Two Ways to Keep Your Staff Development Projects On Time and Within Budget
I remember many years ago, working on a tough project. I was working internally at a national nonprofit on a high-profile project. I had a difficult subject matter expert, things kept changing, and decisions were hard to come by. And yet, I managed to keep the project on time and within budget. How did I do it? That's what we're focusing on in this week's episode of Learning for Good.
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
01:43 The two things I do to keep projects on time and within budget
02:04 Setting the project calendar
04:35 Scheduling regular check-ins with the project team
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Two Ways to Keep Your Staff Development Projects On Time and Within Budget
I remember many years ago, working on a tough project. I was working internally at a national nonprofit on a high-profile project. I had a difficult subject matter expert, things kept changing, and decisions were hard to come by.
And yet, I somehow managed to keep the project on time and within budget.
How did I do it?
I want to share two things I do with each project I manage that keep us on track.
Two Ways to Keep Your Staff Development Projects On Time and Within Budget
Your Learning and Development team probably manages their own projects. It's a pretty common part of instructional design or leadership development projects. So how can they keep those projects on time and within budget?
That’s what we’re going to discuss today. Ready?
Now, let's take a closer look at each of those.
1) Set the Project Calendar
At the start of every project, I review certain things:
the scope of the work
the process that I'm going to use to achieve the outcomes that are intended
the timeline
I then create a project calendar that includes key tasks and milestones that the project is going to require.
So that might be things like reviewing existing materials, interviewing subject matter experts, or creating learning objectives.
Not only do I include my tasks in the project calendar, but I also include other people's tasks. Because a lot of times I'm managing the project team, not just my own time.
Examples of that might be for me to send something to the subject matter expert or their project team for review, but also for them to provide feedback. Then I also need to include time for myself to update things based on that feedback.
So all of those tasks are going to get wrapped in together.
Once I have all of those tasks identified, I look again at the timeline. When does this really need to be done? I identify a date a little in advance of that and that becomes my final deliverables date. Now I have a little bit of a buffer.
Then I work backward from there to set dates for all of those tasks that were identified.
But because I'm also talking about other people's time, and not just my time, I also want to engage them in finalizing that project calendar.
Are there planned vacations that I need to work around?
Are there other priorities that are going to take up some of their time that I need to account for?
Will there be work travel that will take them out of the office and they won't be available to do certain things or work on certain tasks during certain periods?
Are there additional reviewers or approvers that are going to make the timeline extend a little bit?
So I take all of that information, and then I solidify the project calendar.
“And maybe this is a bonus tip. But once I have that project calendar, I actually use it.”
I look at the calendar on a regular basis to make sure we're on track. And if we aren't, I have time to adjust so we can get back on track.
2) Schedule Regular Check-ins with the Project Team
The second thing I do is schedule regular check-ins with the project team.
The calendar is set, and we're working towards those dates. It's time to start thinking about maintaining the project.
So I schedule regular check-ins with my project team to make sure the project is a priority and it gives us time to discuss anything that we need to discuss.
It gives us time to make decisions; we can look at things together during those check-ins. Ultimately, we can move the project forward.
Now, the frequency of these meetings can vary by project or by person. Sometimes I'll schedule meetings that are weekly, and an hour each. It's a chance for the project team to connect on a regular basis. Sometimes I might schedule them every other week instead of every week, sometimes I might do a quick 30-minute check-in instead of a full hour, and sometimes I might need 90 minutes.
It depends on the project, the people, and the availability. All of those kinds of things impact how frequently I'm going to need to meet with the project team.
Then, I occasionally will turn one of those meetings into a working session, and I'll extend the time beyond 90 minutes. That's the rare occasion when we really are going to need that time to work together.
The important thing about scheduling the check-ins is that the frequency works for you and the project team.
“And then another bonus tip, have a plan for the meeting. Maybe that goes without saying. You need an agenda. You need a purpose. You need to know what you're planning to accomplish so it isn't wasted time.”
You may have a meeting or two that ends up being canceled because you don't have anything that you need to check in on that week. And that's okay, you're giving people that time back in their day.
But at least if you have those regular check-ins scheduled, you know that you have time dedicated to the project for the whole project team to gather and discuss and make decisions as needed.
If you learn to leverage these meetings, they can help you stay on time and within budget.
Those are the two ways that I keep my staff development projects on time and within budget. And if you set that project calendar and schedule those regular check-ins, it's going to make a world of difference.
To hear the full episode on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 37.
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