Are you struggling to stick to your project timeline?
Ugh.
Guess what?
I am too.
But I'm going to share with you my pro tips
that I use in order to help me stay on track.
Before we get into project timelines,
I'm going to be sharing with you at the end of this video,
my six basic tips to ensure your projects are successful.
So stay tuned for that.
Hi, if you're new here, welcome.
My name is Adriana Girdler.
And you have landed
on a practical project management channel, mine,
and I'm so excited that you're here.
I hope you consider subscribing,
as it helped grow this community.
Now, if you want to learn more about project timelines
and how to stick to them, let's get to it.
Create a master milestone project timeline.
So what do I mean by this?
What are all the big major milestones,
or actually let's even call them major activities
that are happening in your project from start to finish.
This becomes really important.
Even though you may not necessarily have all the details,
you do know when things have to be created,
thought through, tested, built,
training documents created.
Whatever it may be that you're doing,
you do have these high level major milestones,
and that's what you need to do.
That is your first step.
It gives you a really good idea of overarching.
Can we do this within what we think is our allocated time?
But not only that, it's really good to be sharing that
with other projects stakeholders,
particularly your steering committee, your sponsor,
'cause it gives them the bigger picture.
'Cause I promise you this.
Everybody wants to know,
when are you going to be delivering it?
And you need to have that high level understanding.
So that is the first thing you have to do is create
that major milestone/activity overarching timeline.
It's just going to help you get your finger on the pulse
of what's going on.
Realistic timeline plus buy-in equals solid schedule.
So recently in one of, in one,
in my YouTube community,
I got asked a question
about how to keep your project on track,
particularly in the beginning
when you do have healthy boundaries
of you know exactly what you're going to be delivering on,
it's manageable and achievable.
But as you move through the project,
senior executives start to ask you or tell you,
"Move faster."
So how do you deal with that?
Because that's truly impacting the schedule.
There are a few things you can do
to set yourself up for success when it comes to this.
First and foremost is you really need to be informed
at the beginning of the project.
So in the first tip,
I said that major activity milestone from start to finish.
Well, you need to be informed in regards
to those big activities and milestones
by talking to subject matter experts.
That's part of the digging you're doing,
the preparation and planning of your overall project.
And you need to have an understanding
of how long those activities are going to take,
but you have to talk to those subject matter experts,
potentially the people that are going to be on your team.
So be informed.
Just don't accept things verbatim,
but talk to those that are actually going to do it,
because they have the nuances that are really going
to give you the additional insight that you need.
The other thing you really have to take a look at
is getting great buy-in.
Adriana, what do you mean buy-in for your timeline?
Like seriously?
And the answer is yes.
Again, this is all about the beginning of the project.
You really want to set it up for success.
Because don't forget this.
When you first were told about the project,
your senior executives, the sponsor,
they had an idea of when it was going to happen
in their mind.
Then you did your digging, right?
You have those high level concepts
and you got something a little more realistic.
Now you have to get the buy-in.
You need to ensure that you talk to your steering committee,
you talk to the sponsor and any senior executives.
Once you get all that information and you have those
high level activities that everyone understands
that this is a timeline moving forward,
because you've done your due diligence,
that buy-in is a very critical step.
Do not miss it.
Don't assume people know that it may take a little bit
more effort and energy or time because they don't.
What do we know about business?
Give me more for less.
That's what we're told to do all the time.
And you can't because you won't be successful.
So really get the buy-in up front.
Talk to the key stakeholders
before you even kick off the project with your team.
Ensure that they have an understanding
exactly what is going to be done.
And the last thing you really need
to be considerate of as well with your solid schedule
is you want to ensure that you have change control.
So as things are progressing
and people want to change things on you,
you need to make sure that everyone
is very clear what the expectation,
what is your constraint, what can be moved,
what can be optimized,
and you would've decided whether
that was scope, time or budget.
And if your time is a constraint, then you can't move it.
Or you even want to consider change control
in regards to things they want to add,
'cause that has an indirect correlation to your timeline.
Create a detailed schedule
for complex parts of your project.
Okay, this is just going to help you from standpoint
of not doing too much work and then everything changing.
So why do I do this?
Because throughout your project,
within a life cycle of project of start to finish,
it is not constant.
And what I mean by that,
the constant energy and effort is not like this,
where you're constantly revving high.
You have these ebbs and flows.
There are points in time when there is a lot going on,
a lot of complexity.
And there's other points in time where you may have
just finished something and it's a little bit,
not as much work going on.
Not to say work is not happening.
It's just means you're not doing as planning,
prepping or execution.
So with those complex parts of your project,
and for an example,
I'm doing right now on a project proof of concept testing.
So we're very complex at this point in time.
And probably for the last couple of months have been.
So I've had a very detailed timeline.
So everybody knows the nuances,
the intricacies of everything going on.
It's almost over.
So I'm not going to have that detailed timeline for
afterwards. Now when I rev up to some other points,
I will bring it back in,
'cause it's a lot of energy and effort.
But worth it because everybody knows exactly
what is going on and how everything is linked,
which is really, really important.
So consider detail, but do it at specific points in time
of your project where it makes sense.
Inform your team about dependencies.
Now, before we get into this one,
I just want to remind you stick around to the end
because I definitely have something for you,
that guide that's going to help you.
And I'm going to share with you at the end of the video.
So what is it about informing your team about dependencies?
Let's be really frank here.
I know that's not my name.
Let's be frank here.
(Adriana laughs)
People only care about the work that they're doing.
That does not mean they don't care about the project.
But think about it.
When we're really busy and we have a lot going on,
not just the activities of, let's say,
your project as a project manager,
that your team members are working on.
I promise you.
They have other projects that they're working on too.
They become very myopic, very siloed,
focusing on their tasks because they have to deliver.
Nothing wrong with that.
But it now becomes your job to ensure that timelines
are tight, that you remind people of dependencies,
'cause they forget.
Not on purpose.
They just forget 'cause they're so focused.
And when you at least remind people of the dependency
that their activity is either feeding into
or that their activity needs from someone else,
then it gives them a broader picture,
so that they can be successful
and take those things into consideration.
Because maybe they would not have thought something
was really urgent for them,
but it's definitely urgent for someone else.
So they're now going to ensure that they get that done
as per the timeline.
It's really critical.
But don't ever think that if your team member
is not thinking of dependencies, that they don't care.
They're just really focused on what they need to do.
And it becomes your job as a project manager to ensure
that they are aware of everything around them.
Not only their tasks, but others and how it all fits
into the puzzle piece of the project plan.
Now that you know how to keep your timeline tight
and on track, tips that I use myself,
take a look at this.
It's in the link underneath this video for you, free!
Six basics that are just going to ensure
that your project is running smoothly.
I highly recommend that you get it.
Until the next video, see you later.