Given the necessity of all four phases of project management, I believe the most important phase in a project's success is the execution of the project. It is certainly important to define and organize the project, plan the project, and close down the project, without the execution of the project there is no action tied to the discussions, organizing, planning, and project closure. By nature I am a planner. My masters degree is actually in urban planning, but my weakness over the years has been executing and finalizing projects since I am naturally captivated by the initiation of a project with all of its creative opportunities to tie resources and produce collaboration between agents of change. However, as I enter my second decade of professional developmment, I find that as a higher level manager it is critical that I see the initial stages of a project through to the finish and that progress is monitored and controlled in terms of the quality equals cost and time variables. Therefore, managing risk is important since many of the agents of change are often caught up in their role and tasks but I need to see the broader vision of what needs to be developed, whether its a report for our academic department, a project in preparation for an accreditation visit, or the rollout of a new curriculum for our general education program.
Sabina,
Thanks for the reply and I appreciate your honesty. It sounds like a great approach and I wouldn't call that cheating...very smart approach to become a recruiter! Also, it appears like you must be a matchmaker too...I don't know that is a bad thing. Keep up the great work!
Dr. Eric Goodman
Thomas,
I appreciate that you've recognized the importance of the various phases of a project over the years. I'd invite you to think about in what way you might be as captivated by the initiation of a project as you would with the sense of challenge and opportunities in how the project is actually executed?
I'm curious how you begin to get a sense of the broad vision...are there certain approaches that you find helpful?
Dr. Eric Goodman
For me this one was a toss up. I think both the Defining and Execution phases are highly critical.
Having a clear definition of what is needed, sets the stage for all that follows. If needs are loosely defined, ambiguous, unaligned or unrealistic and a project is initiated anyway, consequences could be detrimental to the overall health of an organization. You have to know what's needed and it has to be on point.
Even the best definition won't help if a plan is executed poorly. I work in education and even though we know very specifically what's needed to make students successful, it's all for not if we execute our instructional practices poorly.
The goal here was to select one. So, I'll go with Execution.
Timothy,
Excellent point about the definition and execution phases. I also appreciate you selecting one and going with execution. The trick as you suggest is to make sure you are executing against the appropriate plan because otherwise it won't have the impact you anticipate! So, I'm curious about your comment about what's needed to make students successful...care to share what you've learned?
Dr. Eric Goodman
Absolutely!
We subscribe to Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory as a basis for how we approach understanding, learning and implementing instruction. It begins with understanding the unique learning modalit(ies) of the student and adjusting how and what we teach to the strengths of that learning style and the individual student.
The results for us has been a wonderfully eclectic mix of differentiated instruction that makes learning (and teaching), fun, meaningful, engaging and most of all effective.
As you can imagine, a lot of planning and pin point execution must go into the implementation of such a system. With a little over 10 months a year to assess students, define their individual learning plan, assess effectiveness, adjust accordingly, performance and progress monitor and ultimately prepare for standardized tests and celebrating student successes at the end, a balanced, well-thought and well-executed approach is essential.
Timothy,
Thanks for your willingness to share the approach. Taking the time to really assess and develop an individual learning plan is an impressive approach. It is great to know that there are institutions training faculty to understand the learning modalities and how to adjust. As you mention it is a planning intensive approach but your students will reap the benefits!
Dr. Eric Goodman
The most critical element is determining the project. It is critical that an organizations understands the problem they are attempting to address, or they will not be successful.
Tina,
Good point about knowing what problem you are attempting to address. Would you consider that a phase of the project management process?
Dr. Eric Goodman
I believe what can make or break a project, based on my experience, occurs toward the end of planning the project into the execution of it. It is communication and follow-up. To often, objectives and goals are set, yet there is a breakdown that occurs with a lack of consistent communication. It is two-way issue between the project manager/team leader, and the team members. Regular updates and an open channel of communication can greatly help. Leadership also comes into play, but that is another course!
Pamela,
Great point about the importance of communication and the key is recognizing as you have how critical this is during the execution phase. If you had to focus on ensuring the communication in a particular part of a project, what phase would you focus on?
Dr. Eric Goodman
I believe that the phase most important to a project's success is defining and organizing. It is here that the foundation of the project is set. Without clear objectives, roles and workable estimates the project is off to a shaky start. If the tasks in this phase are well executed then they serve to strengthen the execution at the other phases. Proper completion of this phase can even protect against scope creep later on.
Hi Dr. Goodman. I would focus on building a monitoring/control system and sticking to it. Not only will implementing this system help keep focus on what's important and establish self-corrective action, but maintaining timely responses to all stakeholders will keep everyone moving forward together in an informed fashion. I just see this as the glue that holds everything together.
Thanks Camille for the excellent points about the importance of defining and organizing.
In addition to this, how do you manage scope creep?
Hi Pamela,
Very interesting! This is certainly a critical aspect to any project in order to self-correct as you mentioned. I'm wondering though if you think this is more important than identifying what you are moving towards?
Dr. Eric Goodman
No, not really. It seems you would still have to know what you are moving toward in order to do so. You need to identify what you are moving toward and self-correct along the way to ensure you reach the goal.
Hi Pamela,
I appreciate your follow up and you're exactly right. It is almost like that pilot flying a plane...you have to know your destination!
Best wishes as you apply what you've learned at work!
Dr. Eric Goodman
Defining and organizing the project is very important. If you don't know what the outcome is supposed to be then it is hard to organize and get the right staff for the projeect and keep it on task. this creates a distruction mode within the working groups of teams because they will not know the correct direction to proceed
William,
Excellent point about the importance of defining and organizing the project. I'm curious what you mean by a destruction mode within the groups? Could you please elaborate on that and is defining and organizing likely to prevent that?
Dr. Eric Goodman
I believe the most important phase is the defining and organizing, specifically setting the objectives for the project. As long as the objectives of the project are clearly defined, I feel that project manager will be able to organize, plan, execute, and successfully close down the project.
Without clear objectives, I feel that a project will encounter scope creep among other pitfalls. For example, if the objective is not clear, the project manager may assign a team member to a task that does not particularly add to the success of the overall project. This can lead to an over budget situation as well as not meeting the time requirements of the project.
