Administrative Assistant's Update

7 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE However, if you do that, you're likely to have some pretty major mis- takes or big misunderstandings during the project and that will negatively affect the outcome. Instead of "Install Electrical," in- clude details such as: • Install 12 light sockets • Install 10 double receptacle plugs • Install 3 GFI plugs • Install 4 two-way light switches (with further details, such as speci- fying for which lights, etc.) If I wanted my kitchen wired, I would be leaving it up to chance that I'm going to get exactly what I want unless I clearly define and plan for what I want. This also helps with budgeting. By asking my electrician to give me a quote based on a more detailed list of tasks, I will practically guarantee that I will avoid extra costs later on because I'll catch discrepancies between what the electrician is planning and what I actually want. If you've ever renovated anything, you know how quickly you can run over budget and not end up with what you wanted in the first place if you don't have a detailed list of tasks. If you don't know how many plugs you want, you should still be in the initia - tion phase and not this far along. Along with identifying each task on the WBS, you also need to esti- mate time and costs of each task and subtask. Planning takes a long time. How- ever, it is always worth it. 3. Execution At this stage, you need to monitor your critical tasks, your timeline and your budget very carefully. Communication is key in this phase. Keep every stakeholder and ev- ery team member informed of what is happening and how/if it affects them. During the execution phase, you may need to reschedule some tasks. If you realize you're running late and won't make a deadline, you have to ask yourself whether the deadline can be more flexible and, if so, how it could be adjusted. In planning for the Olympics in Rio, the timeline could not be moved at all. That meant that either quality or bud - get had to be affected (or potentially both). Remember the iron triangle? Time, scope and cost all affect quality. Adjust one and they all get adjusted. Since the Olympics is a very time- specific project, you can imagine that when things went too slow during execution the impact was felt on both quality and budget. You won't always be in a position to spend more money, so are you willing to let quality suffer? These are the types of decisions you must make quickly and often during the execution phase. 4. Project closure and review The final stage is where you de - liver what you were tasked to deliver. Hopefully, it will be exactly what was wanted, and delivered on time and on budget. According to PMI.org, fewer than a third of all projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the original specifications (quality and/or scope). Learning and praise are the les- sons for phase four. You must take your learning points, both good and bad, for the next project – but you also don't want to demoralize your team. Focus on what went well, and what you could do differently next time. Don't focus on who did what, or who didn't do what. Team celebration – not individual blame. The life cycle in project manage- ment includes four nicely broken- down phases. They are not equal in time spent but are equally important to the success of your project. Each time you cycle through the four phases you will learn something new. It's just like that old Bits and Bites commercial: Next handful, a whole new ballgame. Rhonda Scharf is a certified speaking professional and president of ON THE RIGHT TRACK Training & Consulting. www.on-the-right-track.com Continued from page 6 Rhonda Scharf Writing Tips By George Pearson Use fewer words to express your thoughts. • At this point in time becomes now. • In the near future becomes soon. • Due to the fact that becomes because. • The fact of the matter is be- comes the fact is – or is deleted. Simply state the fact. • With regard to becomes regarding. • In terms of becomes concerning. Also . . . • advance planning • former graduate • final outcome • end result • major milestone • completely eliminate • new innovation • until such time as • twelve noon • close scrutiny

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