Wouldn't life be easy if you just had one project to which you contribute to or manage? For most people, work is more complex, although most days we wish it wasn't!

With responsibilities in more than one project or initiative, you have more deadlines and milestones to meet. You have more clients, more vendors, more requirements, more costs to track, more information to share and more documents to file.

No matter the project size or expected complexity, you want:

• A good project plan

• Everyone involved to know what's going on and what they need to do

• Problems to be handled and not hidden

• Communications to be systematic without cracks, like e-mail, through which important messages and tasks might disappear

• Good documentation

• The project completed on time and within budget

• Results that matter

By operating within the same structure for every project from pre-sale to testing and closeout, you will create efficiencies that will capture more profit from every project.

If you don't have a documented, defined methodology for project execution, use the chart above as a starting point (mold it to your business). This specific methodology has guided more than 2,500 projects ranging in value from a few thousand dollars to $11 million. It has enabled our company to grow from 2 people to 150 people and it has earned repeat business from some of the world's largest and most demanding companies.