Project Management

for Non-Project
Managers

1
Not every company has a dedicated project
manager or a project management process.

But, almost everyone in your company manages When the designer works on the email design,
projects on a daily basis. Take a marketing the initiation and planning stages happen on
manager for example. She has to collaborate a whiteboard or inside her head. She designs
with multiple teams and coordinate work across the email and gets feedback from her peers.
copywriters, designers, and web developers Once the design is approved, the “project” is
to launch a new website. The deadline seems complete. Do you see the pattern here? The
elusive as more work piles in. steps can shrink and fuse as the tasks move
How does she keep everything organized? further down the funnel but always conform to
Project management, of course! the five phases.

Project management happens in five phases:

Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and
Closure (more on this later). Initiation

Now, think about how the same marketing

manager goes about executing an email
campaign.
Planning
She brainstorms ideas for the campaign and
comes up with a plan identifying the people who
are going to work on it. She then sets the KPIs
and goals. Someone works on the email copy,
Execution
designs it, and sends it to the email list. She
keeps tabs on the open rates and click-through
rates over a period of time. Once the campaign
objectives are met, the campaign is archived.
Monitoring &
Controlling

Closure

2
Are you (secretly) a
Project Manager?
If you create plans, budgets, and goals to get
a specific job done, organize a bunch of tasks
on a daily basis that need to meet deadlines,
coordinate with multiple people, and oversee
work execution, then congrats, you’re a project
manager, albeit a secret one. You could even give
yourself a pat on the back for your new-found title:
The Non-Project Manager.

The non-project manager could be in engineering,

sales, or customer support. They didn’t go to a
fancy business school and don’t have a project
management degree or drown in Gantt charts.
However, they’re frequently engaged in the
planning and execution of tasks that span across a
period of time.

We believe project management is a universal

skill that anyone can adopt irrespective of the
nature of their job and title. While you need not
get drowned in methodologies and frameworks,
it helps to understand a few basic principles of
project management and implement them.

P.S: We’re gonna refer to you as

the project manager throughout
this book. Get used to it.

3
Contents
Part I Part II

5 What Is a Project? 22 Project Initiation:

Start Your Project

10 What Skills Do 26 Project Planning:

You Need To Be a Organize and
Successful Project Prepare
Manager?

15 Building a 32 Project Execution:

Team Based on Carry Out the Work
Transparency and
Project Monitoring:
Track Your Progress

18 Why Do Most 38 Project Closing:

Projects Fail? End All Activities
Chapter 1
What Is a Project?

5
A temporary endeavor undertaken
to create a unique product or service.
Project management has been around for as long as humans have
existed, from the invention of the wheel, to the construction of the
Giza Pyramids, to the development of the device you’re reading
this on. All these “projects” required planning, had specific people
to oversee them, a sponsor, and people working on them.
We just didn’t call them projects.

The scope and workload constraints weren’t considered back

then but there would have been budgets and timelines. The
practice became more refined in the last 100 years with several
methodologies being developed.

6
What exactly is a project?
A project is a sequence of tasks that must Any project is bound by the scope, the timeline,
be completed to attain a certain outcome. A and the allocated resources, monetary or
project is usually a temporary endeavor with a otherwise.
definite beginning and end. There’s a completed
Let’s say your company is participating in an
product or service at the end completed within
event and you’re a premier sponsor. You’ll
certain boundaries and constraints. Depending
need to get the webpages, the goodies, and
on its complexity, it can be managed by a
brochures done. You’ll also have to schedule
single person or hundreds. This is the Project
social posts and coordinate with the hosts,
Management Institute’s definition of a project.
vendors, and internal teams.
Let’s break it down.
The event is the project. It spans a definite time
period. Your company gets more prospects and
Note: Over the years, the definition of project has press out of this event. It has time constraints
evolved to the point where it can go on forever. as well as budgetary constraints. Multiple
Maintenance projects are good examples of this.
people are working together to complete this
Project management methodologies have been
adapted to day-to-day work as well. successfully. See how it conforms with the PMI’s
definition of a project.

The three components

of a project
Scope
(Features & Functionality)

Quality

Cost Time
(Resources & Budget) (Schedule)

7
The diverse
nature of projects
Projects come in a wide range of
shapes and sizes. A project can:

Be big
Like the construction of the Hoover
Dam, taking years to complete, and
have a humongous budget

Be small
Like your weekend project of
installing a pathway in your lawn

Involve many people

Like planning a wedding

Involve just yourself

Rearranging the photos in your
wedding album

8
Project is not a process
A project is often confused with a process. A process is a series
of routine, predefined steps to perform a particular function, say,
expense reimbursement approvals. It’s not a one-off activity.
It determines how a specific function is performed every single time.

