Blog homeI have done a great deal of work as a project manager within some of the UK’s leading tour operators and airlines. In the majority of projects you start with a deadline (normally based around how the UK travel seasons are structured - but occasionally around financial year projections)….. so you have this amazing desire, as a project manager, to make sure people get their projects delivered on time. Indeed, as a project manager, you take pride in ensuring deadlines are met.
If you even begin to look like you are not going to make a deadline - you have a couple of choices - either you reduce the scope of the project you are working on - or you create some reason that would be commercially acceptable to the “business” why you can’t meet a timeline you had previously said was OK (this is basically saving face). Both are rubbish frankly.
Since becoming the “boss” (yikes!) of my own business I tend to look at deadlines slightly differently. When you are the person creating the need for a deadline all the rules change. As the boss I really want us to do work in a timely manner. This is easy when it is client work…. they tend to tell us about their deadlines… indeed - deadlines tend to become these horrible guillotines that hang over our necks - waiting to drop at any moment that we slip up.
However, when it is our own internal projects - what happens if we slip up?
Anyway, I have a solution (works for me anyway!)
Last year we were struggling with a new release of our TourCMS system - we were being diverted by client work (however client work brings in money, so difficult to turn down - besides I like my clients….. (double yikes - I know most of them read my blog!!!)) - so I published (to our product blog) a date that we would have a new release ready for…. as a result of publishing the date we had to keep it it. Hells bells - we missed it by 2 months - not a bad score by travel IT - but not something our clients were really happy with - nor was I actually. (They are still trading, we are still trading, time to move on)
So this year I decide that we are going to go and exhibit at the Travel Technology Show (London, early Feb 2008)…. but we are completely disorganised when it comes to offline marketing. In the norm people find out about us online…. so offline marketing is a new world for us.
So - 2 more weeks to go to get our offline marketing organised - basically from scratch….. I didn’t realise quite how complex it can be. In between Health & Safety audits (yes, we like this kind of thing in the UK) and more forms than would be acceptable in Asia…..
To summarise - if you are running a small business - and you want to keep to a deadline - publish it to the world! That will certainly focus the mind! Yes - we will have our offline marketing bumf organised in the next 3 weeks - and today managed to redesign our website….
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