My New Year’s Project Resolutions

Happy New Year to all and I sincerely hope the holidays were safe and kind to everyone. As we get started anew in 2017 I thought I would share some of my resolutions that you fellow project managers may find yourselves committing to as we start the new year.
Focus on Disciplined Execution
This is a skill that ever project manager can improve on, no matter the experience level. As we get busier and busier, this is one of the first things to slip. We often feel that we don’t have the time to follow the protocol or checklists that we normally do and tend to let things slip which can often lead to issues. For part of my resolution, not only am I going to focus on my own disciplined execution of my tasks but also to emphasize to my project teams to do the same. Disciplined execution equals consistent and predictable results – music to any project manager’s ears.
Improve Risk Identification
A perfect project manager will see all of the icebergs before your project hits them. As the old saying goes, nobody is perfect but this again is a skill that everyone can always improve on. Every project will present unique risks and only through experience, constant vigilance and learning from other projects will project managers improve their ability to improve their ability to identify project risks early on. My goal this year is to focus on learning from other projects to help hone my ability to see the risks that might not otherwise get noticed.
Try Something New
Innovation is one of the things I always try to emphasize to my project teams so I thought I would eat a little of my own cooking and force myself to try something new. Working in a small-ish organization affords me (well all of us actually) the latitude to try new things (within reason) in the name of innovation and trying to find more efficient or effective ways of getting the job done. With a focus on the end result trying something new in the process to get there may yield some interesting results. Perhaps it’s a process change for a sales-to-delivery handover that improves knowledge transfer. Maybe it’s a new process for educating team members on the customer environment to help expedite the requirements gathering process. Any which way you slice it, by focusing on results and understanding where you can maybe tweak your process to get there will help allow you to try something new.
By focusing on continuous improvement we as professionals continue to strive to get better and to improve our delivery to our customers. I hope that some of these New Years project resolutions ring true with some of you and I look forward to hearing what some of your goals are for the new year. Wishing you all the best for a happy and prosperous 2017!
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