Processes are system-oriented while in the case of projects, people

define the next stages. This is a direct result of the required flexibility
and ad-hoc nature of some projects.

To sum things up
The project has a definite start and end date.

It creates something new.

It operates with certain constraints.

It isn’t business as usual.

9
Chapter 2
What Skills Do You Need
to Be a Successful
Project Manager?

10
It takes a mixture of traits for someone to be a successful project manager.
You’ll need to be a master of delegation, communicate effectively, and exhibit
leadership to name a few.
Anyone who has been given the opportunity to manage a project needs to have
the following key project management skills:

Leadership skills
As a project manager, you must understand that
there is a huge difference between managing
and leading. Management is following certain
established processes and project management
methodologies and ensuring others follow
them too. Leadership, on the other hand,
requires both management skills and emotional
intelligence. It is the responsibility of the
project manager to empower and inspire team
members.

Effective communication
This is another soft skill that goes hand in hand
with effective leadership. No matter how good
a vision you have or how much you want to
inspire your team members, it will all be moot if
you can’t get your point across clearly.
Additionally, a large part of a project manager’s
time is spent while dealing with stakeholders
and external parties like vendors and
contractors. All of these tasks require you to be
an expert at effective communication.

11
Planning and
strategic thinking

This is a business management skill that is

absolutely critical for any project manager. All
typical tasks of a project manager like organizing
and prioritizing tasks, monitoring progress, and
making decisions based on situations, require a
certain level of planning.

Another critical skill that is somewhat related

to planning is cost management. Every project
comes with a monetary constraint. With proper
project planning, you can make sure that your
project remains safe from unnecessary delays
and budget shortages.

Team management
A huge part of managing projects is managing
people. You must efficiently use all the
resources available, and your team is the best
resource you have.

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Time management and
scheduling
“Time is what we want most but what we use
worst”. Even the simplest tasks require effective
time management so it’s obvious that your
projects will also need it. You’ll not only have to
plan your own time but also your team’s.

Task management skills

By now you must have realized that all these

required skills are interconnected. Together with
scheduling, task management is a pillar that
holds a project together. You can plan as much
as you want, but if your project tasks are not
clearly organized, the project will either fail or
take too much time.

As the project manager, you’d need to know

which tasks can be worked on simultaneously
and which tasks depend on one another.

Recognizing these small details and coming

up with the most efficient system is what
distinguishes an effective project manager from
the crowd.

Risk mitigation
Risks are unavoidable no matter how simple
your project is. Reduce the possibility of risk
by having an effective plan in case something
goes wrong. Skillful project managers generally
identify potential problems before they occur
and come up with a risk mitigation strategy.

13
Expert negotiation skills
All stakeholders have a slightly different agenda.
As a project manager, it’s your job to negotiate
terms that are acceptable for everyone. In order
to create a win-win situation for everyone, you’ll
have to know when to compromise and when to
stand your ground.

The job requires you to constantly create

situations where you get what you primarily
want while making some compromises to
convince the other person that they are getting
something out of the deal too.

Project managers need to have good

negotiation skills. You will have to find middle
ground with your company’s management in
order to get the required resources, negotiate
achievable timelines, handle other stakeholders,
and expertly manage your own team.

Being tech-savvy
Modern project management is not an easy
task and it requires a combination of project
management skills and the right project
management tools. These tools make your life a
whole lot easier.

An intuitive project management tool like

Kissflow Project will help you keep track of
progress, organize tasks, and collaborate
effectively.

14
Chapter 3
Building a Team Based
on Transparency

15
While some managers feel that providing transparency poses risks to the project,
the benefits of transparency far outweigh these risks. It is true that personal data of
both employees and clients must be protected, and not everyone needs access to
contract details and similar legal documents. Outside of those areas, concerns about
over-sharing information usually stem from unhelpful fears.

If a culture of trust and transparency is established, companies can share proprietary

information with employees, and team members can communicate honestly about
their ideas and progress. Project transparency leads to better outcomes for both the
team and the project itself.

Let everyone see the

big picture
Everyone wants to understand how his or her
part contributes to the larger goals of the team
or company. By giving your employees visibility
on the overall progress and scope of the project,
each person can see how his task fits in as well
as what other team members are relying on him
to finish before they can complete their part.

