Starting a career in project management can seem daunting. With so many methodologies, tools, and techniques to learn, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. However, with the right guidance, anyone can become an effective project manager.
In this article, we’ll provide tips to help beginners hit the ground running. Whether you’re leading your first project or just starting your PM education, these best practices will set you up for success.
Foster Clear and Effective Communication
Communication is one of the most vital skills for project managers. You need to relay vital information to team members, stakeholders, and leadership. Frequent and transparent communication keeps everyone aligned. It also surfaces potential issues early so they can be addressed.
Here are some tips for improving communication as a beginner PM
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Hold regular status update meetings, Don’t just email project updates Discuss progress and blockers in real time so you can answer questions, Include both team members and stakeholders
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Document discussions. After stakeholder meetings and team discussions, document the key points, action items, and decisions. This prevents misalignment down the road.
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Be accessible. Make yourself available to team members by keeping an open door, responding promptly to messages, and circulating your availability for one-on-ones.
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Adjust your style. Some people prefer emails, others phone calls or Slack. Get to know your counterparts’ preferences.
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Listen. Project managers spend a lot of time issuing plans and instructions. But it’s just as important to listen to issues and ideas from your team.
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Share recognition. When you see great work, take a moment to call it out. Recognition motivates teams.
Set Clear Goals for Your Project
Unclear objectives lead to missed deadlines, scope creep, and unhappy stakeholders. That’s why a project manager’s first priority is defining goals and delivering them to the team. Here are some tips:
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Get stakeholder input. Interview key stakeholders early in the planning process to understand their vision and objectives.
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Document measurable goals. Avoid vague notions like “build a better website.” Quantify what success looks like, e.g. “increase site traffic 20% in 6 months.”
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Define scope. Document exactly what features, services, and deliverables are included (and excluded) from the project. Get signoff from stakeholders.
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Break down objectives. High-level goals should be translated into milestones, deliverables, and tasks in the project plan.
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Share plans transparently. The entire team should have access to project documentation so everyone understands the goals and scope.
Use the Right Tools to Monitor Progress
Juggling multiple tasks, issues, and due dates is challenging without the right systems in place. Project management tools keep Beginners organized and provide needed visibility.
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Learn project scheduling. Understand how to build a schedule with milestones, dependencies, and resources. Tools like Microsoft Project and Smartsheet can help.
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Try Kanban boards. Visually track progress by organizing tasks into columns like Backlog, In Progress, and Complete. Trello is a popular option.
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Look at project dashboards. Aggregate important metrics like budget vs. actual, workload, and milestone progress in one view.
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Set up notifications and reminders. Get automatic alerts when tasks are coming due or milestones are at risk.
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Enable reporting. Pull reports on progress, costs, risks, and other key data to share with stakeholders.
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Automate repetitive work. Offload admin tasks like status reports to focus on high-value PM activities.
Work with a Flexible Team Whose Skills Combine Well
Projects thrive with the right team members onboard. As you build out your group, keep these tips in mind:
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Outline roles. Document clear expectations for every role on your team including responsibilities, skills, and seniority.
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Assess candidates thoroughly. Go beyond technical qualifications. Evaluate problem-solving ability, communication, and teamwork.
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Onboard thoughtfully. Set your new hires up for success with proper training, introductions, resources, and support.
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Look for cross-training opportunities. Team members who can fill in on multiple fronts build capacity and flexibility.
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Address skill gaps. If your team is light on a key skill, bring in a contractor or consultant for the project duration.
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Form connections. Invest time building rapport with and between team members. It pays off in better collaboration.
Motivate Your Project Team Members
Project managers don’t just assign tasks. They empower people to do their best work through motivation. Here are some ideas:
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Inspire with the vision. Connect each person’s work to the broader project goals so they feel purpose and impact.
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Lead with positivity. Bring energetic and optimistic – not directive – attitude. Celebrate wins large and small.
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Offer incentives. Reward good work with team lunches, gift cards, or paid time off.
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Develop team camaraderie. Organize activities outside work, like trivia nights or volunteering.
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Check in regularly. Catch issues early by meeting 1:1 to get feedback and hear concerns.
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Give autonomy. Enable team members to manage their own workflows and approach, within reason.
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Offer growth opportunities. People are motivated when they’re developing new skills. Support training and mentoring.
Identify and Plan for Risks
Project managers must anticipate what might go wrong and proactively minimize risks. Here are some starter tips:
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Perform a risk assessment. Meet with experts across your organization to identify possible scenarios.
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Quantify and prioritize risks. Assign probability, potential impact, and priority level so you know where to focus.
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Develop mitigation plans. For each top risk, detail containment and workarounds strategies.
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Assign risk owners. Designate individuals to monitor and manage specific risks.
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Test contingency plans. Validate that your mitigation strategies work before risks occur.
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Monitor continuously. Revisit risks throughout the project lifecycle in case the picture changes.
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Communicate risks openly. Keeping stakeholders aware builds credibility and trust.
Focus on Completion, Not Perfection
Beginners often obsess over getting every detail perfect. But this distracts from driving projects to completion. Instead, aim to:
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Scope deliberately. Carefully separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. Stick to the former.
