Second, we determined the market that we were aiming at and arranged to acquire mailing lists for those people and businesses. We immediately realized that arranging for mailing lists was a separate multi-task project so we set it aside with a separate project management team responsible for it.
Third, we designed the format and the layout of the newsletter. We determined the advertising copy, the photos we would use, and how it was going to be laid out. We determined the emphasis to be placed on both articles and product sales. We then determined who would be responsible for producing each part.
Fourth, we wrote and assembled the copy and the photographs, and laid them out in a draft for review and revision.
Fifth, we had the newsletter typeset and laid out professionally so that it had the look and the appeal necessary to achieve the desired sales.
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Sixth, we determined the printer for the newsletter. We got three different bids, compared the bids and selected the best printer.
Determine Separate Multi-Task Jobs
Having decided that arranging for the mailing list was a separate multi-task project, we found that it broke down into four steps. The first step was to define the market population. Who were we going to send the newsletter to?
One thing we needed to do was to contact a list broker. We went through our own mailing lists and the mailing lists of others that we work with until we were clear about the market population and the number. These were the targets of the newsletter.
The second thing we had to do was assemble and acquire all of the names so that we knew the total that we would be mailing to. The third step was to select a mailing house that would handle the stuffing, labeling and the actual mailing. The fourth and final step was to print the list, print the brochures, deliver them all to the mailing house, and to have the mailing house mail the newsletter out to our selected lists.
This may sound like a simple project, deciding upon a newsletter, determining the layout and design, selecting the mailing lists and mailing house, getting it printed and mailing it out. The project took almost four solid months, and involved the activities of five different people who invested between 200 and 300 hours. The reason that we were able to do it successfully was because we organized it like a project, step by step, with 176
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each responsibility, each task and each function tying into each other task and function.
Regular Review and Evaluation
The final requirement necessary to excel in project management is to schedule regular review sessions to measure progress, solve problems and reassign responsibilities. In every project, you must inspect what you expect.
Once you have decided upon the project team and the project, and you have delegated the different tasks and responsibilities, you must set up a regular schedule to meet and review and discuss how you are doing.
No matter how well you plan at the beginning you will receive a continuous flow of feedback that will necessitate regular revision of your plan to make the project come out successfully.
Successful Project Management
There are several factors that make project management successful. The first and most important of these is good communications among the various team members who are responsible for various parts of the project.
1. Clarity Is Essential
The first necessity for good communication is clarity. This means that you say exactly what you mean. You explain what you want done clearly and unambiguously. You never assume understanding. You never assume that 177
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the other people or that the other person understands clearly what is said or what is expected of them. You always ask for feedback and double check.
Ask the team member to feed back what you have just said in his or her own words. Encourage questions and open discussion. Encourage people to challenge and disagree. The more involved and active people are in discussing the project as it evolves, the more committed they will be to making it successful when it is underway.
2. Consistency Is Important
The next part of good communication is consistency. The team leader must be patient, optimistic, determined and persevering. Being a good project leader requires that you have or develop the best qualities of leadership and managerial excellence. You must keep cool when things go wrong. You must continually remind yourself that if you don’t stay on top of it, it probably won’t get done. If the project is important enough, you must accept complete responsibility for inspecting what you expect.
Don’t assume that everything is going according to plan unless you have taken the time to check on it yourself.
3. Deal with Conflict and Poor Performance
Another part of good communication as a team leader is that you must deal with conflict and poor performance in a direct, straightforward manner. If a person does not do the job they have committed to do, you cannot ignore it.
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You cannot pretend that it is not happening. You cannot hope it will go away. The very best bosses are very demanding when it comes to both deadlines and quality work. You must be the same.
Encourage everyone to openly discuss the project and the progress that you are making. If necessary, be prepared to reassign jobs and tasks. Give different jobs to different people. If one person is overloaded and another person seems under-worked, be prepared to reassign the tasks so that everybody feels they can achieve their jobs in an excellent fashion.
4. Develop the Courage of Your Convictions
The fourth quality of good communicators, and the great quality of leadership, is courage. As Winston Churchill said, “Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.” The most important type of courage is for you to take full responsibility for the results, and to resolve to persist until the task is satisfactorily completed.
Not an Easy Skill to Learn
It is not easy to begin to use a systematic project management system if you have not done it in the past. But the development of project management skills will save you more time and do as much or more to advance your career than almost any other skill you can develop. You can use this project management skill at home. You can use it in planning vacations. You can use it in starting and building companies and organizations. You can use it to 179
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start your own business, become a successful salesperson, move onto the fast track in your life, and in many other ways.
Your ability to plan, organize, manage and complete projects is central to your success and vital to your realizing your full potential in life, work and leadership. Fortunately, project management is a learnable skill that you can master with practice and determination. There are no limits.
“If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it.
Only you must then really wish these things, and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things.” (William James)
Action Exercises:
1. You only learn by doing; select a project, business or personal, that can have a positive effect on your life if completed successfully, and apply the methods taught in this chapter to complete it.
2. Begin each project by defining the ideal or perfect result you desire from accomplishing it successfully.
3. Make a list of every ingredient and step that you will have to include or take to complete the project in an excellent fashion.
4. Draw up a project planning form and organize every task and activity that will have to be done, in order of sequence, from first to final job.
5. Assemble the people whose help and cooperation you will need to complete this project, discuss it in detail with them, and get each of them to commit to complete their individual tasks by a certain time.
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6. Practice “crisis anticipation” and determine the setbacks or difficulties that could occur to delay successful completion of the project; look for ways to solve these problems before they occur.
7. Accept complete responsibility for the completion of projects that are vital to your future success, and that of your organization. Resolve to become absolutely excellent at project management for the rest of your career.
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Chapter Seven
Time Saving Techniques
“Concentrate all your thoughts on the great desire in your life. This concentration must be continuous, unceasing – every minute; every hour; every day; every week.” (Charles E. Popplestone) Time is the one indispensable ingredient of accomplishment. Everything you want to achieve requires time. The only way you can get enough time to do the things that can really make a difference in your life is by conserving time that you would normally spend somewhere else. You are surrounded by people and circumstances that waste your time and undermine your effectiveness all day long. Only by practicing rigorous self-discipline can you free yourself from these thieves of time.