Here is another great piece from Project Leadership Guru’s Ravi Bhatia on some of the essential elements of running a successful real estate development or renovation construction project. Enjoy, and tell us what you think on this topic! – Bruce
By Ravi Bhatia, PE, PMP
So many theories on project management, so little time. How do we distill all of the advice, ideas and principles into an elegant summary? In the real world, we know that there are no packaged solutions for complex problems. There are, however, experience-tested frameworks, which act as underlying threads to guide good project management practice.
I have wrestled with the question of outlining good project management practice and have reflected on the established doctrines. While there are no magic pills or summary level treatises that capture the full range of project management discourse, there are underlying concepts, which clarify project management behavior. Here are a few powerful common denominators to project success that stand out after the background noise is filtered out:
1. Clarity > Project managers and project teams that practice clarity are better equipped to succeed. Promoting a culture of clarity requires active direction and support from top of the organization. If senior management is not committed, there can be no clarity; the default scenario in that case is ambiguity and chaos.
2. Communication > This was, in a way, too easy a common denominator to miss. Simple, yet very powerful. Project managers, their stakeholders and their teams must appreciate and embrace the need for proper, timely, concise and relevant communication.
3. Commitment > One of the key roles of a project manager / leader is securing the commitment of the project team. The project leader cannot do this until she has demonstrated the same level of commitment that is demanded and required from the project team.
4. Credibility > This goes hand-in-hand with trust. You cannot convey your arguments if you are not credible. You cannot achieve credibility if your integrity is suspect. There are no short cuts to credibility.