How to Manage an SMB around Project Management

Do you organize your SMB's work around project management? Do you bring a team together based on the skills needed to achieve a specific goal? Due to the changing nature of work because of technology, globalization, COVID-19, and other factors, we encourage you to consider it.

Project management is a combination of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques, and activities performed by a team under a specific scope, budget, and schedule to deliver a predefined outcome. Such outcomes could include an event, the launch of a new product or store, assistance after a natural disaster, the construction of a bridge, among others. Unlike never-ending routine operations, a project concludes when it achieves its intended goal.

How do I run my business around projects if my team and I are overwhelmed by day-to-day tasks and activities? That's a fair question. The truth is probably you're already doing it. If you own a travel agency, every time you organize a trip for a customer, you're managing a project. A dental treatment is a project. A car reparation is a project. An insurance broker selling health insurance for a client's employees is a project, too. The list is endless.

Let's say you run a beauty salon. Of course, you won't create a new project for every customer who walks in for a haircut. However, it makes sense if you sell a suite of carefully curated wedding beauty packages designed to make brides and bridesmaids look stunning on the big day. You must determine how many ladies you prepare, which treatments will be provided, what kind of team you need, and which staff members will perform each treatment. You will also need to determine the necessary products and equipment, as well as the start time and deadline for when each person needs to be ready.  

In short, project management involves identifying available resources, setting up responsibilities, and putting a plan together under a limited scope, budget, and time to accomplish a specific objective. Of course, business strategy, marketing planning, daily business management, and operational planning are essentials. Yet, nowadays, projects are the driving force behind how work is done and value is delivered. 

So, why not promote and benefit from proper project management in your small business, streamlining your workflow? Moreover, addressing customers' needs and expectations in the project's scope and requirements boosts customer satisfaction. 

There are several different project management methodologies. Nevertheless, roughly every project uses the same essential project management steps of development:

Initiation:

In the initiation stage, the project's nature and scope are determined. It's a critical step for the success of the project.

Planning:

The primary purpose is to plan time, cost, and resources adequately. In addition, set up responsibilities, identify activities needed to accomplish deliverables, and determine deadlines.

Execution:

Time to get things moving. The execution phase is when the project management's plan deliverables must be executed, and the deadlines are met. That phase involves proper allocation and coordination of human resources by clear communication across the team and stakeholders.

Monitoring

Monitoring and controlling the ongoing execution is essential to identify potential problems quickly and take corrective actions when necessary. By measuring deliverables, the project leader and their team might even conclude that the solution is to pivot.

Closure 

Finalize the activities to close the project formally, archiving all the files and documents. Closing includes the acceptance of the project outcome and its ending. This phase also includes reviewing and analyzing the process to learn from the experience.