Start 2021 in the right mindset with these actionable project management resolutions
The holiday season is the ideal time to assess the past 12 months, and to look forward to the new year ahead.
Granted, this year’s look back is probably a bit more mixed than most, but that simply means that it’s more important than ever to set some clear objectives and milestones for the coming months.
In project management, as in many industries, there are always new ideas to be explored and new ways of working to consider. Setting some goals for 2021 should help your projects to run smoother, your teams to collaborate more effectively, and your outcomes to be better. Here are our top project management resolutions for 2021.
The end of the year means goal setting time
Maximize the impact of your project reporting
Informative, accurate reporting is a fundamental part of running a successful project. While many project managers try to combine information manually to create reports, however, there is a smarter way to do it.
Using an integrated reporting dashboard linked to real-time data means you can use visuals to get your point across more powerfully. It’s all about using innovative ways to present information to engage your audience.
Delivering data in real-time with powerful visuals
If you can pull together all your critical data into one place, you make it easy for project partners and stakeholders to understand the up-to-date picture with issues such as scheduling and risk. Make 2021 the year that you invest in a system that allows interactive, visually impactful project reporting.
Make sure the fast flow of information is a given, not an exception
One of the key learning points from 2020 has been the importance of data-driven decision-making when working remotely. When you can’t get key players around the table to debate issues in person, it’s been proven more vital than ever to make sure everyone has access to the same, accurate data at the same time. This helps ensure that the decisions made are robust.
A useful project management resolution for 2021 is to review the way that your organization handles information. Do your various systems work synergistically together? Can every employee rely on accessing the tools they need to do their job at any time and from any location? Do you have confidence in the performance reports you receive?
Tackling your information assessment
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then it’s time for an overhaul of how information flows around your organization. Time spent up-front to correct issues of integration and configuration will pay real dividends in the long run.
Take the time to look backward as well as forwards
While it would be understandable to want to consign the whole of 2020 to history, there is real value in learning from what’s gone before. Carve out time in early 2021 to reflect on what has worked well, and not so well, over the past 12 months.
Many project managers initially viewed the pandemic as a short-term crisis to be ‘worked through’ as painlessly as possible, followed by a return to normal service.
However, as time has gone on, it’s becoming ever more apparent that what initially looked like a bump in the road might actually have led to a more fundamental long-term change. Employees have become used to remote working, businesses have invested heavily in IT infrastructure, and partners have got used to pragmatic collaboration at a distance.
All of this adds up to change. Take the time to evaluate what you would like to carry forward from 2020, and leave the rest of it behind. Evolving to incorporate the best elements of change is one mark of a mature business, and 2021 is the ideal time to work through this process.
Use communication to your best advantage
If there’s one lesson that 2020 has taught us, it’s that good communication is the make or break for project management.
Keeping staff engaged, ensuring contractors work to schedule, and reporting outcomes to clients and program sponsors; all of these have only been possible with a proactive approach to keeping everyone informed.
Communication across your organization, wherever your team may be, is paramount
An excellent project management resolution for 2021 is to review your organization’s attitude to communication. Pull together a plan for employee and stakeholder engagement, and then ensure that it’s reliably executed. Ensure there is the opportunity for information to flow in two directions because receiving an early heads-up about risks and threats to delivery can help your project run much more smoothly.
The future of project management very likely lies in a more remote project structure, so taking the time to tighten your communications practice in 2021 will be of benefit long-term.
Implement these project management resolutions for a successful 2021
Taking some time in the new year to plan for the coming 12 months is time well spent. If you need help implementing some of these resolutions, then get in touch with DRMcNatty for a conversation about how we can help.
As experts in data integration, cloud hosting, and project controls software implementation, we are well-placed to help future-proof your business in 2021 and beyond. We can provide you with a complete solution or the parts you are missing to help your company move.
