Project Management can feel like a daunting responsibility. There’s work to be scoped, resources to identify, plans to build, deadlines to meet, challenges to navigate, and a budget to monitor with the intensity of Big Brother. But don’t worry. We’re here with an emotional salve in the form of music to carry you through each phase of your project journey.
Project Initiation
Project initiation is filled with excitement and the promise of new work. You’re eager to take on a different challenge and are dreaming big, turning an abstract idea into meaningful work. Once your project charter documents are defined and signed, you’re ready to kickstart the work.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1PanByMe2m0yMoI6MpD0md?si=27452bcc3dae4bf9
Project Planning
To get started, you need to be diligent in the project planning stage. This is where you lay out the roadmap of the project, identify resources, and consider project constraints. This is also a time to set up a project communication strategy and onboard team members to the project.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5c4XsMSHSynUdWykIW7Cxs?si=ec32524d86d545fa
Execution
Now it’s time to do the actual work. As the project manager, it’s important to establish workflows to help your team get into the groove and enjoy effective collaboration between stakeholders. This phase is not without its problems. The team is under pressure to deliver a quality product, and depending on the complexity, this phase can feel like a real marathon.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4UUHyqck5zSMzPttnNf7qQ?si=83207bb5b8b44dff
Monitoring
Overlapping the previous phase is monitoring. Here you’re keeping an eye on critical success factors, such as budget, to ensure that your project doesn’t go off the rails. Monitoring can be a real slog from a data review standpoint but hang in there. Forgetting to pay attention to project progress from various data points can lead your project to the danger zone.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3m6sgatsuX69uS6rHZmAmd?si=6d819fee82414a3b
Closing
This is the final phase of the project. Project close-out involves turning over your deliverables and completing any tasks and paperwork to bring the project to its formal end. A best practice is to gather the team to share lessons learned and project wins that can be applied to future work. Lastly, don’t forget to celebrate because you made it (until the next project)!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3p09N3g64Vt0MlBPCxKKNj?si=62339a89878d4a47
Click here for the full PM Playlist and get to work!
