Deliver your Projects Faster

Here are 5 tips for delivering projects faster...

Tip 1: Find Shortcuts in your Plan
Project Managers usually spend 80% of their time executing and 20% planning. The reason is that the Execution phase is where the excitement is, so they roll their sleeves up and get started executing as quickly as possible.

But if you spend extra time in the Planning phase, then you can usually identify shortcuts which enable you to produce the same project outcome in less time.

So when you think your project plan is complete, take extra time to re-look at your plan from the point of view of delivering it faster. By doing this, you'll find that you can schedule things to be done in a way that takes less time, with less effort.

Tip 2: Automate Manual Tasks
You need to automate your manual daily tasks to help you do things faster.

• Summarizing data for your Weekly Status Reports
• Collating Timesheets and Expense Forms
• Updating your Project Plan with timesheet data
• Working out whether the project is on track
• Reporting on risks, changes and issues.

You don't need to perform these tasks manually.

Tips 3: Manage Execution Carefully
When your project gets underway, manage your project against the plan vigilantly. It’s easy for the plan to sit on the shelf, and for the team to go in their own direction. Instead, you need to lead the team by making sure they complete only those tasks which have been planned, and not other tasks which have cropped up along the way. So manage the project execution carefully. You can also save time in the Execution phase by:

• Working your suppliers and contractors hard
• Mitigating risks and issues before they affect the timeframe
• Saving all non-critical tasks until after the project is complete
• Not allowing unplanned tasks to be completed, unless critical
• Not implementing change requests, unless they are critical.

Tip 4: Double up on Resources
Usually, the easiest way to shorten the length of the project is to assign more resources to it. However, this isn’t possible for many projects because they have a limited budget and a limited pool of resource.

But that's not to say that you can't double up on resources for the right tasks. It just means that if you do this, then other tasks will be under-resourced. So why would you do this?

In most projects there are tasks on the “critical path” that must be completed to deliver the project. If you assign more resources to these tasks than are necessary, you can usually complete them earlier than expected. And it makes sense that if every critical path task is completed faster, then the entire project will be delivered quicker than expected.

Tips 5: Get the Critical Tasks done first
In many projects the last 20% of tasks, take 50% of the length of the project. This is because the team have left the difficult tasks until the end, which happens to be when they are tired and need a holiday!

Instead, identify the tasks in your plan which are the most complex and challenging to complete. And if possible, tackle those tasks at the start of the project, when people are fresh and enthusiastic. You’ll find that they can complete those tasks in less time and to a higher standard of quality than if they were left until the end of the project. And with those difficult tasks completed, the rest of the project should be easier to deliver.

5 Steps to Hiring the Right Staff

To ensure you hire the right staff for the right roles, take these steps:

1. Define the Role

Sounds easy, but defining the role properly is the most important step to take when recruiting new staff.

• Purpose and responsibilities of the role;
• Reporting and communication relationships;
• Skills, experience and qualifications needed;
• Team fit and performance criteria;
• Salary, rate, commission and benefits; and
• Work environment and special conditions.

2. Find Top Candidates

Next, advertise the role both internally and externally. Make your advert as specific as possible by listing the key responsibilities. Explain the challenges that they will face. List any special requirements. Make it sound enticing, but don’t oversell it.

Then while the adverts are running identify your selection criteria for interviews, based on the characteristics in the Job Description.

When the adverts close, review your list of applicants against the selection criteria and choose between 3 and 5 applicants to interview.

3. Interview Candidates

Next, interview the selected candidates. Make sure you prepare fully for each interview, so don't just "wing it". For every interview, you should:

• Prepare a list of questions before you start.
• Cover all areas of the Job Description during the interview.
• Address any strengths and weaknesses from their CV.
• Consider the quality of the questions they’ve posed to you.
• Be specific, direct and to the point at all times.

Don't be afraid to take notes during the interview. You will find that if you're interviewing more than 3 candidates, you will need to rely on the interview notes heavily when progressing to the next stage.

4. Test Candidates

Depending on the type of role you're recruiting for, you may also want to formally test your candidates. Here are 10 ways that you can test candidates to determine their suitability against the Job Description:

1. Perform personality, competency and numerical testing.
2. Get them to send samples of work completed in the past.
3. Ask them to perform specific project tasks. For instance, if hiring a software developer, get them to write you an example program.
4. Perform a second interview with management.
5. Get them to meet the team and allow the team to ask questions.
6. Take them for lunch with your team and see how they socialize.
7. Get them to do a formal presentation to your team.
8. Seek 3 professional references, all from past employers.
9. Ask them for 2 personal references, for character checking.
10. Speak to their prior customers to confirm their competency.

5. Select Candidate

Based on the interview and test results, the next step is to select the right person for the job. If you have a number of people that you can't decide between, then here are your options:

• Hire neither and start again. It's difficult to do this as you've put in a lot of work to get to this point. But it may be better to start again than hire a candidate who will not meet your needs fully.
• Hire both and deliver earlier. In some cases you can split a Job Description in two and allocate the responsibilities to more than one person. It's challenging and risky doing this, but in some cases you can deliver the project earlier and at the same cost by hiring 2 gifted candidates at the same time.
• Select the best candidate. In most cases you're landed with this option. If both candidates are "on an even par", then don't pass the decision on to someone else, go with your gut feel. We could give you numerous statistical testing methods to choose the right person, but at the end of the day they have to be able to do the job and fit in with your team—and only you will know which candidate is best to do this.