The Correct Order in Project Management: Streamline Processes to Move Toward Success

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In the field of project management, many project managers often find themselves busy yet inefficient. Despite investing significant time and effort, projects repeatedly encounter issues such as delays, cost overruns, and team conflicts. In fact, the key reason for this situation often lies in reversing the order of project management tasks. Doing what should come first later and what should come later first is like building a roof before laying the foundation—it is destined to be unstable. The core of project management lies in clarifying the sequence of tasks and prioritizing what is important and critical, so that the project can advance efficiently along the right track. Below, we will delve into the correct order of seven key aspects of project management.

Attitude Matters More Than Ability: Prioritization Is Key

When forming and managing a team, many people instinctively prioritize ability, focusing excessively on members' professional skills and relevant experience. However, in the actual project execution process, the ones who often cause the most issues are not those with weaker abilities, but those with strong abilities yet negative attitudes. Attitude is the underlying driver of a team member's actions; it determines how an individual responds to difficulties and challenges—whether they proactively seek solutions or passively avoid and shift responsibility. Ability, on the other hand, is a skill that can be cultivated and improved over time. Even if someone lacks ability initially, it can be gradually enhanced through professional training and practical experience.

Team members with insufficient ability but a positive attitude will actively seek to learn new knowledge and skills, step up to fill gaps, and provide timely feedback on issues encountered in their work. Their growth often exceeds expectations. In contrast, those with a poor attitude, no matter how capable, may delay progress, evade responsibility, and even negatively impact the entire team's morale with their negative attitude, undermining the team's culture. Ultimately, ability determines how far a person can go in a project, but attitude determines whether they stay on the right path.

In practice, first, when selecting team members, start by asking attitude-related questions, such as, "When you encountered problems in previous projects, what was your first course of action—did you shift blame or take initiative to resolve the issue?" Such questions help initially gauge a candidate's attitude tendencies. Second, in daily operations, recognize and praise team members who demonstrate responsibility and a positive attitude. Communicate the value of "attitude first" to the entire team, making a positive attitude the mainstream culture within the team.

Listening Comes Before Speaking: Mastering Information to Aid Decision-Making

Many project managers have a habit of starting work by issuing instructions—telling team members what to do and how to do it—while neglecting to listen to the team’s input. They often remain unaware of the difficulties and problems encountered during execution. As a result, tasks may appear to have been assigned, but in practice, deviations occur due to various undetected obstacles, ultimately leading to project outcomes that deviate from expectations.

A project manager is not merely a "messenger" responsible for conveying higher-level goals and requirements. Listening is a crucial way to understand the actual situation of project execution and obtain first-hand information, while speaking serves to communicate project objectives and direction to the team. If a manager focuses only on giving instructions without listening to the team’s feedback, team members may hide risks they encounter to avoid trouble. Clients might also conceal their true needs due to poor communication. These factors can create hidden risks that hinder the smooth progress of the project. Only project managers who are skilled at listening can fully grasp the real situation and avoid making impulsive decisions based on subjective assumptions.

In practice, during one-on-one communications with team members, start by asking: "What support do you need to better advance your current tasks?" During team meetings, allocate sufficient time for frontline team members to speak, giving them the opportunity to express their ideas and raise issues they face. When communicating with clients, ask follow-up questions such as, "What core problem do you hope to solve through this project?" to avoid wasted effort caused by insufficient understanding of client needs. Finally, ensure that issues and requirements raised by team members and clients are followed up and closed out, making them feel heard and ensuring more reliable progress.

Completion Over Perfection: Upholding the Bottom Line of Delivery

Some project managers exhibit an excessive pursuit of "perfection" during project execution. They repeatedly revise less important or non-urgent tasks, polishing project requirements again and again, but overlook project timelines and cost budgets. In the end, this often leads to missed delivery deadlines and exceeded budgets, resulting in project delays.

We must clearly recognize that while perfection is the ultimate goal, completion is the bottom line of a project. The essence of a project is to solve real problems. Users need a product that functions properly, not a perfect plan that remains on paper and cannot be implemented. Business stakeholders care about whether the project can be delivered on time to meet business development needs, not a semi-finished product that has been repeatedly revised but remains unusable. Perfection is like "adding icing on the cake"—it can enhance the project’s outcomes—but completion is "providing help in times of need," forming the foundation for the project to generate value. In project management, far more projects fail due to non-delivery than due to lack of perfection.

In practical terms, first, clarify the project’s most core and fundamental functions and goals, ensuring that these essential elements are implemented to allow the project to operate normally. Second, screen and categorize project requirements into: Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, and Won’t-have. Prioritize the "Must-have" requirements to guarantee the realization of core functionalities. Finally, define the bottom line for project completion: ensuring that core functions are free of critical risks. Under the premise of guaranteeing successful delivery, gradually optimize and refine the project.

Selection Over Training

In team building, many people hold a misconception that anyone can be trained into the right talent for a project as long as time and effort are invested. Consequently, they spend significant time and resources trying to reshape individuals who are inherently unsuited for certain roles. For example, assigning client facing responsibilities to introverted individuals who struggle with communication, or appointing as team leads those who prefer working alone and lack leadership skills. Often, the result is not only a failure to develop these individuals into suitable talents, but also a delay in overall project progress due to their inability to perform effectively.

