The Best Project Management Tips For Micro Enterprises

Conceptualizing and starting a small business takes blood, sweat, and tears. And keeping it well-managed while achieving your goals and success criteria is a whole different ball game.

For small business owners, accomplishing daily tasks while boosting sales and market share is difficult with inadequate staff or resources. Worse, steps and measures will be missed, and the business will sink fast because some people on the team don't know what to do.

The good news is working smarter, rather than harder, is possible for small businesses by utilising project management. Ramping up production, launching a new label, or streamlining product or service offerings will be within your reach with the structured frameworks that project management provides.

Here are some of the most effective project management tips to help improve your small business operations and success.

Specify your objectives

It is essential that you carefully define your project's objectives. Explain to your employees the purpose of the project they will be working on. Making the objectives clear to all helps ensure that everyone in the team knows what they are working to accomplish.

Allot some time to plan

Once you have defined your objectives take time to build a step-by-step plan that will cover your project's inception to completion. Make a schedule, draft a budget, and create documentation to illustrate how the team will manage the project's risks, scope, quality control, and issues.

Implement the plan

Start and work the plan out according to the steps you created. Remember that just like any work, your project might not go exactly as planned. That's why it is crucial that you review, assess, and update the plan as needed.

Delegate tasks wisely

Identify the people who will help you in making the project happen. You need to choose the appropriate staff, partners, vendors, financial or legal consultants, or even customers who will be best suited to the tasks that need to be completed. If you have skill gaps, fill them up with the right people.

Identify breakthroughs

To keep everyone motivated and accountable, establish dates throughout the project by which significant steps are to be accomplished.

Leverage 3rd party relationships

Once you find the reliable vendors, legal partners, or freelance contractors that can help you complete your project, work closely with them to maximize resources, and build better relationships.

Bring in the experts

If the situation requires, call in an expert for a specific part of the project. Include it in the budget as it is usually worth it in the end.

Manage and mitigate risk

Ensure that the whole project team is expected to watch for and report any controllable or uncontrollable risks that threaten the project. You may not have a contingency plan for every unexpected event that will happen, but you can still stay ahead of them by constantly being aware and ready to react.

Communication is essential

Keep everyone in the loop - from staff members to customers, 3rd party partners to vendors. Provide status updates regularly and ensure that sufficient information is given for every decision to be made.

Learn from experience

There is always a lesson to be learned in every project. To use such lessons when planning other projects and doing it better next time, you need to document your findings by conducting a "project retrospective" with all the team members. Pinpoint what went well, what went wrong, and determine the "whys".

Remember that Prince2 project management is not only for large corporations. As a micro-enterprise owner, you can also use it to plan and execute your projects. With these easy but powerful tips, you can accomplish your business projects smoothly and successfully.

Allyssa Wagan is a writer with an interest in management, business and technology subjects. Allyssa currently works for Knowledge Train, a leading project management training provider in the UK.

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