How much of your role actually involves project management? Whether you are planning offsite meetings, leading business transformations, launching new products, developing features or driving internal improvements - chances are, you are managing projects more often than you think.
Now ask yourself: How much project management training have you had in your career?
Regardless of your job title, stepping up as a leader often means managing projects in some form. Of course, being an effective project leader isn’t about tools or checklists, it’s about how you show up. By respecting the people involved, actively listening and communicating clearly, you will create the conditions for success.
Alongside those key leadership behaviours, a few core project management principles can make a big difference. Loosely based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), this post offers a simplified, practical guide to running projects with clarity and momentum.
#1. Scoping: What is expected to be delivered - and what is not
Every project should start with a clear understanding of its objective, as well as what is in scope and what is out. This applies even if you are asked to lead a project that has already started. It’s never too late to get clarity!
Scoping doesn’t need to be a long or complex process. A short, focused effort to identify key people and ask thoughtful questions about what success looks like, can make all the difference. Capture what you hear (even with the help of an AI note taker) and share a summary to ensure everyone is aligned.
The goal is simple: Create a shared understanding of what you are aiming for, so that you can avoid confusion and course-correct quickly as the project progresses. This becomes your project north star.
#2. Planning: Breaking the project into actionable steps
Planning involves setting the direction, breaking the work up into bite-sized pieces and identifying key checkpoints (milestones) to measure progress along the way. This should be done collaboratively with the project team to ensure engagement and buy-in.
Once bigger pieces of work have been identified, planning often also involves high-level estimation. For work that involves technical complexity or unknown unknowns, detailed estimates can be a waste of time. But some sort of estimation exercise can still play a crucial role. That is because the exercise of estimating can help surface assumptions, ensure shared understanding and spark helpful conversations about how work might be tackled differently (e.g. sequenced differently, more done in parallel or broken down further). Estimation also sets realistic expectations and helps everyone make informed decisions.
Another key piece in the planning stage is Communication planning. This is where a project leader should think ahead about who needs updates, what they will care about and how they will want to be kept informed. This prevents misunderstandings and builds trust throughout the project.
Finally, don’t skip risk planning. A quick brainstorm to capture potential risks in a simple risk register can be helpful in considering what could go wrong, so that the project leader and team can start thinking about how to prevent or manage those risks. Even five minutes spent on this can save hours later - or prevent major delays.
#3. Execution: Doing the work, based on the plan
Once the plan is in place, it’s time for the team to execute. This is where engagement and accountability become critical.
Project leaders set the tone by keeping their own commitments, especially around clearing blockers, addressing risks and managing expectations. This builds trust and shows the team that follow-through matters.
Team members should be empowered to take ownership of their work, with clear expectations and light touch verification steps in place to ensure progress stays on track.
#4. Monitoring: Reviewing progress and managing changes
This step is all about transparent communication. Teams should feel safe to share both their progress and the challenges they are facing. The project leader’s role here is to listen closely, deeply understand the blockers and create space to solve problems together.
In addition to good communication within the team, project leaders must also manage communication with sponsors and other interested people. That means managing expectations, surfacing trade-offs and making sure everyone is aligned on what's being delivered and when. This cannot be underestimated in terms of the success of any project(!).
Scope changes often arise at this stage. While agility is important, project leaders are responsible for protecting the team's focus. Not all new ideas are worth pursuing immediately. Project leaders should ideally be data driven or define clear criteria (such as business value, risk or urgency) to evaluate whether a proposed change is worth the potential trade-offs. When appropriate, document changes in a simple decision or change log and re-plan as needed. Staying adaptable yet focused is the balance to strike in this phase.
Keep in mind:
- Scope creep quietly adds complexity without clear value.
- Scope discovery reveals new opportunities that do add value - and may be worth incorporating.
#5. Closing: Measuring success, improving and celebrating
Projects should have a clear end and are not meant to drag on indefinitely. Whether it’s the conclusion of a full initiative or simply a key phase, taking the time to properly close a project is a valuable investment of time.
At the end of a project, a project lead should review the original objective of the project as well as the success criteria and share how the project measured against those. For example ‘Did the project meet the intended objective?’, ‘Was the scope delivered as expected’, ‘Was it delivered within the timeframe expected?’, ‘Did it meet quality expectations?’, ‘Did it achieve the business outcomes expected?’. A one page summary with metrics can be helpful here to share with all involved.
Next it’s important to shift the focus to continuous improvement. A short, focused Lessons Learned session can provide immense value. The project lead should aim to distill the conversation into 3 key takeaways that are actionable and within the team or project lead’s control, whilst ensuring major insights are surfaced more broadly. Always look for improvements that would be most impactful in the success of future projects or phases.
Lastly, remember to celebrate any successes. Teams invest a lot of energy into delivering project work. Failing to acknowledge that effort and moving immediately to the next thing can be deeply demotivating.