Selection and training are like cultivating plants. Selection is about choosing the right seeds, while training involves providing fertilizer and a suitable environment for growth. If a seed is inherently unsuited to the soil and environment, no amount of fertilizer or effort will make it thrive. Every role has core inherent requirements that are often difficult to change, whereas skills such as tool usage and process operation can be developed through training. Training can help team members improve their skills, but it cannot fundamentally alter a person’s innate mismatch with a role.

In practice, when selecting team members or candidates, priority should be given to whether they possess the core traits required for the role. This can be assessed through situational questions such as, "If a team member disagrees with you during work, how would you handle it?" Their responses can reveal whether they have essential qualities like teamwork and communication. Second, training resources should be allocated preferentially to the "right people." For example, members who are motivated but lack communication skills can receive professional training in communication techniques. Those with potential and core traits suited for the role can be paired with experienced mentors to accelerate their growth.

Motivation Before Evaluation

Many teams rely excessively on evaluation systems to manage members. When a project is delayed, performance pay is cut. When mistakes occur, individuals are criticized. Meetings frequently focus solely on problems. Under such management, team members develop a fear of making mistakes. To avoid errors, they may choose to "do less or even do nothing," and even good ideas or suggestions go unshared, leading to diminished enthusiasm and creativity across the team.

The main function of evaluation is to prevent mistakes. It sets a baseline for behavior and clarifies what should not be done and the consequences of violations. Motivation, on the other hand, aims to promote excellence. It inspires enthusiasm and initiative, unlocks potential, and encourages team members to voluntarily go the extra mile for the project’s success. Evaluation is a form of baseline management, while motivation is about raising the ceiling. It ignites intrinsic drive and transforms "have to do" into "want to do."

In practice, first, establish an immediate motivation mechanism. Do not wait until the end of the year to provide incentives. Recognize and reward contributions and achievements promptly through public praise in team meetings, small bonuses, or extra time off so team members feel their efforts are valued in real time. Second, tailor motivation methods to individual needs. Front line team members often value tangible rewards and public recognition, while core team members may care more about autonomy, growth opportunities, and career advancement. Develop personalized incentive plans based on these differences. Finally, incorporate proactive contributions into evaluation metrics, ensuring that those who do good work and deliver results receive tangible benefits. This fosters a culture where more work and better performance lead to greater rewards.

Prioritize Problem-Solving: Containing Losses and Preventing Damage Comes First

During project execution, encountering issues is inevitable. What is most alarming is not the emergence of problems themselves, but that team members may engage in internal conflicts over "who is right" rather than focusing first on solving the problem. This not only fails to resolve anything but also allows the impact of the problem to grow over time, leading to greater losses for the project. Debating right and wrong is inherently counterproductive; it wastes considerable time and energy, distracts the team from problem-solving, and can even damage trust and collaboration among members. In contrast, solving problems is an act of damage control. It helps contain the impact in a timely manner, reduces project losses, and ensures the project can quickly return to its normal course. In project management, time is cost and efficiency is life. When issues arise, the top priority is to resolve them, not to assign blame.

In practice, as soon as a problem occurs, initiate the resolution process immediately. For example, quickly form a temporary problem-solving team, clarify each member's responsibilities, rapidly identify the root cause, develop a solution, and implement it. Only after the issue is preliminarily resolved and risks are under control should the team conduct a retrospective analysis. During this review, focus on identifying the root cause, summarizing lessons learned, and formulating improvement measures to prevent similar issues in the future. It is important to avoid excessive blame toward individuals and instead concentrate on the problem itself and process optimization. Finally, when communicating with team members, guide the discussion toward problem-solving and improvement rather than mutual accusation.

Retrospectives Over Blame: Capturing Experience for Improvement

The core purpose of a retrospective is to capture experience and summarize lessons, helping the team avoid repeating the same mistakes in future projects and enhancing overall project management capabilities, not to assign responsibility to any individual. Blame shifts problems onto one person; this not only fails to resolve issues but also creates resistance among team members, making them afraid to participate in retrospectives and harming long-term team development. A retrospective, however, seeks the root cause of problems at the organizational and process levels, develops systematic improvements, and enables the team to genuinely learn from the project and achieve continuous growth.

In practice, retrospectives can follow the 4F framework: First, review the Facts of the project: objectively describe the progress and issues that arose. Then, invite team members to share their Feelings during the project, such as anxiety when facing difficulties or joy upon success. Next, based on facts and feelings, extract Findings: lessons learned and insights, analyzing the causes of problems and effective working methods. Finally, based on these findings, develop concrete Future Actions, specifying improvement measures and responsible persons.

During the retrospective, leaders should take the initiative to admit responsibility, setting an example for the team and fostering an open and honest atmosphere where everyone feels safe to address issues and share experiences. After the retrospective, ensure that the action plan is implemented, regularly track progress, and make certain that the lessons learned are applied in subsequent projects. Avoid letting the retrospective report become a mere formality that is "filed and forgotten."

The essence of project management is to simplify complex matters, and clarifying the correct sequence of tasks is key to achieving this. When the order of project management is right, the project is halfway to success. As a project manager, transition from being a "controller" to an "enabler." By focusing on attitude, listening attentively, emphasizing execution, selecting precisely, motivating effectively, concentrating on problem-solving, and conducting structured retrospectives, empower team members to take initiative and ensure efficient project delivery. As long as the correct sequence of project management is mastered and applied flexibly in practice, you will progress more smoothly in project management and lead the team to success in one project after another.