Whether its your first project, or you have several years behind you, retrospectively looking back on the work you have been involved with is something we constantly do here at CCL. When we are looking back at our catologue of conveyors, and our completed projects we hope to understand the things that went well, and the lessons we can learn to improve our approach for the future.
Here we share 5 things we have noticed in our years of working on projects that you should avoid whenever possible.
Don't do it all yourself
You need to be open to suggestions, and widen your view. You may have been assigned the task but the best project managers take in the views of those around them. Stuck on a decision? ask your colleagues, ask those outside the organisation in the same industry (who you have a good relationship with). These are the moments you learn and develop. Also don't be afraid to delegate, give your juniors the tasks they need to develop themselves, and they will usually pay you back in kind.
Lack of appropriate skills and resource
Finding the right team members, perhaps now more than ever is a real challenge. However, retrospectives on projects all too often find that companies are not up-skilling, or taking on the right team member at the right time. If you could go back in time you would probably realise that so many mistakes could have been avoided, if you simply had the right person, with the right skills as part of the team. What this means is that you need to recruit according to your project. Ask colleagues if they could recommend anyone, especially if they have worked alongside them first hand. Some organisations are now even offering golden handshakes to the person they recruit, and the internal friend who recommended them. In these times when opportunity for the right skills are plentiful, you need to stand out and be smart in you recruitment, fail here and it will no doubt impact your project delivery.
It is not all about price
Going with the lowest price is often a recipe for disaster. We have all been there, but again in retrospect have we learnt that looking at price only is not a sensible move? The provider could be new to the industry and artificially putting their price low to get business, they may have miscalculated, or potentially they are putting themselves under too much pressure to deliver quickly. Which ever is true, take you time to look beyond the price. Price is crucial, but it can not be everything when it comes to getting a quality product delivered safely, to standard and on time.
Knowing the supply chain (at least in part)
No one who is creating physical products is operating alone, they need to be provided with goods and materials to make their product. To this end if you want success in your own project you need to ask some very high level questions around supply. You need to understand to some degree, where the supply chain starts and ends, will this effect your time to market/production and is there are level of outsourcing that is useful to know?
We are not suggesting you spend too much time on this, but its worth asking the basic questions to further understand how the project dependancies work.
Overlooking relationships and getting to know your provider
You wouldn't give a stranger large amounts of money without establishing a level of trust and belief in them. To this end we always recommend spending some time with a provider, seeing them in action and getting to know them (in so far as is possible). Relationships are what keep business moving, and we are no exception to that, with repeat customers working with us (and us with them) over the course of many, many years. Research the business and get to know the specialisms and work that has been done previously, as well as the individuals concerned through those introductory meetings.
Here at CCL we look forward to discussing your project needs with you at some stage. Reach out and get in touch for further information on how we can help you with your next project..
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