Q2PM PRINCIPLES
Project managers like us do things like this...
01.  ALWAYS MAKE A CHARTER
Our projects are nothing without a contract. The Phased Project Charter is the document used to identify the business problem which needs to be solved, the potential solution options and the decided path forward. Good PMs always begin a project with a contract agreed to by all project sponsors which lays the foundation of scope and which will be used as our measure of success or failure when the project is deemed complete.
02.  KEEP PROMISES
Good project management is all about working hard up front to ensure our sponsors agree to a solution which addresses the real business problem they wish to solve, and that our teams understand the problem, solution - as well as the reason we chose this solution - and the pathway forward. From this position we can then lay out promises in the form of project deliverables which the remainder of the project effort will strive to achieve. In this way, we make sound promises and we keep sound promises to ensure a resulting solution which makes sense and meets our stated goals and solves the business problem we set out to resolve.
03.  OWN OUR PROJECTS
Each project assigned to us is identified, raised and cared for like our own child. We see our projects through the good and the rough stages, offer advice along the way, escalate to authority when necessary and never, ever abandon the mission of delivering to the world a result that makes thing better for everyone.
04.  LEAD OUR TEAMS
A Q2PM takes charge of the project placed into their hands. We accept responsibility to identify our sponsors, develop and gain sign-off on a plan, and then execute the plan to completion. In the end, we are responsible for the outcome though events and issues may occur which our outside our control. We are responsible for the clear communication which lets the team know when we are headed to safe harbor or when action is necessary to prevent floundering on the rock.s
05.  UNDERSTANDS THEY HAVE NO REAL POWER
Project managers rarely have any real power or authority over the people who attend their meetings. However, this does not mean that we are not without recourse to get help to ensure project work gets down and that issues, risks and decisions are addressed by the people who truly do have the power. Our tool in this effort is the ability to escalate problems up the management food-chain from line staff up to supervisors up to managers and then on to executives, as needed.
06.  PRODUCE A SCHEDULE
Every project needs a calendar plan to indicate when work will begin and end, who will do it, and what milestones are to be met and matched along the way. The schedule can be as simple as a SharePoint Online task list or as complex and robust as a Microsoft Project file. In every case a plan aligned to dates is the only way we can know if our project is on-track or falling behind.
07.  START MEETINGS ON TIME
The heart of the Q2PM process is the team meeting. For, projects are made of people, and people need to work together to achieve a common end, and people work together when they sometimes come together to discuss, agree, disagree and then work to find common understanding and agreement. A good Q2PM never wastes their team member's time. Meetings are planned out ahead of time, with a clear agenda which is relevant to those who will attend, and facilitated with professionalism and close attention to the good use of time. Our goal always is to "make every meeting matter" and to leave our teams with a sense that "that was a great meeting! What an excellent use of our time."
08.  BEGIN EACH MEETING WITH "THE STORY"
People are busy. People go to many meetings. Sometimes, people wonder to themselves..."just what meeting is this which I'm attending now??" A good Q2PM will answer this question at the outset of the meeting, by speaking up (and standing up!) to welcome the team, take attendance, and then remind everyone which project this is and where the team is on the "Story", where the story is nothing more than a nutshell summary of the goal we are all here to achieve.
09.  WORK THROUGH THE "YELLOW"
Yellow is our color of choice to indicate open work within the project Story. However, we don't always discuss yellow items during our team meetings unless the yellow item is relevant to the purpose of this particular team. To indicate a yellow item is on the agenda, simply place an empty checkbox next to the item which flags it for discussion. "Working through the yellow" then become the way forward and through the agenda of every Q2PM team meeting.
10.  TAKE HINTS FROM THE "BLUE"
Blue highlighting in our project story indicates our summary notes about the last update for a meeting item. Reading the blue keeps the meeting flowing while we click on the item's hyperlink to open in SharePoint.
11.  CLOSE WITH "GRAY"
Any work which is complete should have its color changed from yellow highlighting to gray highlighting. The item will also initially have its checkbox marked as complete, though the checkmark will be removed - while the checkbox remains in place - when preparing for the next team meeting as a way to identify this item as something which should be recorded a complete in the next project status report.
12.  MINDS THE CLOCK
Nobody wants to come to a meeting where they feel their time is being wasted. So, let's give some thought ahead of time to the purpose, agenda and invite list to ensure we are bringing the right people into the room to talk about the subjects which this meeting is convened to address. During the meeting, keep one eye on the clock and call out the remaining time "we have 30-minutes remaining" so that everyone is aware if we need to change tack to get back on track and that the PM is mindful of the value of everyone's time. When the meeting is done the PM will let everyone know if we finished on time or finished early with a quick summary of this meeting's recorded action items. Gaining a reputation of finishing meetings on time or early, which successfully addressing all items on the agenda - bodes will for our ability to draw team members back to next week's meeting where they know their time will not be wasted.
15.  RECORDS WHAT'S NEW
Problems result when we fail to take note of new work, issues, risks, changes or decisions which come up along the way, and which someone will need to own and attend to completion. It may be hard sometimes to pause in our meeting to record a new item in the project log, though this is a worthwhile habit to develop as it's very important to make sure as many of the team observe the recording of the event in order to keep us honest in our description of what needs to be done, and in order to ensure that the person assigned to do the work is the right man or woman for the job.
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Best practice suggests we do the following when logging new work:
Name it
Describe it
Who owns it?
When will it be "done"?
Communicate it
Resolve it
Close it
13.  RECORDS WHAT'S CHANGED
Facts are only facts when they've been recorded as facts...so record your project's status updates in the project Log list to ensure the path forward is clear and the places we've been to are noted.
14.  CONFIRMS THAT THE MESSAGE SENT IS THE MESSAGE RECEIVED
Many project issues arise when decisions, tasks and status are not clearly communicated in such a way that those involved are working together in a coordinated way. It takes practice to learn to quiet our mind in forming our next response in order to listen carefully to what someone else is trying to tell us, and then to speak and solicit confirmation that the others understand what we have tried to say. Good communication is less about speaking well and more about being well understood.
16.  CLOSES EACH MEETING WITH A SUMMARY
Just as we begin each meeting by reminding the team why we are here and what we are about to do, so too should we complete each meeting by describing what we did and what new work may have arose in the course of the meeting, and who has been assigned to do this work.
17.  STATUS FRIDAY
Good project managers send out status reports to the team at regular intervals. Once every two weeks is a good interval to ensure that the status are not ignored as too frequent and with few notable changes.
18.  FINISHES THE PROJECT
The project is never really over until we properly close it via a Project Closure Report and Project Closure Meeting. The main purpose of this meeting is to revisit the "promises made" (scope) within the Charter to ask ourselves and the team; "Did we really finish these things?" When everyone is in agreement that we have indeed kept all of our promises we can then consider the project done.