Project velocity is a measure of the rate at which business value is being delivered on the project. There are several controllable aspects that will set the project in the correct direction with solid progress made over time. From my past few months of experience at Pixafy as a technical project manager, I have found that the following are among the most powerful keys to project velocity.
- Clear understanding of project scope. Clarity in understanding the project scope is one of the most powerful keys to getting the project successfully completed and delivered on time. The high level scope document and project objectives can be created from a Statement of Work (SOW) and clarifying conversations with the client.The ability to control the incremental expansion of project requirements requested by the client during the build-out, sometimes called “scope creep,” is critical to the project velocity.
- Desire to launch. The project manager will need to be highly motivated to launch the end product. This quality is key to driving the project by answering technical and design questions and staying focused on deadlines and deliverables. This includes intelligent decision making when it comes to time, resources, scope control and quality control.
- Team motivation. Team motivation is the fuel that collectively moves the project forward. It starts with picking the correct members to carry on the project, including factors such as technical expertise and interest in an area. The team needs to be encouraged to make the right decisions with constructive feedback and proactive planning from the manager. One of the project manager’s main goals is to eliminate obstacles, or blockers, for the team, reducing friction to completing tasks and buffering the team from demands from external forces.
Using the above mentioned keys, a project manager, along with the team, is able to successfully deliver value to the client. It is worth constantly honing these aspects to provide an even better project experience to the client the next time around!
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