If you are new to project management as a startup founder or manager, it can be hard to know what steps to take.
Sometimes things move at such a fast pace and it might become difficult to keep track of everything.
You are at the center of everything that needs to be done in your Startup, so you need to learn how to manage projects efficiently.
Here are ten super effective project management tips for startup founders.
Define your project scope
Each project is unique, and it’s easy to get confused. How do you determine what the scope of a project is? A good way to start is by defining your project scope.
So, let’s say you want to create an app. Here are some questions you might want to ask:
What is the goal of the app?
Will it be a simple app that allows users to rate restaurants, or will it be a complex one that provides a wide range of features and services?
How many people will be using the app?
If a restaurant wants a simple app that allows people to rate their food, you would probably design something with only one user. But if they want a complex system with ratings from different types of users at different times, you might need to build something for multiple users.
Will the app be used as a service or as a product?
In most cases, if your business can make money off of your product or service, then it’s going to be a product. Otherwise, it may just be a service that customers have paid for to use the product or service they were already paying for through other means.
Start with the end in mind
Late Stephen Covey, in his bestseller ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, talks about the importance of ‘Starting with the end in mind’. For Startup Founders, this means to have a clear vision about your business, what it hopes to achieve and how to implement it. Every step taken in the Startup, even the small ones, should be aimed at achieving that vision.
‘Starting with the end in mind’ can even be applied on a Micro-Level, where founders and employees are constantly asking questions like
- What do we want to achieve at the end of the day, week or month?
- What is the result of this task?
- What will we achieve with this project?
Break your goals into smaller projects
When you have a big project in hand, looking at it in its entirety might feel like you have a mountain to climb. Effective project management involves taking things one step at a time. This will help you achieve short but steady progress towards completion.
Breaking your goals into smaller projects involve:
- Understanding the end product
- Figuring out important milestones in the process
- Find out a logical order for completion
- Set time for each small task
- Complete ahead of the deadline
Dedicate time for planning
Before you start any project, dedicate enough time to planning. Planning helps understand the project intricacies, costs and schedule. It tells you where to use the resources and by how much. A proper throughout plan can even help you mitigate risk and manage crises.
Without planning, your project could come to a halt or even, don’t start at all!
Allocate project resources wisely
Resource allocation is the process of assigning and managing assets to fulfill an organization’s strategic goals. It takes into account both project time and resource availability.
Allocating project resources wisely is pivotal for optimizing the use of the company’s limited pool of resources and maximizing the return on investment.
Ensure that your team have what they need to be productive
Provide your teams with everything necessary to be productive and successful. This might be by allocating necessary amounts of time and resources, as well as being accepting of feedback.
Along with physical aspects, keeping your team morale is also a huge factor that affects productivity. Don’t overwork your team and provide them with expected (and unexpected) incentives.
Plan for changes or disruptions
One of the more critical aspects of project management is to be mindful of changes. Constantly keep learning and prepare your company for any kind of disruption- technology or otherwise.
Projects might suffer from disruption creep for a variety of reasons. The challenge for project managers is to be able to detect the presence of disruption, identify the source, and then take steps to mitigate the disruption. Some of the common types of disruptions include politics, management discomfort, Turnover, changing priorities and Sabotage.
Use tools for tracking progress
Spreadsheets remain the most common tool for tracking progress. It has been around for a long time and can be used effectively by people with varying degrees of proficiency.
Create a list of all your tasks within a spreadsheet and add sections for tracking progress and giving comments. This helps keep your project in order.
If you need a project management tool with advanced features like team collaboration, notifications and tracking, platforms such as Trello, Asana and Zoho Projects can help.
Collaborate with team members to meet milestones
Effective collaboration with team members is as important as individual efforts for a project. Collaboration improves team morale, responsibility and innovation.
Cultivate a culture of communication and transparency within your Startup. Involve everyone in the decision-making process and encourage team members to speak up.
Stay on track by managing weekly goals and issues
Weekly goal tracking strikes the perfect balance between data and time. In 7 days, you would have amassed enough data to access your project progress and find lagging tasks. The period is short enough to make changes without deviating too far off the project deadline as well.
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