The right project management methodology ensures the best project management tools
If sound project management methodologies are used to create the plan of attack for a large-scale project, relatively few actual project management tools are required to carry it out successfully. It is akin to the old exhortation to carpenters: “Measure twice; cut once.” If the efforts to map out the project are thorough and rigorous, the map will be simple, accurate, and easy to follow.
So what is included in good project management methodology? The following factors are critical:
- Involve all key stakeholders in the development of the project management plan.
- Be sure that the accountability for each task is assigned to someone, and that that someone understands that the task is to be completed by a stated date.
- Employ an easy-to-use project management tool to track all tasks.
- Be sure that the project template is flexible and can be modified throughout the duration of the project.
Above all, the project management methodology must be able to take a complex, overwhelming project, and unravel its complexities, turning chaos into a streamlined flow.
What project management tools match the methodology?
Dynamic Planning™ is Professional Growth Systems’ project management methodology. It incorporates two tools that fulfill the requirements of the methodology, as discussed above. The process used to create these tools is thorough, so that the tools themselves can be focused, and easy-to-use.
The first project management tool is the Dynamic Planning™ chart. The chart is essential to the project’s success. It includes all the tasks for each track of activity that occurs as the project is completed. Each of these tasks is assigned a person who is responsible for completing or overseeing the work, as well as a timeline for getting it done.
What is especially valuable about the DP chart? It is a visual roadmap of all the work to be done for successful project completion. It can be displayed on one sheet of paper that can hang on a meeting room wall. The chart identifies all inter-relationships, and it incorporates a tracking method to follow progress. Click here to see a sample.
The second project management tool that is an essential piece of the Dynamic Planning™ process, is the task definition sheet. Each task represented on the chart has a corresponding task definition sheet that explains the work to be completed and displays the name of the person responsible for its completion.
These definitions are essential, because, as work on the project progresses, details can become dim, or forgotten altogether. The task definition sheets ensure that everyone interested in the project can refresh their memories at any time.
Interested in learning more?
We invite you choose any of the following methods to learn more about Dynamic Planning™, and how it might fit with a project you are trying to tackle:
- Continue to browse our site to learn more about our products, our clients, and our staff. We recommend looking through other pages describing Dynamic Planning™, starting here.
- Call (877) 276-4414, and ask for a free consultation.