In task management, if the whole team can

view task status, a team member can jump in
to help an overwhelmed coworker instead of
turning to the manager to complain about slow
progress. Giving every team member a view of
the big picture by monitoring project progress
encourages collaboration and initiative-taking.

Make collaboration easy

Teams that collaborate well get better
results, and a key factor in collaboration is
communication. Open communication breaks
down silos on interdisciplinary teams and
keeps individual team members from working
in isolation (even if they’re working remotely).
Strong collaboration tools enable teams to
identify and solve problems more quickly.

16
Share calendars Let them see the data
It may seem obvious, but it’s really helpful if
Ever seen a report at the end of a project and
everyone knows when things are happening.
thought “well if I’d known that before…”?

• What is the stakeholder’s schedule and how

Project managers must fight the impulse to
does our project play into the bigger picture
keep report data and other information siloed.
for them?
When everyone on the team has the ability to
• What is the timeline for each task in our
track project progress, run reports, and access
project?
data easily, each person is empowered to make
• Who’s going on vacation next week (and how
better decisions and stronger contributions.
can I help fill in the gap)?
Giving everyone access to project data gives
• What events are coming up that might affect
every team member ownership over the
our work schedule?
project and the ability to see how their work is
• Much time and frustration can be saved if
contributing to the team’s progress.
everyone on the team knows what’s on the
calendar.

31
MON

17
Chapter 4
Why Do Most Projects
Fail?

18
Even the best laid plans fail.
The good news is that you can catch pitfalls
early on and overcome them.

Lack of clear goals and Budgeting issues

success criteria The extent of your marketing activities is limited
by the spend allocated by management. When
Clarity is one of the most important
your giveaways and ad spend exceed the
requirements for the successful completion of a
budget, you’ll run into trouble.
project and the lack of it creates several project
management issues.
That’s why it’s important to take budget
into consideration even before you start
It is also important to come up with a way of
brainstorming ideas.
quantifying project progress by setting up
milestones and quality tests. In addition to
helping your team progress, having a clear set
of objectives will also help project managers Lack of accountability
present a clear picture to management.
As any project nears its close, stress levels shoot
sky high. Blame gets thrown around often. I didn’t
For example, in the event planning example
design it because I didn’t get the copy. I told the
earlier, if you don’t have a clear, specific
designer to use placeholder content so my copy
outcome, your marketing activities wouldn’t be
can fit the predefined size
aligned with management’s objectives.

A project team performs really well when every

Lack of communication member feels responsible and tries to fulfill the

role assigned to them. Effective project managers
Effective communication is extremely important properly assign responsibility to the team and
for a successful project. You need to have timely direct the team towards the common goal.
and transparent methods of communication to
ensure that all stakeholders are involved in the
process.

Miscommunication is also dangerous for project

teams because it affects their teamwork. It can
cause conflicts among team members and can
potentially delay the project.

19
Inadequate risk Unrealistic deadlines
management Having an impossible deadline can severely
affect the quality of the end product as well the
Having the foresight to identify potential
morale of the people working on it. You need
“what if” scenarios and creating contingency
to know the capability of the project team and
plans is an important aspect of project
negotiate the project timeline accordingly by
management. Projects rarely go exactly as
prioritizing deadlines and project tasks.
planned because there are so many variables
and unlimited possibilities. The project manager
In project management, the velocity, which
needs to come up with alternate plans and
is the measure of work completed in a single
contingencies that the team may adopt if the
sprint, is decided collectively by taking input
project starts to spiral out of control.
from all stakeholders.

20
Part II
So far, we’ve identified the foundational aspects of a
successful project and a dynamic team.

In Part II, we’ll study the lifecycle of a project

from building the idea to closing the project.

21
Chapter 4
Project Initiation:
Start Your Project

22
 Initiation
Define project goals
Create a business case
Complete the project charter
Draw up the list of stakeholders

All projects begin with an idea.

Maybe your boss thinks there’s a new opportunity to explore or your client identifies a
need and requires a solution. Maybe you think your website could bring in more visitors.
The initiation phase is the point where an opportunity or reason for a project is identified
and the project is developed to use that opportunity. It’s when you turn an abstract idea
into a meaningful goal. The team is assembled and a case for undertaking this project is
developed during this phase.

