Chapter Summary

As the project manager, you are responsible for all facets of the project planning and implementation. If you ve built a solid foundation, and surely you have, the implementation will follow your Work Breakdown Structure and the Project Network Diagram.

On a regular schedule you ll meet with your team members to review their work, congratulate them on successful milestones, and prep them for the following week s activities. A regular, efficient meeting keeps the team focused on the project vision and accountable for the tasks to be completed.

Part of keeping the project on track will be to create a process to collect work information from your team. You ll need a regularly scheduled method to request and retrieve information on the team members progress for assigned tasks. Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server are two of the ideal tools to use to track progress.

Just as you hold your team members accountable for their actions, management will hold you accountable for yours. Specifically, management is interested in your ability to control the finances and deliver expected results on time. You will need an education on how your organization processes payments, creates purchase orders, and reviews budget adjustments. You will also need a process to keep tabs on the finances and hours committed to a project, and a method to track the value of work.

Project management is a long process that requires dedication from you and the project team. Your job is to ensure that the team stays dedicated to the project, finances are always in order, and you are always ready to react to any situation. Sounds easy, right?