In today’s business environment, all companies deal with many different projects and initiatives that must be carried out simultaneously to meet the established financial goals. When considering the number of tasks that need to be done daily and managing multiple priorities, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. This is where project management comes in. 

Project Management establishes a structure from planning to execution to help organize, monitor, and implement all projects and initiatives. To complete set goals and initiatives, all business leaders must master reliable project management techniques.

Based on our experience at DuartePino, here are 8 points to consider when effectively implementing project management principles in your organization:

Project Planning

1. Business Impact – DP is not a traditional firm. As an outsourcing firm, our trusted Advisors focus on developing and implementing marketing strategies to enable business growth. Therefore, behind each initiative or project, the business impact and implications of our proposed initiatives are defined to establish how we will impact our client’s business.
2. Objective Definition – From the business impact and client’s business goals, objectives align with our client’s financial projections. These objectives allow us to establish a program tailored to meet set objectives and objectively monitor how our initiatives are executed.
3. Scope Definition – DP holds clients in many different industries and markets; thus, various factors and regulations affect our planning. Therefore, defining the project’s scope with its limitations, constraints, necessary handoffs, and/or dependencies is determined at the beginning of a project to mitigate risks and ensure that all angles are covered.

Scheduling

4. Schedules – After the kickoff, where the business objectives and scope of the project are defined, a schedule is established and broken down into tasks that our Advisors must accomplish by a specific date to meet the outlined goals. Tasks are ordered by precedence, dependencies, and due dates.
5. Adjustments – Marketing in a business is around 70% planned and 30% adapting to market changes. Having tasks structured and planned allows us to respond faster to changes in the market. When it happens, we start by identifying which tasks must change and which have slack and can be moved back. This adaptability is key to any business’s competitiveness.
6. Reporting – Having tasks planned out allows for easier reporting and visibility with our clients. Our clients have clear expectations and nurture their trust with reliability. So, progress monitoring and reporting are essential.

Budget and Return on Investment (ROI)

7. Budget – Each implementation has a strategic plan to positively impact our client’s business. However, investment is required to implement and carry out most, if not all, initiatives. Here, our Advisors consider how to carry out the specific project considering all the required investments to minimize the budget as much as possible while still completing the plan to the agreed standards.
8. ROI – Each strategic plan has an impact on the business. Although there are many ways where the marketing plans can impact the company, each plan forecasts how it will affect the business to determine by when the ROI will be seen. This allows us to align our client’s business goals better and establish priorities based on business growth impact.

With all the methodologies mentioned above, our Advisors are prepared to manage multiple projects and clients simultaneously on a day-to-day basis. Our team demonstrates good communication skills, reporting, time management, organization, and problem-solving.

They also ensure that their strategic thinking benefits our clients in more than one way and maximizes our client’s investment in us and their growth. When placed into action, all these hard skills prove how our fractional model can integrate seamlessly with any client.

*This blog post was written by Jorge Rivera, Operations Advisor at DuartePino.