The who, what, and why Developing the

It’s important to set the right expectations at business case
the beginning of the project. Stakeholders have
The business case is developed during the early
high, oftentimes unrealistic, expectations and
stages of a project and describes the what, how,
resources and timelines are frequently low.
who, and why it’s worthwhile to start a project.
You’ll need to develop a business case and
identify goals and the why of the project. Once
It explains how the use of organizational
you’ve zeroed in on the goals, KPIs, constraints,
resources, financial and otherwise, would
and timeline, document them. This document is
support the business. It’s a comprehensive
called the project charter. Well, you know what,
document that explains business concerns, the
you don’t have to call it that.
returns, the key aspects to be measured, and
the commitment of deliverables along with the
You’ll also identify the people who are to be
cost but does not delve into technical aspects.
involved in the project. Create a stakeholder
register with the roles, designation,
communication requirements, and influence.

23
Here’s a sample structure, but it needs to be adapted
according to the size and the risks entailed:

• Executive summary: A clear, concise

summary of the project’s definition, reason,
and goals
• Problem statement: Dive deep into the
problem along with relevant research
• Financial needs: An estimate of the costs
involved and how they will be used
• A strong recommendation: Why the project
you’ve chosen is the best solution
• Potential risks: Explain the expected risks
you’re likely to encounter
• Benefits: The financial and non-financial
benefits the company would get in return
• Timescale: An estimate of how long it will
take to execute the project

Do a feasibility study This analysis determines if the project should

move forward.
Once the business case is approved, analyze Based on these analyses, decision makers
the likelihood of the project being successful. should consider the following questions before
Research the market needs, the potential giving the green light on the project:
roadblocks, and other alternative solutions. • Could we do it?
The feasibility study addresses the: • Do we have the resources, budget, and
people to do it? Is it technically feasible?
• Technical capabilities • Should we do it?
• Budget • Are the benefits of pursuing this project
• Legality worth the costs and effort? Is there a better
• Potential risks way to do it?
• Organizational needs
• Timeframe Only if you answer in the affirmative to these
questions should you proceed with the project.
Going forward despite a resounding “NO” will
result in a waste of resources and time and leave
your team members frustrated. It’s often better
to explore other options in such a case.

24
Create the project charter Assemble the team
The project charter is a document that outlines The people involved in the project are the
the purpose and requirements of the project. It biggest factor that impacts the success of
includes the business needs, key participants, any project. Come up with job descriptions
the scope, objectives, and high-level goals, based on the roles and responsibilities from the
providing a foundation for defining project project charter. Identify the required skills and
decisions and to make sure they’re in line the people who’d be a good fit.
with organizational goals. It also lists the
roles and responsibilities of the project team Now that you’ve established what’s expected of
and identifies the project’s customers and the team, they’ll have a fair idea of how they fit
stakeholders. in the project. You can map the individual roles
and responsibilities both to the statement of
Here’s the structure of the project charter: work and the scope document.
• Title
• Brief description It will be helpful to develop a RACI (responsible,
• Background accountable, consulted, informed) or DACI
• Goals/Deliverables (driver, approver, contributor, informed) matrix
• Scope to assign roles to team members.
• Impact on other business units
• Stakeholders
Review the initiation
• Roles and responsibilities
• Milestones phase
• Budget
• Develop a business case
• Constraints, assumptions, dependencies,
• Conduct a feasibility study
and risks
• Create the project charter
• Success measurements/ROI
• Assemble your team
• Project approval
Chapter 6
Project Planning:
Organize and Prepare

26
 Planning
Define scope
Create a project plan
Set a budget baseline
Define roles and responsibilities

To achieve great things, two things are needed:

a plan and not quite enough time.

It may be tempting to jump straight in and figure • Share the vision and business requirements
other things as you go forward. Maybe it’s the • Establish solid communication channels
pressure to get fast results or it’s the misplaced • Set measurable goals
enthusiasm. Without a plan, your team will be • Establish costs, deliverables, and delivery
directionless, in the best-case scenario. dates

Every company has finite resources and starting This phase is mostly a lot of talking, getting the
off without a plan puts you in the danger of views of different stakeholders, thinking, and
overrunning those resources and failing to documenting. A LOT!
achieve the project’s goals.

You need to zoom out, step back, and take a

look at the bigger picture. It slows you down
a bit in the beginning, but if you know exactly
what needs to be done and when it needs to
be done, you’re setting up your project for
success. It gives you clarity and the confidence
that you’ve got all the people, processes, and
systems in place to deliver what’s required.
When people think of planning, their minds
immediately jump to scheduling, but wait. You’ll
be doing other activities before that during the
planning phase.

