Keep good control of client communication. Ensure all important communications are between the project manager and the client project manager, especially for cost, schedule and scope decisions.
Automation of the collection of project expense receipts is a key element in improving project efficiency.
Implement a receipt scanning system in your company finance software or project management software.
Get to know useful project contacts within your client and supplier organisations. This will save you lots of time and will improve the efficiency of your projects and reduce the difficulty in getting the information or decisions you need.
Urgent requests are not always good. Be specific in your requests. Instead of using the word “urgent”, state the required due date and time, along with what is required. This will lead to better and more timely responses to your requests.
Don’t treat your project team with favouritism. Be fair and even with all your project team.
Use job performance related metrics rather than personal preferences when allocating roles, tasks and rewards
Short RFP/RFQ/RFT response times reduce the quality of project proposals and ultimately increase project costs. Reduce the chances of this happening by allowing sufficient time for companies to prepare quality proposals.
Good, regular project status reports are a very important way to ensure you and your projects are noticed. If you regularly make project status reports for all your projects, you will get noticed and be more likely to keep your job and get promoted.
Project controls are important. They help you keep track of project costs and schedule. A good project controls system will help the project manage its costs and schedule, preferably part of a project management tool. It should be easy to use and automate as much of project controls as possible.
Deliver successful projects by using your company’s project systems properly. Ensure your team does too. It is important that your team does correct email filing, document and file storage, use of chat systems, and all the other systems you have available. Set the right example, train them, and enforce it. This will save your project time and money.
Projects often fail because the project team members are not clear on their roles and responsibilities. Make sure your project team members know what they are supposed to do with defined roles, clear role descriptions and briefs of what they should be doing.