This guidance describes how to quickly assign tasks in a project without getting bogged down in details.

At the start of a project, there are usually discussions about who is going to do what by when. Those discussions turn to what are the tasks and in what order do we do them and what are their exact order. This is ineffective. It’s better to start with some rough estimates, and then refine details once you start.

[Ed Note: This guidance references principles in our earlier guidance, “Horstman’s Law of Project Management.” It’s not necessary to read/listen to it, but we encourage the reader to do so when time permits. – H]

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This guidance recommends asking your directs for work to be done - meaning requesting things in the form of a question – rather than stating your desire for something to occur.

Most managers, when they need something done, tell their directs what to do. Telling relies on role power. It works, but there’s a better, more strategic way: asking.

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This guidance describes how to use a RACI [Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform] Matrix when determining project responsibilities.

When you’re starting a project, there are all kinds of people with fingers in the pie. There are people who want to be on the team. There are people who are affected by the work. There are people who aren’t affected by the project but whose budget IS. There are people who don’t want the project to succeed, but will only privately work against it. There are people who need to know stuff…but other people who WANT to know stuff.

How do we help project managers – or how do WE as project managers – keep track of who’s responsible for what? We use a responsibility matrix. The best one is called the RACI – pronounced Ray-See.

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This cast concludes our guidance on how to give feedback on how you want projects reported on.

Projects are generally governed by Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who does What by When. Sometimes it's a five year project, and sometimes it's 3 weeks. But it boils down to a string of tasks and deadlines, done by humans. And often we humans end up straggling after ripe blackberries when we should be meeting deadlines.

One thing all of us Project Managers can do is to ask for what we want, and then give feedback when we get it, and when we don't. Easy!

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This guidance describes how to give feedback on how you want projects reported on.

Projects are generally governed by Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who does What by When. Sometimes it's a five year project, and sometimes it's 3 weeks. But it boils down to a string of tasks and deadlines, done by humans. And often we humans end up straggling after ripe blackberries when we should be meeting deadlines.

One thing all of us Project Managers can do is to ask for what we want, and then give feedback when we get it, and when we don't. Easy!

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This guidance describes how to manage work and decisions being done on a project.

Projects are generally governed by Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who does What by When. Sometimes it's a five year project, and sometimes it's 3 weeks. But it boils down to a string of tasks and deadlines, done by humans. And often we humans end up straggling after ripe blackberries when we should be meeting deadlines.

One thing all of us Project Managers can do to keep things on track is to run our project meetings as a Drumbeat Meeting.

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This guidance describes how to manage work and decisions being done on a project.

Projects are generally governed by Horstman's Law of Project Management: Who does What by When. Sometimes it's a five year project, and sometimes it's 3 weeks. But it boils down to a string of tasks and deadlines, done by humans. And often we humans end up straggling after ripe blackberries when we should be meeting deadlines.

One thing all of us Project Managers can do to keep things on track is to run our project meetings as a Drumbeat Meeting.

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This cast concludes our guidance on how to have project statuses reported and discussed.

At Manager Tools – and Career Tools – we LOVE projects. Effective managers are really good at managing projects. Projects provide a focus, an attention, that often regular responsibilities don’t. We’re not saying that projects are more important per se. [We do think that more important stuff gets put into project format, though.] Nevertheless, in the modern, less formal organization, projects are going to be how more and more work, and particularly important work, gets done.

So why aren’t we all a lot better at them? Project management skills are some of the important operational skills that effective managers have. Too many of us don’t handle projects well. We’re too afraid to hold people accountable. We’re too willing to be understanding. We’re willing to accept delays early. We think that’s okay…but those of us with lots of project experience know…it’s not. Early delays portend later failures.

One thing we CAN do is be more effective at teaching and handling project reporting. It seems simple…but it’s a great tool used to improve more consistency in project work.

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This guidance describes how to have project statuses reported and discussed.

At Manager Tools – and Career Tools – we LOVE projects. Effective managers are really good at managing projects. Projects provide a focus, an attention, that often regular responsibilities don’t. We’re not saying that projects are more important per se. [We do think that more important stuff gets put into project format, though.] Nevertheless, in the modern, less formal organization, projects are going to be how more and more work, and particularly important work, gets done.

So why aren’t we all a lot better at them? Project management skills are some of the important operational skills that effective managers have. Too many of us don’t handle projects well. We’re too afraid to hold people accountable. We’re too willing to be understanding. We’re willing to accept delays early. We think that’s okay…but those of us with lots of project experience know…it’s not. Early delays portend later failures.

One thing we CAN do is be more effective at teaching and handling project reporting. It seems simple…but it’s a great tool used to improve more consistency in project work.

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This guidance describes how to run the first meeting you have with your team about a new project your team will be doing.

A manager we know got assigned a project for he and his team a couple of years ago, and he asked us to critique his email that he was sending out to announce the project, both big picture and early assignments. We knew this manager, and knew his team were collocated with him. Why, we thought, would a manager send out a LOOOOOOONG email to his team with LOTS of details about a not unimportant project?

He told us, well, that’s just the way I’ve always done it.

Well, there’s a better way. It’s MUCH more effective to have a brief meeting. It’s called a SPOT meeting, and even though it’s yet another meeting, it’s totally worth it. Here’s how to run one.

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