27
Identify the stakeholders Have a kickoff meeting
Anyone who can influence or be influenced by Over the course of your project’s life cycle,
the project and its outcomes is a stakeholder. you’ll have plenty of meetings with all your
It includes people who’ll be working on the stakeholders that discuss statuses, progress,
project, the ones who’ll contribute resources, and issues. But the kickoff meeting is significant
external vendors, and the people who will use in its own right because it sets the tone and
and benefit from the project’s output. vision for the project’s future and determines
the relationships that will unfold in the coming
You’ll need to meet with the stakeholders
months.
and get their inputs with respect to the
requirements. Sometimes, this may include
A great kickoff meeting doesn’t happen by itself;
clients outside your organization. In fact, you
it requires deliberate planning and is a result
need to get their buy-in before you proceed
of detailed preparation. Ask yourself these
with the project.
questions before you click send on the kickoff
Compile the list of all stakeholders along with meeting invite:
their titles, roles, influence, and interest in the
project. This document is called the stakeholder • When is the right time to host the meeting?
management plan. • How long should the meeting be?
• Who should attend?

Establish goals and • What should be discussed?

• Where should it be held?
deliverables • What documents should you print?
• Do you bring coffee or donuts, or both?
One of the most challenging activities in
managing a project is to translate client
An effective kickoff meeting introduces the
expectations into achievable goals and
stakeholders and the team, provides the
deliverables. Yes, they are two different things.
background and purpose of the project, the
The project’s goals define the benefits, outcomes,
different roles, and gets the input and opinions
and performance improvements that are
from all attendees.
expected from the project. Deliverables are the
The kickoff meeting helps you establish
specific, tangible things produced that enable
expectations and gather requirements before
the objectives to be achieved.
starting a project. There are no budgetary issues
For example, increasing website traffic by a factor and change orders, well, at least for now. A
of five is the goal; running highly targeting ads well-executed kickoff meeting keeps everyone
and five search-optimized blogs a month are the informed, motivated, and focused.
deliverables.

Use the SMART or CLEAR frameworks to set

goals that are achievable within the budget and
timeline. Goals need to be specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic, and time-bound. The
project’s success depends on if you achieve
these goals.

28
 Define the scope
This is also a great time to clearly define
the scope, that is, the extent to which your
product’s features and functionalities must
go. It’s important to explicitly state this, as
comprehensively as possible, to save future
misalignments about whether you’ve met
expectations.

The project scope statement details all the

boundaries of the project while also establishing
the responsibilities of the team. It defines all
the procedures that need to be followed for
verifying and approving finished work.

The scope statement documentation gives

team members a definitive guideline for making
project-related decisions.
Outline tasks and
dependencies
Once you have a clear understanding of the
project’s objectives, you need to break down
the big picture into individual goals and tasks.
High

You’ll outline the major milestones and the

deliverables required to reach every milestone.
It’s important to prioritize tasks based on their Quick Major
importance and urgency. You can use a tool Wins Projects
like the Eisenhower Matrix to help you with
prioritization. Sometimes, it’s better to use a
Impact

modified version of it with effort and impact as

the axes.

Once you have the ordered list of tasks, you

Fill Ins Thankless
need to sequence the activities and establish
Tasks
dependencies. Some tasks may depend on the
completion of others. Imagine you’re building a
house. You need to put the walls up before you
Low

can paint them. Painting the walls is dependent

on the walls being built.
Low Effort High

29
Create a project schedule
The project schedule lays all the tasks outlined How long will each activity take?
in the previous stage on a timeline. It includes There’s no definitive answer to this question.
the planned start and finish date, duration, and The best way to estimate duration is to use data
resources assigned to each activity. from similar previous jobs. If you don’t have
For each task determine the following: any data to work from and there’s no industry
• The amount of time required to complete standard to which you can refer, use an estimate
the task based on the average of the best, worst, and
• Who will carry out the task? most likely scenarios.

You’ll start by dividing your team’s available One way to create a realistic schedule is to work
hours across all activities and make sure these backward from the project’s proposed end date
estimates line up with your project’s duration. or other deadlines that cannot be changed.
This helps you determine when your
deliverables must be ready. You can use tools
like Gantt charts, timelines, or even calendars to
help you create the project schedule.

