Because in a crisis, you have a critical situation that has to be addressed with limited time and resources. You can t afford to make mistakes, said Stanley E. Portny, author of Project Management for Dummies. Figure out why you re doing the project, what results you want to achieve, create schedules and estimate the resources you d need. Assign everyone s role and responsibilities. Confirm everyone s expected performance, monitor how things are going and the results, fix problems as they arise and keep everyone informed on how things are going, including problems and any revisions in the plan.
Projects can be large or small.
They could involve hundreds of people, such as the training of your entire company on diversity. Or a project might just involve you wanting to create a new filing system in your office. Project management does take extra time. But the time is more than saved in the long run, when potential problems are avoided and expectations are met, Portny said. Whatever your title, today it s a necessary skill.