Tuesday 7 December 2021

Key success factors for multi-project management

So how do you achieve multiple projects simultaneously with limited resources and ensure that the projects are completed on schedule?


The company operates largely as multiple projects coexisting, moving forward, rarely operating only one project, and often encountering these problems in multi-project management:

  • uneven allocation of resources for different projects;
  • multi-project progress is difficult to monitor;
  • the overall cost of the project remains high;
  • the overall quality of the project is not guaranteed.
  • so how do you achieve multiple projects simultaneously with limited resources and ensure that the projects are completed on schedule?


 

Multi-project management faqs

 


Multi-project parallels are more prone to surprises than individual project management because the multi-project management environment is more complex and difficult to manage than single project management.

  • resources from different sectors need to be coordinated;
  • project priorities and strategic objectives are often adjusted;
  • some projects are interdependent;
  • the decision must be completed in a very short time;
  • accurate project information is required.


There are many reasons for these problems, such as:

  • lack of a detailed overview of all projects and resources;
  • the project is not prioritized properly;
  • in the case of resource conflict, resource allocation is unreasonable;
  • failure to monitor project progress in a timely manner;
  • no professional project management.
  • if you successfully resolve these issues, your project will run smoothly. here are some key factors affecting multi-project management, and i hope to be helpful to you.


The success factor of multi-project management


 

Develop project standards & processes

No matter what project you do, be as standardized and process-oriented as possible. The PMO (Project Management Office) is the Office of Project Management, which is essentially a decision-making and planning department of the organization and a supervisory authority.

 

They are responsible for how the strategic objectives of the organization are achieved and are responsible for multi-project decision-making, planning, implementation processes, and oversight at the organizational business level.

If you want to effectively manage a multi-project environment, we recommend that you develop a standard process for updating your project to ensure that certain criteria are met before the project starts, which provides some foundation for project priorities.

Because of the cross-project nature of this development, standard-setting should pay attention to the commonality between projects.

  • determine how the project will start;
  • establish project processes and methods;
  • coordinate resource requests;
  • training project managers;
  • introduce the right tools for project management and resource management.



Tips: Your PMO must be supported by top management. However, it should not be seen as a regulatory body, but rather as a clear proof of its value to the project team, which will ensure that their initiatives are accepted by team members.

Prioritize the project

 

To avoid dealing with too many projects at once, you should focus on important and urgent projects. therefore, priorities need to be set according to the strategic objectives of the enterprise, followed by the orderly development of the project.



We strongly recommend a sorting method: create a project value analysis standard that requires some adjustments based on company circumstances (company size/industry/operational status).



(Project assessment analysis diagram to distinguish project size and project type)

Based on the rating, you need to determine which projects to prioritize start-up, which is important for achieving your strategic goals.



Tips: You need to make sure you spend the most resources on your most important projects.

Maintain strategic and rational allocation of resources in capacity planning

 

A company's resources are limited (including human/financial/hardware equipment, etc.) and the same resources cannot be used by all projects at the same time. therefore, strategic resource planning, also known as capacity planning, needs to be implemented. you need to identify resource bottlenecks in a timely manner and be able to respond to them based on your company's strategy.

if you don't have enough capacity planning, you may be at risk of:

  • the project was not completed on time due to insufficient resource allocation;
  • project costs will increase as adequate resources are not used;
  • you will waste a lot of time on coordinating efforts to resolve resource conflicts;
  • all of this can lead to customer dissatisfaction.
  • therefore, reasonable allocation is very important, multi-project parallel, in the case of abundant resources is generally several projects within each other, special resources to find company coordination, in the resource shortage, should first establish multi-project schedule combing and internal and external resources analysis, and then according to the different stages and circumstances of each project, matching the human resources model.


For example: 

 

Conference rooms, the company's conference room is limited, but multi-project simultaneous may be the need to seize the meeting room situation, if the advance coordination time, set the meeting room, will avoid many unnecessary disputes.





Tips: You need to ensure that you keep the most resources for your most important projects, not staff them for unimportant projects.


Investment of Resources

Interdependence and constraints between projects, and it is recommended that projects be made public
multi-project management is important to ensure the effective investment of resources, in the project team, one person across multiple projects must not be many, otherwise the project will be inefficient, and there may be several projects interdependent.


Making company projects public is conducive to sharing resources, letting everyone know what you're doing, being more clear about the division of tasks, and trying to avoid situations where one person is involved in multiple projects at the same time.


A platform for collaboration and communication between teams is essential in multi-project management, the members of each project team work in a unified partnership, exchanging various kinds of information between projects, the amount of communication information multiplied, and the collaboration between teams is more frequent.

At this time, multi-project structured collaboration becomes very important, there is a fixed communication platform, convenient communication between members, can be a good solution to this problem.

Project progress


Monitor project progress in real time to understand the status of all projects and resources
for multi-project management, the external environment of the organization is very complex and changeable, often requiring adjustments to projects within the organization according to changes and needs of the external environment, and the state of the project itself is constantly changing.


Therefore, project managers should pay attention to identify milestone nodes for each project, monitor project progress, regularly update the progress of all projects, ensure the availability of resources on key tasks, do a good job of risk reserve, timely adjustment of problems.



(Statistical reports can view progress and delays for all projects)


compared with single project management, multi-project management in the progress, cost, quality and other aspects of greater pressure, to ensure that each project in the organization can be completed on time and with the least cost, quality, is the ultimate goal of multi-project management.



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