Project Management Lessons Learned: Fill & Download for Free

There are some other good answers here, but keep in mind a project is defined as “an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned and designed to achieve a particular aim”For example, you may have projects to do around the house. My wife is the product manager and keeps the list up to date.However, most supervisors and manager are not trained in the “ways” of formal project management and, like most people, just toss terms around that really don’t apply (or are misused)Asking you to write a report is not really a project. Maybe they can get away with it if its going to take 3 weeks and requires a research phase…Again, it was pointed out that a project itself is often comprised of dozens or hundreds of individual tasks, depending on how you break it down.In official PMI (Project Management Institute) jargon, we have a tool called a work breakdown structure that breaks any project down into small units of work called “work packages”There will be dozen of reports, for example, that are generated throughout the life of the project. Even the relatively small product development projects I run have weekly status reports, design reviews, performance reports (testing) and perhaps a lessons learned report. None of those reports are “projects”, but just a small part of one project (going back to my earlier example).Since you were good enough to read this, here is a Dilbert as a reward!

Process is your friend.Project management is largely about process, while production mostly manage "what is this product", project management is about "the process of making this product". So our work involves a lot of flow chart, network diagrams, work break down structure, critical path method... all of these are about process, and the sooner you figure it out, the better off you'll be. I would like to think in the perfect world, project managers design a system in which all department fit like well oiled machine and the project practically running itself. Of course, such system doesn't exist, but still it is the system that manage your team, and you manage the system.Communication and Team work is the KeyAs a project manager, you end up dealing with a lot of people from different department, your bosses, client, stakehoders, contractors, functional managers, depends on your organizational structure ( Functional vs. Matrix vs. Projectized), you end up having various level of authority and influence. Regardless, project managers are often the front and last line of communication, the one person who know who's doing what and what should start and what will end soon, what's ahead of schedule, what task has float... It is your job to communicate with your team member, and make sure project running smoothly.In my experience, almost 50% of my job is communication. It's crucial to keep emotion out of communication, don't get pissed off when contractor tell you they can't finish the job on time; don't get frustrated when client come back the 5th time asking for revisions. That's why process is super important, because most of the time, you rely on process to do the talking for you. Have all stakehoders to agree upon your system and process, and let the system and process control the stake holder expectation when necessary.For example, client come back for 5th revision which will delay your deadline, well, don't tell your client to go to hell with his ridiculous changes, tell him "if he want this changed, it will impact the deadline, and we can't guarantee resources after a certain point".Success is team work, failure is your responsibility.This is a personal motto. When the project is successful, make sure the team know it's team effort. When the project failed, project manager should step up and take the responsibility and make sure you do your lesson learned, find out the problem but don't point fingers. Do this once or twice you'll have a loyal team that willing to move heaven and earth with you.There's no glory in project managementDespite the crucial function of a project manager, you'll never be credited for the product, construction or service provided. It'll always be product manager, design lead, or mostly likely, your CEO. Project manager doesn't design or produce anything, we are here to make sure things get done. It can be an extremely unpopular position, Because you're the one who bring out the schedule and ask "why activity A is late?" or "why is your CPI so low?" or "where's that staff you promised to assign to project B 2 weeks ago"? but someone has to do it. When I was studying Quality Management at Berkeley, a professor said: As a project manager, people might not like you, but if you do your job right, they'll respect you.So if you want your name attached on something, might want to consider a different career. But if you love process, love make things work, love working with different people and teams, love problem solving, love looking at the project running following the process you designed... Nothing is more fulfilling than project management. I LOVE project management!Last not least:Project Manager's work is invisible.If you do your job right, the project will run itself. And most people don't really know what you've done for the project.===I'm still relatively new with project management with only a few years of experience, this is just something I learnt on the job and from various training I took. Hope it helps.

It’s no secret that becoming a successful construction project manager, you should have a knowledgebase of trends, tools, and best practices. Start with reading some practical insights from the Epicflow blog and get constant updates regarding your industry:2018 Project Management Trends in Construction4 Lessons Learned from Project Failures in Construction IndustryHow to Blend Agile Principles Managing Construction ProjectsConstruction Management isn’t Rocket Science with the Right PM SoftwareI hope you’ll find this set valuable.