Task delivery is the ‘doing’; the magic that happens between planning and monitoring.
Monitoring ensures the ‘doing’ remains on track and aligned with the project goals. Confirmation that the project remains a business priority and aligned with business goals also falls within monitoring.
Task delivery and monitoring lifecycle
Task delivery and monitoring is an ongoing cycle of doing, checking on progress and feedback into the Planning stage and to the Sponsor.
Task delivery
Some organisations will have dedicated PMs who oversee rather than do. In a small to medium sized business PMs and owners will be delivering tasks alongside oversight.
Monitoring - ongoing
However you break up your project there will always be a need for day-to-day monitoring of some kind. As a PM your role isn’t just to check a kanban or update a spreadsheet, monitoring team behaviour and motivation is crucial for team wellbeing. As a team member you need to keep an eye on your actions and their deadlines.
Planning feedback
The output of the Sponsor review meeting includes an agreement on deliverables for the next delivery cycle and continuous improvement changes.
The Sponsor review outputs feed into a planning session (see my planning posts/blog). The planning session aim is for the project team to agree actions and breakdown tasks for the new delivery cycle.
Cyclic approach
The use of a cyclic delivery process may sound familiar?
I apply a hybrid approach to project management and pull in elements of Agile and the Quality Management (ISO 9001)/Deming Plan-Do-Check-Act principles.
I chose this approach to ensure the following:
- Work is broken down into manageable tasks and timelines for a busy team.
- Short cycles of work help keep a team engaged.
- Changes to milestones, aims and priorities are easier to manage in the plan and with the team.
- Team members are given an opportunity to be visible and show their success, improving ownership of tasks.
- Continuous improvement of project delivery techniques and team performance.