Do you feel overwhelmed when handling multiple projects? Do you need help with familiarizing yourself with critical project management techniques?
Well, no need to worry. Knowing how to handle projects effectively is the goal of all entrepreneurs, from company directors to freelancers.
In this post, I will shed light on five popular techniques you can use to manage projects.
Projects Management Techniques You Should Try
1. Critical Path Analysis
It is easy to finish planning a simple project but tricky when designing a complex one. You can simplify complex projects by using critical path analysis as your planning technique.
This technique helps to plan, analyze, and schedule big, complex projects with multiple tasks, especially those done simultaneously and depend on one another.
Critical path analysis helps you discover the presence of some parallel tasks’ and how they can be handled and prioritized.
The project management technique is preferred because it follows a timeline that identifies essential tasks in a project within the extended sequence and when to be done.
Using project management softwares, such as Wrike, Lucidchart, and Zoho Projects can help you create a critical path and manage projects more effectively.
2. SMART Goals
SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. You may engage SMART in the project planning process before you start it by making sure your goals firmly meet the SMART criteria.
Simply put, the ideas should be direct to the point and precise. They should also be measured to estimate the project cost.
Attainable is relatively easy to understand since projects with impossible dreams can fail.
Besides, ensure each project goal is relevant to your company’s vision and goals. Set specific timelines for each project’s completion, as well.
3. Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group problem-solving approach where people contribute creative ideas and solutions.
This technique requires managers to encourage team members to think and provide suggestions based on their diverse experience and knowledge.
Here are brainstorming techniques that work:
- Remain focused on the problem at hand
- Focus on the small problems within the bigger problem
- Keep an open mind
- Encourage more ideas and refine them later
4. Work Breakdown Structure
Do you have a large project and are looking for a way to divide and conquer it quicker and more efficiently?
Here’s the solution: Work breakdown structure (WBS).
Work breakdown structure is an approach for completing a big, multi-step project faster. You can use a project management software to create subfolders and folders for the project. You can also break down project tasks into subtasks.
5. An Effect and Cause Diagram
This planning technique is also known as the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram. A Japanese organization theorist created it called Kaoru Ishikawa to trace and identify the root causes of an undesirable problem or effect.
It identifies and gathers problems that can come out during a project period. Project managers can find relevant solutions to the issues through this planning technique.
Every project has inherent risks; planning with a motive to recover any risks ensures the project goes as planned and avoids costly interruptions.
Conclusion
Once you follow the prescribed principles of project management techniques and choose one that matches your project, you will accelerate your workflow, simplify your management process, and have total control of project procedures.
The results will be excellent as you finish the project quickly and produce high-quality final products.
