PRODUCTIVE PROJECT: CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES, EXAMPLES - DUDAS - 2024

A productive project is a project that seeks to make money and generate an economic return. The promoters of a productive project are usually individuals and also companies that are interested in achieving economic gains for different purposes.

The economic benefit is the result of the work of the entire team involved in the project, in combination with the appropriate decisions of the manager. Therefore, it is the result of the absolute consistency of the actions of all the project participants.

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The process of creating a project consists of many important components that may require totally different efforts and costs.

However, even these multiple areas are quite suitable for analyzing the productivity of the various processes that are carried out in them, starting with the planning of the project itself and ending with its market launch.

Project productivity

Productivity represents the shortest path from setting project objectives to implementation, using minimal time and financial costs.

It is simply being more effective in the effort to get tasks done. This is generally related to a project. The more productive you are in managing a project, the less likely you are to fail.

The success of a project depends on its productivity. If the project is not productive then the investment of the interested parties and the time of the work team will be wasted.

characteristics

Adequate work equipment

The most important step in making a project productive is selecting the right equipment to get the job done. You have to focus all your energy to ensure you have the right people. This will save undue stress and frustrations later on.

Not only do you need to ensure that they have the technical knowledge necessary to complete tasks, but you also need to ensure that they have the ability to collaborate with other team members and the responsibility to complete their duties.

Delegation

If qualified people with the required skills were chosen, close supervision should not be needed. You need to trust team members to do their tasks.

Responsibility must be delegated by holding them accountable for their actions, but allowing them to do the job their way.

One of the biggest dangers when carrying out a project is creating resentment within the work team, by not trusting its members or also by trying to tell them how to do their work.

Organization

Know how to track the progress of the project to ensure that it keeps moving forward.

Knowing who is working on what task and how everything is supposed to come together in the end depends on the ability to maintain an organization and have a system for tracking tasks.

Good communication

Having excellent communication skills is critical to keeping a project productive. The project manager must know how to approach people in a non-threatening manner when criticism is made, and must ensure that he is effectively communicating his expectations.

Not only must direct communication with people be managed, but the stage must be set for the work team to collaborate and focus.

Information must be distributed appropriately so that nothing is misleading.

Follow up on tasks

Productivity ends when you don't pay attention to it. Just focusing on work is not going to shorten tasks. You can lose track of time, get bogged down in minutiae, or complete tasks on time, but without a process to alert you to when you're lagging or working in the dark.

Creating a task tracking system not only helps you to focus on work, but also has a monitoring process to create the limits that are needed to stay on schedule.

When you make your project plan you are estimating the amount of time each task will take, but often the best plans get off track. With the right tool you can get the guidance you need.

For example, emails can be automated to notify you when a deadline is approaching, allowing you to see where you are. As a result, adjustments can be made and work done without delaying the project.

Types

A project is a planned set of interrelated and sometimes dependent tasks that must be executed over a certain period of time taking into account certain costs, resources and other constraints. Tasks must be completed to achieve a specific goal.

-Depending on complexity

Easy

A project is classified as easy when the relationships between tasks are basic and detailed planning or organization is not required.

In this case, a small work team is common, as well as some external stakeholders and collaborators.

Complicated

The project network is vast and complicated. There are many task interdependencies. With these projects, simplification where possible is critical.

Cloud-based applications will greatly help simplify complicated projects by automatically calculating the best project work path and thus updating any changes made using different types of project management tools.

-According to the source of capital

- Public: The financing of the project comes from government institutions.

- Private: The financing comes from companies or private incentives.

- Mixed: financing comes from a mixed source of public and private financing.

-According to the content of the project

Business

These projects are involved with developing a business, managing a work team, managing costs, etc., and generally follow a business strategy.

Production of goods or services

Projects that involve the development of an innovative product or service, the design of a new product, etc. They are often used in the research and development department.

-According to those involved

- Departmental: when it comes to a specific department or area of ​​an organization.

- Internal: when an entire company participates in the development of the project.

- Matrix: when there is a combination of departments involved.

- External: when a company subcontracts to a project manager or external teams to execute the project. This is common in digital transformations, process improvements, and strategy changes.

-According to your objective

- Production: aimed at the manufacture of a product or service, taking into account a specific objective.

- Social: Oriented towards improving people's quality of life.

How to make a productive project?

Use of technology

There are many great tools designed to help improve productivity. Software can be part of a productivity strategy, but it can also be the main asset of a company.

On the one hand, you can create to-do lists, which are a way to systematically organize and tackle work. This provides a place where you can see what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

Task management tools are easy to update and, if they are cloud-based, can be updated wherever you are, regardless of the time of day.

Contribute to business strategy

When strategies are developed to identify key business projects and a process is put in place to link these projects with other specifically departmental ones, the result will be a continuous flow of successfully achieved strategies.

Create a project office

Current thinking links project management with quality. Steering committees and quality centers have been in place within organizations for a long time.

The creation of a project management office is a copy of these centers. It seeks to establish an office to supervise all projects and quality systems.

The prioritization of work will not be focused only on projects, but also on key processes that must be improved or redesigned to meet customer expectations.

This office acts as an important driver for corporate transformation, ensuring a consistent methodology to:

- Manage projects.

- Develop business plans.

- Create policies.

- Process improvement.

- Performance measurement.

Establish and measure productive criteria

The production criteria will vary with each project. Some of the production criteria that project teams establish are:

- Project completed on time.

- Project completed within budget.

- Customer satisfaction level.

- Established quality standards.

- Meet the objectives of the project.

- Requirements clearly established and fulfilled.

- Transition plan included in the project plan.

Recognize and reward job performance

Adequate compensation and rewards are important in motivating people in any organization. Projects are no exception.

There are usually no job descriptions for project staff. They generally only exist for the more traditional jobs in the organization.

Job descriptions should be developed for all levels of project staff, reflecting the level of authority and responsibility.

Rewards are difficult to establish, quantify, and manage. The "good job" criterion is difficult to quantify. Therefore, there must be clear specific objectives.

The rewards can be a public thank you, a letter, a plaque or even a monetary prize.

Examples

Manufacturing projects

These projects are carried out to be able to efficiently carry out the manufacturing operations of a product and then sell it and thus obtain profits.

The final result that is sought can be a vehicle, boat, plane, a piece of machinery, processed foods, etc.

Construction projects

They result in the construction of buildings, bridges, roads, tunnels, etc. This group can include mining and petrochemical projects.

Management projects

These projects include organizing or reorganizing work, without necessarily producing a tangible result.

Examples would be designing and testing a new software package, relocating a company headquarters, or producing a stage show.

Research projects

In these projects the objectives can be difficult to establish, because in them the results to be obtained are unpredictable. These are projects that focus on obtaining new information on a certain topic.

References

1. Michael Stanleigh (2019). Creating Productive Project Cultures. Taken from: bia.ca.
2. Peter Landau (2017). 3 Strategies to Increase Productivity. Project Manager. Taken from: projectmanager.com.
3. Alexander Sergeev (2018). 4+ Effective Recommendations on How to Be Productive in Project Management. Hygger Blog. Taken from: hygger.io.
4. Jessica Gust (2016). 5 Keys to Being a Productive Project Manager. Project Management. Taken from: project-management.com.
5. Sindhuja (2019). Project: Types, Objectives and Organization. Business Management Ideas. Taken from: businessmanagementideas.com.
6. Sinnaps (2019). Types of projects in project management. Taken from: sinnaps.com.