1. Make sure your project are driven by profits that support your strategy.
You should be able to demonstrate explicitly how each project you undertake fits your business strategy. It is essential to screen out unwanted project as soon as possible. The less clear strategy, the more likely unsuitable projects are to pass the screening.
Each project should have a single project sponsor who is uncountable for directing the project and ensuring that the expected benefit fit the strategy and are likely to be realized.
2. Use consistent stage approach to manage your project.
It is rarely possible to plan a project from start to finish. However, you should be able to plan the next stage in detail and to the end of the project in outline. As you progress through the project you gather information, reduce uncertainly and increase confidence.
3. Use a typical staged project framework.
You should use the same generics stages for all type of project. This makes the use and understanding of the process familiar and easier, avoiding the need to learn different processes from various type of project. This generics framework should then be tailored to take into account the content of each project, the level of activity, the nature of the activity, the resources required and the stakeholders and decision-makers needed.
4. Place high emphasis on the early stages of the project.
High emphasis might mean that between 30 % and 50 % of the project’s lifecycle ids devoted to investigative stages. Studies clearly show that placing a heavy emphasis on research decreases the time of completion. Good investigative work means clearer objectives and plans. In the early stages, creative solution can slash delivery by half and cut cost dramatically. Once development is under way, changes can be very costly.