have been achieved. A project is known to be a temporary organizational unit for the achievement of a specific goal. A reason to pop the corks? Not quite yet!

What good is achieving the best goals if the results achieved are not then used, meet with resistance, or are simply forgotten?

A successful project creates something new. This can lead to changes in the organization, such as new processes, systems, or working methods. In order to make these changes sustainable, it is important to train, prepare, and support employees for the new circumstances.

Changes can lead to resistance from employees, for example out of fear of the unknown or habit of the old processes. A change management process can help to understand and address these resistances in order to ensure a smooth introduction of the changes.

Through a structured change management process, employees are actively involved in the change processes. This is the only way to ensure that the results achieved are secured for your organization in the long term.