“A good plan can help with risk analysis, but it will never guarantee the smooth running of the project.” – Bentley and Borman
According to PMI, running projects smoothly requires mature delivery processes. Adopting best practices for project execution and delivery increases the odds of companies meeting their goals (77% vs. 56%), delivering on time (63% vs. 39%), staying on budget (67% vs. 46%), experiencing less scope creep (30% vs. 47%), and facing project failure (11% vs. 21%).
In this article, we discuss what project execution is, and how project managers can implement best practices to ensure successful project delivery.
Following the project planning, project budgeting, and resource allocation phases is the third phase of the project lifecycle – project execution (aka project implementation). This critical phase involves taking action according to the project plan by carrying out project tasks and fulfilling deliverables. You can think of it as pressing the ‘Start’ button for a spaceship launch as you gradually prepare to steer it towards its destination.
The following steps are included in the execution of a project:
A well-executed project meets all the budget, goals, and quality requirements set during the project planning stage.
Project execution is the longest phase in a project life cycle and it's easy to lose track of what's planned on paper versus what's happening on the ground.
Some common reasons for gaps in project execution include:
By adopting these five best practices, you can ensure that your project execution follows your project plan as closely as possible:
Risk: rework, low organizational productivity, team disagreements, poor team motivation
Cause: lack of collaboration strategy, unclear individual roles, and responsibilities
Prevention Strategy: Buy-in from all stakeholders ensures that the project team stays motivated and executes on time.
Work towards achieving clarity in the hierarchy of reporting and individual responsibilities. By knowing their roles, team members are more likely to work well together to achieve the overall project goal. Also, ensure you develop collaboration processes for updating and communicating the project’s progress with all project stakeholders.
Tools: Spreadsheet.com’s RACI Matrix template can help define, visualize, and document project roles along with monitoring the progress of individual tasks:
Risk: numerous obstacles during project execution, slow response to change or crisis, project scope creep
Cause: difficulties in adopting a problem-solving mindset, ineffective risk management
Prevention Strategy: Risk analyses are done in the Project Planning stage for all stages of the project lifecycle. Here, you identify potential roadblocks, prioritize based on impact, and develop prevention measures. Explore various risk management frameworks like the Risk Assessment Matrix and Risk Maturity Model to ensure a thorough risk assessment.
Tools: Spreadsheet.com’s Project Management Risk Log template can help identify and document potential risks, categorize them and conduct an impact assessment for each. It also allows you to automatically assign priority using the Risk Assessment Matrix:
Risk: poor communication, rework, frequent back-and-forth to get project status and data
Cause: not utilizing information management systems, lack of transparency
Prevention Strategy: If your project involves multiple teams, it's crucial to set up knowledge-sharing and documenting processes to improve collaboration. Adopting good project documentation practices makes it traceable, transparent, and referenceable for future projects. Typical details to document include decision-making frameworks used, protocols, quality standards, historical data, meeting minutes, project progress charts, etc.
Tools: Spreadsheet.com’s Meeting Notes template can help you record key takeaways and action points from your project standups:
Risk: budget overruns, not meeting expected quality standards, scope creep, project delays
Cause: poor vendor selection and management, inadequate quality control practices, lack of consistent communication
Prevention Strategy: Vendors can pose critical risks to successful project execution because control over and access to their operations is often limited. According to Harvard Business Review, you should rethink your vendor management practices with systematic vendor selection processes and negotiations to ensure a win-win outcome. Treat your vendors like extended employees such that you track their performance and provide feedback for improvement.
Tools: Spreadsheet.com’s Inventory Management template helps manage vendor relationships and keep track of incoming, stored, and outgoing products in your inventory:
Risk: numerous manual processes and tasks, inefficient use of talent, decision-making delays
Cause: poor documentation practices, low budget to purchase paid tools, lack of adequate project management experience in leadership
Prevention Strategy: Use project management frameworks like Decision Logs, SWOT Analysis, or Decision Trees to make informed decisions. Monitor project execution with software tools that leverage these frameworks to improve the speed and quality of your decisions. Also, identify manual and repetitive tasks in your project task list and try to automate them.
Tools: Use Spreadsheet.com’s Agile Project Management with Kanban and WBS Project Management with Gantt Chart templates to help you define, assign, and track project tasks effectively:
Your team's ability to collaborate, manage risks, and be productive is reflected in how well you execute your project. Take your project management to the next level with Spreadsheet.com’s project management templates.