make a plan, breathe, assess my time, correctly estimate the time I need for the task, learn to say 'no', delegate my tasks, break my goals into milestone-sized chunks, properly schedule my tasks, making use of reminders.
by
mohamed shahin gani , Assistant professor , Mohamed Sathak AJ College of Engineering
Manage the Manager
Management sometimes sets up deadlines with a good "buffer" to allow themselves time for decision making at the end of the project, or because they don't expect to get results on time and want to push things along by moving the deadline forward. This can be best mitigated by having good communication with the management.
However, what can you do if your manager does set an unreasonably short deadline? Find the tolerance level of your project sponsor (management) and of the key stakeholders who can influence the sponsor. Talk to end users to understand the severity of not delivering on time. There can be scope for negotiation.
Shuffle Dependencies
If your deadline is constrained by dependencies, you can talk to project managers of the upstream and downstream projects to get a better understanding of the interconnections. You might be able to find a way to reorganise things and either get what your project needs delivered earlier, or move the deadline for your own project.
Be Smart About Compliance Deadlines
If you're working on a compliance project, it may have a firm deadline established by the market bodies. In this case find out if there is a transition period. It is usually provided because market participants have differing levels of compliance and don't have the same resources available to make the transition. You can also evaluate the impact of breaching the deadline (such as fines for non-compliance), and prioritise the parts of the project which would have the highest financial impact if they are overdue.
Double Check Estimates
When it comes to deadlines defined by estimation, it's a good idea to double check the estimates. Ask what facts and assumptions were taken into account when the task was initially estimated.
Watch Out For Changes
Once the project starts, you have to watch out for changes in the project environment. Changes will affect project completion time, so work with the team and stakeholders to update the WBS and the schedule.
Organising Work On Projects with Fixed Deadlines
After you've applied the practices above and you are sure that you've done everything you can to negotiate a reasonable deadline for your project, the next phase is organising your work in the best possible way to meet the deadline.
I've found that the following practices help me complete projects on time:
Determine the business context which will be affected by the change to status quo
Define the scope of the solution required to satisfy the identified business need
Plan short iterations to verify the project direction
Align the solution with the existing business processes and IT infrastructure
Each of these practices is discussed in more detail below.
Determine Business Context
Completing this step successfully often determines the success or failure of the project.
Many organizations that operate in a competitive environment have well defined and standardized processes. Many others don't however, so be prepared to discover them. Explore the business processes which may be affected by the new solution. Learn which systems are used by the business within these processes. Embedding new solutions into these business landscapes should be considered thoroughly to reduce resistance to changes and exclude redundancy in project management, solution delivery and transition to the new state. If done right, it also gives a business analyst an opportunity to find ways to add value to the business.
The rationale for the project should be identified by the project manager, while the business analyst should identify business drivers and actual business needs.
Define Solution Scope
This is the exciting part of the project, but defining solution scope has never been an easy task. Short timeframes and technological changes which may occur during your project make it even more challenging.
In general, to cope with this task the project team needs a solid foundation to build on - well documented processes and good infrastructure. Knowing and using best industry practices can often point you towards defining a sustainable solution and save exploration and research time.
When it comes to defining solution scope, my approach is to use only the "must" requirements for the "initial" solution, and prioritise the remaining "should" requirements into subsequent phased releases ("final" solution).
You must work closely with the solution architect and play an active role in exploring available options. Often the overlap between business analysis and system architecture saves a lot of time - I have saved up to a third of project time by ensuring that the architect could use my documents as a useful starting point in producing a detailed design of the solution.
Plan Short Iterations
I'm still on the fence with regards to the Agile method. Its value is clear in software development (at least for certain kinds of projects) but when it comes to business analysis, I'm not so sure. However, short iterations are one useful technique in Agile which can reduce project time. Use them to get a summary of the completed and outstanding tasks, evaluate changes to the project scope, and identify feasible shortcuts.
Project manager and business analyst need to present a unified front in dealing with business stakeholders. Face to face communication is essential to make short iterations work for analysing the current situation, required changes and making decisions on the next steps. Informal communication style helps too - really, there's just no time for strict formalities if you want to get things done. It's very important for the project manager to arrange a "green corridor" for access to authorities and clear the way for the team to focus on delivering rather than struggling with bureaucracy.
As a business analyst, you also have to do your share to deliver results quickly by being professional and active in all your activities (industry research, compliance requirements and so on). Make sure that communication is well maintained between everyone involved in the project.