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Meet deadlines. Don’t let great be the enemy of done. Hit scheduled milestones, even if work remains.
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Inspect later phases first. Cut scope in the project closeout phase before impacting deliverables.
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Balance quality and speed. Perfectionism slows progress. Determine the right quality/pace tradeoff.
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Embrace continuous improvement. Plan to refine and enhance in future releases vs. over-engineering now.
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Work in sprints. Break projects into smaller batches with fixed end dates to force progress.
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Get 1.0 out the door. Initial launches set the foundation for incremental improvements over time.
In Closing
Don’t let project management intimidate you, even as a beginner. Start with foundational best practices around planning, communication, team building, and tools. Adopt an iterative mindset focused on continuous learning and improvement with each project. Before long, you’ll have the skills and confidence to take on any initiative successfully.
Use the proper tools.
In a world where efficiency is key, professionals need to take advantage of the tools available to them that can help make their jobs easier. Project management software tools can help managers, administrators, and other employees deliver projects as effectively as possible by offering features that allow you to manage tasks, track progress, and streamline communication.
When choosing which tools to use, it is important to analyze your needs and identify which options are able to meet your requirements. Having the right project management apps or software in your toolbelt can help you adequately communicate with your team, stay organized, and deliver projects on time.
For those who want to explore the features and benefits of different tools before making a commitment, there are free project management software options worth considering.
Understand your goal.
When you’re managing any kind of project, it is essential that you understand your overall mission before diving deeply into the many tasks required to complete it, Griffin explains.
During the process, for example, you may find yourself confronted by situations that aim to influence you to change the project’s direction. When situations like this arise, Griffin suggests asking yourself, “What do I need to produce for these influencers to meet their expectations?”
“These items are considered ‘mission critical’ and, ideally, you should feel comfortable declining other requests. Really,” he says.
Although it may seem daunting to say “No” to a request (particularly if it’s from a supervisor,) when you have taken the time to understand the vision of the project beforehand, what you’ve actually done is develop the tools and language needed to properly articulate the realistic goals of the work. In doing this, you will help keep everyone on track toward that predetermined objective.
On the personal side of project management, it’s important to take time to communicate with family and friends about the scope of your work, your deadlines, and the amount of focus required to accomplish your goals. This will create a much-needed understanding of your limitations as you work toward the project’s completion.
“When you’re managing a project, it’s easy to get so bogged down that you forget life is actually going on without you,” Griffin says. “Come up for air and let your colleagues and family understand your needs.”
From an in-office angle, it’s important to communicate with your team members about your schedule, working style, and personal life in order to manage expectations.
“Keep your colleagues and classmates informed about your schedule,” Griffin says. “When do you work best? What time do you reserve for personal commitments? Be clear and firm.”
“Risk management is hugely important to project management,” Griffin says, offering the example of an adult learner trying to go back to school while simultaneously balancing work and family responsibilities. He explains the importance of identifying what the risks are in this instance and developing a “risk response strategy” that can be implemented if things don’t go according to plan.
An example of a risk-response strategy within this scenario, “could be as simple as realizing you don’t work well at night,” he says. “Maybe you’re a morning person. Plan a classwork strategy that mitigates the risk of unproductivity. Set aside time in the morning for working and let people know that that is ‘your’ time. Set up a process that works for you—even if it’s at 2 a.m.—and stick to it.”
It’s human nature to aim for perfection when taking ownership of a project or task, yet there are dozens of factors and unforeseen circumstances that have the ability to negatively influence outcomes. For this reason, Griffin explains that employees should forget about perfectionism and instead focus on simply meeting the predetermined project goals. If the completed project meets the overall expectations of its stakeholders, then you should feel as if your project was a success.
Rather than slowing down the process by focusing on every little detail that could be improved, Griffin also suggests concentrating on big-picture success instead. He provides this example from the classroom as a representation of this idea:
Project Management Basics [QUICK GUIDE]
FAQ
What are the 5 C’s of project management?
What are the 7 C’s of project management?
What are the five 5 stages of project management?
How do you manage a project?
Everyone must know and use the same project management terms to ensure clear communication. Most project management software also allows you to archive project-related emails and meeting minutes to refer to and share as needed. Use one-minute meetings: Keep meetings to a minimum because your team members have front-line work to do.
What information should a project manager take?
It might be helpful to note suppliers’ names and contact information, product tracking information, code and regulation data and revision notes for architectural plans or product changes. Whether you manually write the information or use project management software, take specific notes on anything important to the project.
How do you start a project management process?
Step# 1: Identify project goals and deliverables. A project kickoff meeting starts the project management process. All the high-level role players in the project attend this meeting. The objective is to identify the project’s goals and deliverables from the clients’ perspective. At the end of this step, key goals and deliverables are documented.
How do you manage your first project?
Your first project can be overwhelming as you figure out how to manage people and workflow to meet objectives. The Ascent covers seven tips to keep your projects on schedule and under budget. Managing your first project brings one realization into stark relief: the chasm between theory and practice.
