How to lose money via bad project management

Here’s the quick guide to losing money with bad project management.  This will be an actionable guide to absolutely know you’re losing money when delivering a project.  You’re probably already doing these, and if so, great, you can add some tweaks mentioned here and lose even more time/money.

Let’s quickly cover the types of projects that companies normally manage:

• General Projects (Company initiatives, improvements, new service development, etc)
• Actual Client Service delivery (each new client within a service line is probably the same project over and over)

Example Project One

Here’s a sample project.  Let’s say we’re implementing a CRM system.  Here’s the basic project guidelines that will identify how quickly money will be wasted.

• Project Manager (with no technical, CRM, sales, marketing or project management experience-PICK any or all of these and you’re on the right track)
• Sales Team of 6 will be brought up to speed after CRM is completed and told how to use it correctly
• Directive to find a CRM came from leadership, because we need to sell more.
• No budget defined for overall cost, licensing, or implementation, just make it cheap.

Example Project Two

Now let’s do a sample project guideline of a service delivery type project.  How about a management company that delivers corporate events.  This is a project that looks the same over and over (just different clients, creative items, or add-ons).  In order to execute an event come event day, and all the tasks that are needed in terms of prep, can be created.  It’s best to have an obscure Microsoft Word/Excel file that acts as an event checklist.

• No Project Manager  – Let’s just assign an Event Manager.
• No project software will be used.  Free CRM, Email, Spreadsheets, notes, calendars and To Lists can manage everything we need.
• Print out all resources, timelines and other deliverables and put them in binder.
• No time tracking of employees needed.  We should be making good margin here.

I know, I know…  there might be a hint of sarcasm in here.  Fact is, many companies make a lot of the mistakes above.  They’re glaringly simple to see and ineffective, yet that’s not stopping anyone.  So let’s back this train up and go over what the project should look like.  Streamlining projects and having the correct assets and resources in place to deliver a project is key to a successful project.

Take 2.  RE:Edit–How to streamline our business with Effective Project Management

Let’s look at the same projects again and see what they SHOULD look like.

Implementing a CRM system.  Here’s some actual project guidelines that will make a difference:

• Project Manager (with technical management experience, knows what issues and functionality to look for)
• Project Team (should consist of your team experts who knows what you need in areas such as technical, sales, marketing, leadership, etc)
• Sales Team directly involved to create buy-in that this CRM will indeed make their lives easier and more lucrative.
• Defined goals for project (we need a CRM to define our sales process, and keep our team more accountable with prospecting, sales activities and have better insight via reporting, so we can sell more)
• Discovery of Needs (what do we actually need the CRM to do)
• Market Research (what options are out there and will they fit our needs)
• Implement, Test & Improve (Always improving.  Once you see what it can do, you’ll feel the endless opportunity)

Corporate Events Management project.  This project will typically look the same. If not, ask your self why doesn’t it.

• Centralized Project Manager for the team, or Team of Project Managers who manage their own events.
• Event Management Software or ERP. Every task, time-card, deliverable, document, contract, expense, event detail, design notes should be tracked.
  • How many events has this event manager done this year, at this venue, and what did they cost?  You should know this info instantly.
• All event software should be accessible on mobile devices so event managers can access all data needed for execution of event.
• Built-in Time tracking for any and every task completed.  Time should apply to clients and employees.  Every employee gives you a different margin.
• Event Templates (your events should roughly be the same minus a few items, so template them for easy repetition and service quality)

All projects aren’t created equal, so even your projects are going to require their own special phases or tasks.  The key here is ask yourself, are your employees managing projects and time effectively, or are they just throwing ideas against a wall and seeing what sticks.