Find out why a project was started.

Some reasons could be different to just business as usual, and these may affect the priority on time, cost, or quality

• Was it internal business reasons (business process improvement)?
• Is your organisation using the project as a demonstration of its capability? To show off and make itself known.
• Is the project a way to break into a new market (low or no profit may be expected because it will be used as a learning and development exercise).

Tagged with: demonstration • improvement • new market • priority • profit

Filed under: Cost • Quality • Scope • Time

Find out what is most critical for a particular project – Time, Quality, or Cost

For example, a sports event launch is not time negotiable. It must be on time, it cannot be delayed a few days like a construction project could.

Tagged with: critical

Filed under: Cost • Quality • Time

Spend a few moments to consider where your project fits in with the business.

Tiny extra costs may not be worth the time or effort to try to reduce. You might spend more money trying to reduce them than the savings in doing so.

Prioritise tasks in terms of your project and also for your organisation. You might have something important for your project to do, but if doing so will delay many other projects even more, maybe you should alter that item to benefit the big picture.

Tagged with: big picture • prioritise • tasks

Filed under: Cost • Planning • Time

Recognise that outsourcing some tasks might be more efficient. Especially if your organisation is struggling to recruit enough people to fill needs (in a tight market).

Paying an external expert to do some specific tasks (e.g. calibration of sensors) may be quicker (saving costs and time) than finding an internal commissioning engineer with available time and getting them trained.

Also recognise that such training could benefit the company in the long run if it is a common task. If not, then outsourcing it may be the best way to get it done.

Time can often be the biggest saving to the project by outsourcing some tasks, as long as you manage the risks of doing so properly.

Tagged with: commissioning • expert • Training

Filed under: Contractors • Human Resources • Time • Training

It is the responsibility of the project manager to organise priorities for the team members.

You should provide direction on what is the most important task.

You should settle conflicts between activities.

Provide things like the network diagram and critical path of the project to clarify to team members what work is the most important.

The PM should also give their team direction on the requirements for time, cost, scope, and quality.

Tagged with: activities • conflict • critical path • direction • important tasks • network diagram • prioritise • priority

Filed under: Cost • Planning • Quality • Scope • Time

Don’t count on overtime for yourself or for your team.

The project should be managed to avoid needing overtime.

Overtime costs more, is less efficient, increases safety risks, and tires the team so they are less effective later.

Tagged with: efficiency • overtime

Filed under: Human Resources • Planning • Time

At the planning stage of your project, check if other projects might affect yours.

For example:

• Planned road works in front of the access gate to the site.
• Upgrades of nearby electrical supplies or pipes.

If you don’t allow for these influences, you may get significant delays to your schedule.

Tagged with: delays • influences • interference • site access

Filed under: Construction • Planning • Time

Remember to allow for close-downs over Christmas.

Many fabrication companies, suppliers, fabricators etc have 2 weeks close-down around Christmas.

For planning a long project you might need to allow a 4 week period of low or no productivity from mid December to mid January, because of the number of people on leave, which means things take longer to get done (such as approvals).

Tagged with: Christmas • close down • closedown • December • holiday • January

Filed under: Planning • Time

If you get lots of emails (particularly ones that you are copied on) then it may be worth considering setting some email filters to sort emails to certain folders (design, construction, urgent, etc).

All emails that you are only CC’d on should be automatically filtered.

Priority emails that are sent to you only or you as the main person should be filtered to an “Important” folder for review more immediately.

Consider only reviewing your emails at specific times each day (say 9am and 3pm). All emails received could have an automatic reply sent stating “I only read emails at 9am and 3pm each day, if you require an urgent response please call me directly on ———”

Tagged with: email • filter • folders • review • sorting

Filed under: Communication • Time

If you say you will be at a meeting, be there on time.

Make sure work is completed on time. If it cannot be, document why (variations, wet weather, changed conditions).

Reliability and delivering on time will mean you will get better (more important) projects, more money, and more responsibility.

You want to be someone who people can say “He can do it”, not “don’t give that project to him.”

I have known many project managers who avoid going to the weekly company project managers review meeting because they consider it a waste of time. This leads to the director/manager of that person to consider them unreliable (and sometimes complain about their lack of attendance to those who did show up at the meeting). The advantage of going to a weekly review meeting is that you can get a feel for resource availability and learn from the problems and mistakes of other projects (this is particularly important for new project managers).

Tagged with: meetings • on time • reliability • reliable • unreliable

Filed under: Planning • Time