30
Assess the risks What to do when you don’t have
A risk is a problem that may or may not arise all the answers
over the course of your project. It’s important to
It’s likely that you’ll be having all the
identify risks and mitigate them at the project
information in the beginning. Make
planning phase rather than be caught off-guard
assumptions in such cases. Assume you have
later. Hold a meeting or ask for insight from
the required funding, resources, and people.
all team members about the risks you should
Add these to the project plan along with the
consider.
time and financial constraints.
Areas of risk include: The project plan is not set in stone; it’s
• Optimistic timelines malleable. The project plan acts as the guide,
• Unexpected budget cuts to give you direction to complete the project.
• Market fluctuations It’s rarely restrictive.
• Poor communication
• Technical failures Every now and then, you should come back to
• Legal issues it, see if it’s working according to your plan,
• Acts of God, extreme weather, pandemics and make changes if it doesn’t. Things like
There’s no way to prepare for all potential risks, project schedules rarely go according to plan
but thinking through them ahead of time and you’ll have to adapt it as you go.
can save your project from failure. Create
contingency plans and compile all of these
along with their descriptions, likelihood,
severity, and mitigating actions.
Get your plan approved
Once you’ve created the project plan, you
Develop the project plan need to get it signed off by all stakeholders,
especially external clients and management.
We said there will be a lot of documentation If management releases some team members
during this phase, didn’t we? during the course of the project, you’re justified
You’ll have the following documents by now: to change the timeline. After all, you planned
• Stakeholder management document the schedule based on the assumption that
• Roles and responsibilities of team members you’d have the required people for the project,
• Objective statement which management agreed to.
• Communication plans
• Scope statement
• Project schedule
• Risk assessment

In addition to these, you’ll also create the policies

and guidelines that govern change management,
communication systems, and decision making.
Compile all these into a document, and that’s
called the project plan. Ta-da!

31
Chapter 7
Project Execution:
Carry Out the Work
and
Project Monitoring:
Track Your Progress

32
 Execution
Allocate project resources
Manage project resources
Build the product or process
Meet often and fix issues as they rise

You’ve done the difficult “figuring out” part; you There might be hiccups along the way, but
know what needs to be done, who’s going to do if you catch them early on, it will be easy to
it, and when it needs to be done. You now have course-correct. You’ll need to continuously
the predefined steps that will help your team track the project’s progress and ensure that the
actualize your plans. milestones and deliverables stick to the project
schedule. For this reason, the execution stage
The execution phase is usually the longest always happens in concurrence with the next
phase in the project’s life cycle; and the most phase—project controlling and monitoring.
demanding. Your team carries out all the
planned activities during this stage, constructs The majority of the activities during this phase
the deliverables, and presents them to the will be handled by your team. You need to step
stakeholders. Your focus, as project manager, back a bit and let your team carry out the plan.
will change to performing and supervising all It’s a fine line to tread because you need to give
activities to create the deliverables as outlined your team enough autonomy while taking care
in the project plan. that everything goes according to plan.
You need to play the role of a conductor in an
As long as your team works effectively and orchestra.
adheres to the plan, you’ll be on track to
successful project completion. As long as...

33
Delegate tasks to get Manage the
work done effectively communication
Eli Broad, builder of multiple fortune 500 It’s the responsibility of the project manager to
companies says: “The inability to delegate is one consistently maintain effective collaboration
of the biggest problems I see with managers at between the project team and the stakeholders.
all levels”. You need to share the project’s progress to all
stakeholders throughout this phase frequently.
Delegation does not mean that you let go of
every aspect of the project and start depending Your communication management plan (from
on team members. Instead, it means the planning phase) would have outlined when
that you empower your team and build their each status review meeting is supposed to
confidence by making them responsible for a take place. Ensure they take place on time and
small part of the project. It can be a repetitive have the right people in them. This ensures
task or something you feel a particular member that everyone stays on the same page and the
is better at. project runs smoothly without any issues.

Schedule periodic meetings with the project

Empower your team to team to review the current status of the project.
make decisions Discuss the next steps in the project, obstacles,
and how to solve these problems during these
You must have had tasks where you felt that meetings.
your hands were tied because you couldn’t
make any decisions. Avoid making your team
feel that. Give them enough authority to make
decisions and take the necessary steps to
fulfill the plan. An empowering environment is
a sufficient motivator for team members that
encourages them to go above and beyond.

Be open to new ideas

As the project manager, you’ll have the final say
in the direction of the project. It is, however,
a good practice to involve the team in making
some decisions. Even if they suggest a different
approach than what you had in mind, appreciate
their input and be flexible enough to accept
better suggestions. This will serve as a good
motivator and make the team feel valued and
their contributions acknowledged.

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Measure progress regularly
There’s no way to know if you’re staying on track
if you aren’t measuring the project’s progress.

Your project planning process included setting

measurable goals and KPIs (key performance
indicators). This is where all the effort you put
into documentation comes in handy.

