As a PMBA, it is important to make sure you have a project management approach so that you’ll be prepared to effectively manage the project along the way. There is a fantastic guide available that outlines the important steps of a project that leaders should keep in mind. As I noted last week, accidental project managers should start with the basics, and this guide is perfect because of its simple, high-level approach that can be adapted to different types of projects.

The Collaborative Project Management Guide discusses several factors that project managers should always keep in mind. I think one should note the title itself: Collaborative Project Management (collaborative being the key word), and that the entire guide is based around the concept of managing projects as a team. There is a piece in the guide that says to remember you are a Project Manager, not a Project Dictator. Some PMs will find it hard to distribute the work, taking on many of the tasks themselves, completely missing the idea of collaborative project management. This is a very important point to remember. It might be easy for a new project manager to try and micromanage or even attempt to do most of the work themselves to ensure it gets done. But remember the project team is only there to help. If the project is managed correctly, the team will work in harmony to successfully complete the project. There is a neat quote in the guide from Benjamin Jowett (English scholar, essayist and priest) that says it perfectly: “The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them”. I don’t think anyone could have summed it up any better – that’s probably why the guide uses Jowett’s line instead.

Deciding how much structure the project requires is an important factor to consider. The guide describes a simple spectrum of project management, from unstructured to fully structured, and the varying amounts of structure in between. You must assess the situation and choose the appropriate amount of structure, remembering that too much project management, just for the sake of it, can be detrimental to your efforts. Another major takeaway here is that tracking and re-planning will be a critical part of the process. As a project manager, you must prepare for the fact no project will ever go exactly according to plan. The key is not to be overwhelmed when issues that arise; the key is to be ready for them so you can take appropriate action. If you see the project is going off-course, don’t be afraid to make adjustments. It is this assessment and re-planning that will drive the project to completion. Just make sure you notify the team of your changes too!

The guide really does lay out a great and simple approach for project management. What I’ve highlighted here are just a few of the main ideas that I think are important for an inexperienced project manager like me. Let me know what you think!