Align Business and IT Infrastructure
Most of the time new solutions are embedded into the existing environment. It's a good idea to make maximum use of the existing components and processes to make the introduction of the new solution less intrusive and to minimise the number of temporary patches and business interruptions.
I try to present the solution in terms of interacting services to achieve this. I transform business references to applications and systems into services and show how they could interact. This approach allows me to show the business users how all pieces of the business, including external parties and outsourced services, come together and how the new solution will improve overall efficiency.
Conclusion
Whenever you get a project with a short deadline, don't forget that there are two major considerations: what can be done to change the deadline, and what is the best way to organise your work to meet the deadline.
The practices presented in this article should help you address each of these considerations
Without wasting any time ,according to planning of given task work hard with calm attitude,completion of work would be done successfully within deadline.
This task will test your PLANNING , TIME& TEAM MANAGEMENT SKILLS.
There is no tight deadline for a capable team that works with planning and is experienced.
The project Manager should have following inputs in hand ;1. Complete Knowledge of operations involved.2. Time and motion study chart for each operation3. No of units required.4. Thus accurately calculate the man power.
Assuming that you already have the raw materials in house.
A skilled manager will evolve methods or scientific production program to execute the job.
Lets try to get the stress out by demonstrating a scientific method when incorporated how easy it becomes to achieve the deadlines, how so ever tight they may be.
Lets take a simple hypothetical example of making shirts.
A shirt has
Collar -1 No.
Sleeves -2 nos.
Front panels -2 Nos ,
Back panel -1 No.
Lets say a tailor makes10 collars in one hour
or2 sleeves in1 hr
or4 front panels in1 hr
or6 back panels in one hour.
A cutting master can cut fabric for80 shirts in an hour with a cutting saw.
Thus the man power required to make10 shirts in1 hr will be as follows ;1 - Tailor for Collars making. -10 collars made.10 - Tailors for sleeves making -20 sleeves made10 tailors for front panels making -20 front panels made.5 tailors for back panel making -10 back panels made.
So with the man power of,1 cutting master &26 tailors you can stitch10 shirts in an hour.
So in8 hr shift you can stitch80 shirts.
Lets say you have to make8000 shirts in12 days
I will keep provisions of contingencies and target / plan to complete the job in10 days and plan to make800 shirts a day.
In order to meet this deadline I will require10 cutting masters and260 tailors to complete the job in time. off course you need supervisor staff and other support staff as may be required to finish the job. I have just tried to demonstrate a method that a job should be addressed.
Thus a difficult looking task may become easy with proper PLANNING, TIME & TEAM MANAGEMENT . No deadlines will remain tight when these skills are applied.
1) Be prepared:
Teams that are most effective in “crunch time” have practiced every situation long before the game. Similarly when you are better prepared you will be ready for whatever situation you are presented with, and therefore will be able to manage it more effectively.2) Have a plan:
People who don’t plan argue that things never work out according to the plan – which is partly true. The value of the plan is that when things are going according to the plan, you can be proactive and stay ahead of the challenges and avoid many of the pitfalls. That planning then saves your heightened attention and effort for the parts of the plan that do change.3) Focus – stop multi-tasking:
Have you been daunted by the enormity of a project or task? When we think about everything we have to do, we often begin to hurry, rush or try to multitask. You will be more productive when you focus on one task at a time. A basketball team down by20 points can only come back2 or3 points at a time. A soccer or hockey team can only score one goal at a time. As you complete one task and then move to the next, and you will be making more progress faster.4) Think confidently. Be confident in your abilities!
Remind yourself of past successes! (Here’s a hint - when you have a plan and are well prepared it is easier to be confident.) Confidence is an under-valued skill off the court and playing field. When you think confidently you are taking the necessary first step towards acting with confidence.5) Stay inside your sphere of influence.
Remember that you can’t change the world (or the other members of the project team for that matter). Focus on what you can impact. Stay inside yourself and proactively work on things that you have the ability to impact or change.6) Remain positive.
A positive attitude, approach and demeanor can make a big difference. When you really feel rushed, you probably aren’t your most positive self. But when you feel on top of things, even if you are busy, you are more likely to be positive. Knowing this is true, you can create more positive actions by starting with more positive thoughts.7) Take a deep breath
This piece of advice, given to me often by my grandfather and father is some of the best advice I’ve ever received, and it certainly applies in this case. Take a deep breath, refocus and move forward positively, confidently and quickly - without hurrying
