5 Tips to remember when starting a new project

As learned in the PMP course online — here are 5 tips you need to remember before you start a new project.

1. Write a Project Charter

A Project Charter outlines the project’s goals and objectives. It also gives some insight into how the team intends to meet the project’s objectives, albeit at a high level.

Your Project Charter may be created by you or by someone else, but in either case, it’s important to get a hold of it as soon as possible to ensure that you fully comprehend what you’re being asked to achieve. The document should include the project’s goals, objectives, and any success metrics, as well as a high-level plan with some milestones if they are already known, a team roles and responsibilities matrix, and a high-level budget estimate. You can also mention any internal or project management standards, rules, processes, or methods you’ll be employing.

2. Bring together your project team

Without a team, you won’t be able to finish your project! You may be able to influence the process by picking the finest applicants from the available resources. Your project sponsor may already have some ideas about how you should acquire the team.

You may need to negotiate with other managers in an organization where you don’t have complete authority over the project team members. They’d have to make their workers available to work on your project full-time or part-time.

Even if you aren’t ready to hire your team just yet, you can begin planning what specific talents will be required and how you will obtain them. Consider all of the different business areas and how each of them will be represented on the team, if necessary.

3. Schedule a kick-off meeting

Gather the team members for an initial meeting once you’ve determined who will be on the team. This is an opportunity to meet new people while also ensuring that everyone is on the same page about the project’s objectives.

You should also go through the duties and responsibilities for each team member, as discussed in the PMP course online so that everyone is clear on who is doing what and who to go to for knowledge in any area. Include yourself in this so that they are aware of your function and the responsibilities of a project manager!

4. Build a project schedule

You can either design your project calendar as part of your initial kick-off meeting or as a separate discussion, but you’ll need a clear sense of the tasks and strategy very early on in the project.

You won’t be able to put this together on your alone because you won’t know the specific tasks for each section, so you’ll need to enlist the help of the rest of the project team. Of course, some tasks are common to all projects and can be added to the calendar by you, such as critical reporting dates, the overall structure of the phases, and jobs that you know must be completed, such as software testing. You can then ask the team to break down these broad activities into more specific assignments.

5. Create a risks and issues log

A risks and issues log is where you’ll keep track of all the difficulties and prospective problems that may arise during the course of your project. To fill this up, you’ll need feedback from your team once again. A concise summary of the danger or issue, as well as what you plan to do about it, should be included in the log. You should also write down the name of the person in charge of the action plan so you know who is in charge of solving the problem.

You may already be dealing with certain challenges, and you will undoubtedly face some hazards. Discuss your team’s worries and any issues that they are already aware of. After then, you can record them in your log.

Need more tips on starting a new project? Enroll in a PMP or CAPM course today!