One of the first questions a client asks me is “how can you look after my project if you’re not in my office?”

It’s a good question, many projects have lots of moving parts and a number of team members all working on their individual tasks. The whole process needs to be carefully overseen to make sure that the project delivers on time and on budget.

However, there is very little benefit to me physically being in the office as the systems and processes that can be put in place allow the team to work on their parts of the project whilst being accountable for the end delivery.

Here are the steps I take to manage a project virtually…

Kick-off meeting

This can be face to face but it is just as effective to meet over video conference. At this point I ask you to explain all the elements of the project. For example, what are the deadlines, who will be involved, what’s the budget, and what are the overall objectives? It is important for these factors to be carefully considered and realistic. During the meeting we can discuss the optimal conditions for the project to be delivered.

Create a plan

I’ll leave this meeting and create a plan using a project management tool. We can select this together depending on what you are comfortable with…Trello, Asana, MS Project, and Smartsheet are just a few. This will incorporate all of the information that we discussed and assign tasks and deadlines to the project team. This will then be signed off by the project owner.

Training on the project management tool

I’ll host a virtual training session with the project team to talk them through using the tool and give them access to their tasks and deadlines

Regular virtual meetings

With the project owner and project team to ensure that tasks stay on track and accountabilities are met. I’ll follow up with individuals if they are not achieving their goals to find out what is causing any delay so that any issues can be overcome and the project kept on track

The project is delivered

The project is delivered to the agreed specification, on time and on budget.

If you have a project that needs careful management, have a look at my project management services here https://helenporterpa.com/#services