Collect data on those KPIs and compare reports

with the baseline metrics on a regular schedule
to ensure you’re on track. You can use tools to
email you weekly reports or be alerted when
deadlines approach or when they’re missed.

During the execution phase, risks may

materialize. By continuously assessing risks, you
equip your team with contingency plans and
keep the project from failure. If at all anything
changes, and trust us it will, update the
documentation. Keeping the project plan up to
date is the project manager’s responsibility. Like
we said earlier, it’s not set in stone.

Include cost expenditure and quality benchmark

updates to the project plan. If some process,
guideline, or policy seems to be defunct,
remove it.

What to do when someone Listen first: Let them explain their side of the
story; what made them miss the commitment?
misses a deadline Was it a personal thing or a professional
conflict?
Suppose a team member comes to the weekly
status review meeting and says he or she could
Practice accountability: It’s important for
not keep their promise for the week. Do you let
everyone to understand that the team functions
it slide? Do you reprimand them?
on everyone’s contributions. Hold them
In addition to delivering a successful project, accountable for their missed commitments
it’s also your responsibility to be a good leader. while demonstrating respect. No one likes to
You need to build a great team that holds itself feel ashamed. Be empathetic with them and
accountable and delivers on its commitments. show respect.
When someone misses a commitment, try to
find what got in the way. Reset expectations: Explain why their
commitment is integral to the project’s success
and set a new deadline for completion.
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Control the scope What to do when the
Almost every project suffers from a nasty schedule changes
monster called Scope Creep. It is when the
Schedule changes happen more often than you
project slowly grows out of your control and
think. In fact, two out of three projects do not
beyond the project’s original scope. The client
get completed on time. With so many diverse
wants a new color palette. You oblige since it
factors influencing your project, there’s little
wouldn’t take your team too long to do it. They
chance that your project sticks to the exact
want a mobile version and you begrudgingly
schedule.
say yes. Before you know it, the plan changes
so much that you have incurred significant
It’s important to get on top of missed deadlines
additional costs and won’t be able to complete
as soon as possible. The weekly meetings will
the project on time.
help you find out information about “late work”.
Scope creep can happen because of a lot of Again, proper communication is key here. It
reasons: takes a lot of trust for a team member to tell you
• One of your overzealous team members that they won’t be able to deliver on time. If you
wants to showcase their abilities. have this camaraderie and transparency built in
• The upper management goes beyond the your team, it will give you enough time to add
scope to impress the clients. spare resources.
• The clients have changed their expectations.
Here’s what you need to do when the schedule
Now, you cannot and should not avoid all
changes:
change requests. Most projects require you to
• Update the project schedule document.
iterate and adapt to change. Market conditions,
• Check your prioritized task list to see if you
client needs, and organizational priorities can
can compensate for the lost time by cutting
change and you need to deal with them.
down on other tasks.
Try to answer the following questions: • Find other team members to ensure that the
• What’s the intent of the change? final deadline is met.
• What’s the impact of the change? • Talk to management and the clients, be
• What needs to be done to make the change transparent about the situation, and get an
happen? updated timeline.

What will happen if the change is not made? • If you have the budget for it, get outside

The change in scope can push back timelines help.

and that needs to be documented in the project

scope document.

36
Ensure quality of Review all deliverables
the output Once you have the deliverables ready, you’d
Quick question: schedule a formal phase review with all key
What does the execution phase produce? stakeholders. All deliverables are reviewed,
Deliverables, you say! Correct. accepted, and approved. If there are any
You know what else this stage produces? passable issues, they are documented along
Defects. with their resolution plan and all relevant plans
and documents are updated accordingly.
No matter how flawless your team is, there isn’t Once you have the greenlight from the
a project that’s devoid of defects. It’s always stakeholders, you officially proceed to the next
a good practice to make sure that you’ve phase - project closing.
translated the client’s expectations into the
deliverable. Test these deliverables and see if
they meet the acceptance criteria

37
Chapter 7
Project Closing:
End All Activities

38
 Completion
Handover deliverables
Review project deliverables
Get project results approved
Document project learnings

You and your team have gotten the deliverables

approved and all the items in your project plan
have been checked off. The team is jubilant
How do you know when
and excited about the end-of-project party. the project is done?
You might want to hold on to that bottle of
champagne. We have one last thing to do– Is it when your task list has all items checked
properly close the project. off? Or, the little progress bar in your project
management software is a glowing green
It may look like you only need the first four that screams “100% complete”? Is it when
phases to tie up the project and call it a day. the clients or the end customers have started
After all, the project is technically complete. using the outcome of your project? Or, is it
But, there is a lot of unsexy work like approvals, when your management assigns you another
signatures, payments, and paperwork that project?
makes the project closing phase equally
important. It helps you transition your project to The short answer is it could be any of these
the client smoothly and helps you not repeat the and how you define “done”. The long answer
same mistakes again. is a bit more complex than that. Knowing
when we’re actually done with the project
The project closing phase is a process in itself. depends on the project, the customer, and
You need to get the sign-offs on deliverables, the agreed upon completion criteria set
disband the team, close out contracts, and during the planning phase.
archive the documentation for future reference.

