10 tips for better projects

Here are 10 tips from project-management guru Claudia Baca’s book, Project Management for Mere Mortals, published by Addison-Wesley Professional.

1. Be clear about the business result that your project has been commissioned to produce.
2. Plan the work the best way to get it done, then crash and fast track to get to the requested date.
3. As you complete an iteration of planning be sure to test it against the previous iteration to verify you are still in scope.
4. Build completion criteria for each task. Completion criteria will keep both the project manager and the person working the task clear about what “done” looks like.
5. Team norms will help your team work together effectively.
6. The effect of taking on a change request is not always equal to the number of days provided in the estimate. Be aware of the incremental effect.
7. Build cost estimates for every task regardless of whether you are held accountable for a budget or not.
8. Calculate the cost of quality at the end of the planning phase and several times during the execution of the project. Doing this will help hone your skills to deliver a better quality project.
9. Build an effective plan to work with your executives the same way you work with your team.
10. Have an attitude of success. It’s contagious.