I actually think a lot about work when I'm not working. One of the concerns I have is what are the first steps in joining as a new project manager. As you might know, joining a new company/new team as a project manager can be intimidating. There's already the expectations from your team and superiors that you know the project back to front, and having more responsibilities while warming up to a new environment!
Project Management is an art of collaboration, and here's a few tips that you can use to become successful in starting your new role, or in a new project, as a project manager.
I have also included my 30 day plan below. But first, let's go through the key points:
Understanding the puzzle
As project manager, your job is to manage different teams and their task related to your project to make sure each piece of the puzzle fits. The first step is to understand how everyone fits into the picture. Start by engaging with people related to your project. It could be people in your team, your customers, sponsors, superiors and external teams and vendors. Understand what their roles and responsibilities are, either through a formal one-on-one meeting or casual coffee chat, and see how their work fits into your project.
This will allow people to understand you from a personal and professional perspective, as well as allow everyone to be on board with your goals and vision.
Be open and be organised
Be sure to have a channel so everyone has visibility to know their role and how their part fits in with the schedule with other teams in the project. It could be through a kick-start meeting with a presentation of the schedule, or it could be a folder to access the project management plan. A common folder also benefits as a place where everyone can store project documentation.
Also, make sure you have a list of contacts for key stakeholders in your project team and set up a meeting schedule. Let everyone know how often the meetings will be so they can raise their concerns and provide you with the necessary project updates in a organised manner.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Effective communication is key to a successful project! Do not assume everyone knows what they need to do. Put yourself into their shoes and check up on progress. The worst case scenario is when there is unforeseen delay because of lack of communication and you cannot act accordingly.
Be Flexible and Adapt
New project and new people in the project can be daunting as the process and culture may be vastly different. Good collaboration requires you to stay flexible in times of change and be prepared if things do not go as you expected. Make an effort to adapt to the team's culture and give yourself some time to observe. If there's any better way of doing the work, or the team requires some change, provide constructive feedback and ask for input.
Ask for examples
There's always documentation from past projects, so spend some time reading past project documentations, for example, scope of work, impact assessment, post implementation plan, and other related project documentation. You'll be amazed how much you can learn and make good use of. You'll also be able to impress your team by showing how much knowledge you have about the projects they have completed before.
30 Day Plan
This is my 30 day plan in starting in a new team with a new project:
Week 1: Introduce yourself to the team, gather contacts and read company/team related information. Understand the team structure and the key meetings. Attend orientation and set up computer access logins and check available project management tools provided. Request for any missing tools.
Week 2: Gather information about the project and team through formal and informal meetings. Draft project management plan. Read past project documentation and request for template which will be useful for your project.
Week 3: Set up initial internal team meeting to further understand the project scope. Extend your contact group to the external teams and customer. Using the templates, continue project plan documentation.
Week 4: Provide update to supervisor on progress of your project. Set up regular meetings with team.
Last words
Through these steps, you'll become more confident and feel excited about starting a new project. A successful start is vital to the success of the project.
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