39
Transfer all deliverables Have a retrospective
It’s time to go back to the scope document and meeting
see if everything that the project promised to
The most important reason for closing the
accomplish has been delivered. It’s sometimes
project is to formalize the learnings. Hold a
the case that deliverables are transferred over
reflection meeting after the completion of
the course of the project or when milestones
the project in order to contemplate on the
are reached. During the project’s closure, make
successes and failures during the project. You’d
sure that you’ve delivered everything that’s been
have generated a wealth of information over
previously agreed upon.
the course of the project. There would have
been so many lessons learned along the way,
Hand the deliverables created during the
irrespective of the outcome of the project. This
execution phase along with the necessary
retrospective learning sets you up for future
documentation and other agreed-upon services
project success.
like demo and training. Ensure that the client is
satisfied with the finished project. Revisit each project phase and determine how
work progressed, the mistakes made, and the

Complete the contracts

things that were done right. In fact, being a
successful project manager is doing more of
what went right and less of what went wrong.
Once you’ve handed off all the deliverables, the
Ask yourself and your team the following
stakeholders need to sign off on the completion
questions in addition to the above discussions:
of the contracts. Everyone approves of the
• Did we do a good job of anticipating and
results and agrees that the deliverables meet
mitigating risk?
their requirements. The invoices are paid, the
• Are there ideas to improve the existing
objectives have been met, and everyone agrees
process?
that the contract has been fulfilled. A project
• Was there something you’d have done
cannot be completed unless this step has been
differently?
carried out.
• Were there any compromises along the way?

Disband the team

Now that every team member has done their
part, it’s time to release them to other projects.
Now, this may not always be the case. There
are fixed-team projects where teams are not
disbanded and they just move on to the next
project.

Notify the external vendors and contractors

about the completion of the project. It’s also
time to review pending payments and complete
the procurement closure.

40
How do you deem a project
successful?
It’s not easy to say if a project has been For example, Denver airport ended up costing
successful or not. It’s a matter of how you twice its budget and only received half the
define success or rather how your clients define expected traffic in the first year. Was it a failure?
success. Here are the questions you need to Maybe. Maybe not.
answer:
• Did we meet the goals and objectives? At times, some aspects of a project may fail and
• Are the clients happy with the outcome? still produce good results in the longer run. A
• Is management happy with the outcome? rule of thumb to determine success is to check
• Did we deliver the project on time and within if the desired quality was achieved and business
the budget? results were satisfactory.
• Was it worth the time, effort, and cost?
• Quite often, a project’s success is
measured only by budget and time. There
are countless examples of projects that
exceeded their budget and schedules and
yet are considered successful.

Document all learnings Celebrate success with

The retrospective meeting would have your team
helped you summarize the learnings from
Celebrating success is an extremely important
the project. But, you’d have generated a
aspect of the closing phase. Show your
trove of documentation, starting from the
appreciation to the folks that were committed
initiation phase. Note down the highlights in a
to the success of the project. Thank people
readily accessible file and archive the official
personally. It goes a long way. Highlight the
documentation. Make sure that it’s easily
lessons you learned along the way and show
searchable with proper naming conventions.
them that you’re interested in working with the
team again on a different project.
If there are similar projects in the future, you
can use this file to estimate time, costs, and
Now, pop that bottle of champagne and revel in
other resources.
the success of your project!

41
Now you know how to manage a project from start to finish and how to steer
it to success. All you need is the right tool to help you plan, execute, and
monitor your projects. This is where cloud project management software like
Kissflow Project will come in handy.

This intuitive tool makes it simple to handle your projects even if you aren’t
project trained or certified.

In a nutshell, it’s the best project management software for people who want
to get work done and not be distracted by the tool.

It also helps that Kissflow Project comes loaded with customizable templates
for a variety of projects and functions.

42
Ready to take your
projects to the
next level?
Sign up for free
today!