Love It or List It? No, this blog post is not about property selling, but rather about the love/hate relationship many of us have with ‘process.’ As a Project Manager, process can either be your best friend or worst nightmare. When executed effectively and efficiently, it becomes your best friend. However, when processes are unclear, undocumented, or overly bureaucratic, they can hinder progress, lead to delays, increased costs, and confusion among the team and stakeholders. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of processes, their benefits, and how to strike the right balance between rigor and agility. Join me as I share my experience as an IT Project Manager at Insentra, where processes have played a crucial role in achieving successful outcomes.
The Importance of Processes
Processes serve three key purposes:
- Reducing the risk of mistakes: By ensuring everyone is on the same page with shared goals, processes minimise the likelihood of errors.
- Ensuring consistency: Repeatable processes result in fewer mistakes, higher quality, and increased efficiency.
- Creating accountability: Processes establish accountability between individuals and teams, which is crucial for project success. At Insentra we are big on accountability and is one of our core values of #HITACES
Benefits for Your Organization:
Implementing effective processes benefits your organization, your customers, and your projects as a Project Manager. It enables smoother operations, minimises errors, enhances quality, and fosters accountability.
Striking the Balance: The Insentra Approach:
Finding the right balance between process rigour and agility is a challenge. While there is no single answer, I will share my experience as an IT Project Manager at Insentra and how our approach to processes has been successful.
Think of a process as an orange that can be smoothly rolled along. To achieve this, there are six key segments:
- Simplicity: Unnecessary complexity hampers understanding and control. Keep processes simple and straightforward.
- Robustness: Processes should be capable of handling the scope and requirements of the project.
- Documentation: Verbal processes are unreliable, akin to gossip. Document processes to ensure consistency and accuracy.
- Communications: Clear and concise communication is essential among stakeholders to ensure alignment and understanding.
- Control: Processes should enable consistent outcomes with minimal errors, delays, and variations.
- Improvement: Embrace change and be open to adjusting processes. Establish a feedback mechanism that listens and learns, and designate process owners.
During my time at Insentra, I have successfully applied these six processes segments across a wide range of projects of varying size and complexity to consistently deliver successful outcomes. The key to this success lies in having appropriate processes for each phase of the project, including Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring/Controlling, and Closing. These processes have enabled me to deliver projects while traveling and working across Europe for extended periods, as they provide a structured framework that keeps projects on track while allowing flexibility. The smooth rolling of projects along these processes aligns with Insentra’s core values and culture. If you haven’t already check out the Insentra Train Story
Conclusion:
Finding the right balance between process rigour and agility is crucial for project success. Implementing effective processes reduces risks, ensures consistency, and fosters accountability. By following the six key segments of simplicity, robustness, documentation, communications, control, and improvement, you can strike the right balance. Insentra’s approach to processes exemplifies the effectiveness of this methodology. If you are seeking your dream job in a supportive and efficient team, explore career opportunities at insentragroup.com.
