“It’s not a mistake. They don’t make mistakes. They don’t do random. There’s always an objective. Always a target.” Nicky Parsons
Nicky Parsons is one of my favorite characters in the Bourne movie series. She is an operative that coordinates logistical operations in the field.
During Bourne Supremacy the team is gathered looking at surveillance video of an airport where Jason Bourne. Seemingly, Bourne makes a mistake when he looks right at the camera and is identified. One of the analysts comments that is his first mistake, not really knowing who Jason Bourne is.
At that moment, Nicky who is being brought in to assist walks in and says, “It’s not a mistake. They don’t make mistakes. They don’t do random. There’s always an objective. Always a target.”
This is one of my favorite lines by Nicky.
After making this bold statement, Nicky is asked by Deputy Director Pamela Landy, “The objectives and targets always came from us. Who’s giving them to him now?”
Parsons replies, “Scary version? He is.”
I wonder what it would be like if Parsons were your project coordinator. How would she handle a project from start to finish?
I think there are a few things Nicky would do to make your project go smoothly without attracting a lot of attention. Here is the Nicky Parson’s field guide to Project Management.
Planning
Nicky understands how important making a solid plan is to any project. She will gather all the key players from her team and from the client in a kick-off meeting designed to find out the true goals and curate a list of tasks.
Nicky knows how to deliver a client kick-off meeting. She will identify the objectives of the project and outline the steps to attain those goals.
Task Management
Nicky knows how to keep a project on track. Task management is crucial to keeping a project on point. Nicky knows she has tons of options.
She might use Trello which is full of boards and from which you can build tasks into each card. Any good project management program will have a task management element.
Nicky would make repeatable checklists that she can use for each project including onboarding, development, quality assurance, pre-launch, launch, and post-launch.
The checklists are documented so they can be used again and make speed and accuracy an important element of any project.
Collaboration
I believe Nicky would employ any number of tools to keep collaboration front and center. There are two types of collaboration, client collaboration, and team collaboration.
For client collaboration, Nicky might use something like Zoom, Skype, or Google Hangouts.
Zoom is ideal because she can send a link to the customer and the client doesn’t have to create an account.
For collaboration with the team, Nicky might turn to Slack as well as Google Hangouts or Slack to visit with team members.
For document management, Nicky may use Google Drive through her company’s G Suite account, Dropbox, or Box. There are many places she can store documents needed for website content as well inter-team documents.
Wrike does a fantastic job of breaking down Video Conference apps.
Onboarding and Offboarding
I am convinced that Nicky would employ a comprehensive onboarding and offboarding sequence. She understands the importance of Onboarding her clients to a project as well as Offboarding them when the project is completed.
Learn more about Onboarding and Offboarding.
Reporting
Nicky, I think, would be meticulous at giving regular reports during the process. She understands that reporting is an important part of the communication process with the client. Giving regular updates on the progress helps keep the client at ease with the pace of the project and keeps them informed at each step.
PM Software
Nicki understands that using an existing software program to manage a project is a cost effective measure. Nicki understands that reinventing the wheel is time-consuming and costly, especially for a small team. Here are a few that I think Nicki would consider.
Zoho Project
Zoho is a suite of tools much like G Suite (Google) which has all of the various programs to run an efficient business. Zoho Projects help you manage those projects.
Basecamp
Basecamp is the Grandaddy of all cloud-based Project Management tools. Originally known as 37Signals, the company was founded in 1999 and has been the leader in PM software.
Asana
Asana is simply one of the most popular and easy to use cloud-based Project Management tools. It has everything you need to manage a project and the starting plan for an individual is free and allows up to 15 team members.
Trello
Trello is a fantastic task-based tool for Project Management. The software has tons of powerful features and integrates with popular tools such as Toggl, Slack, and Google Drive. Trello is easily customizable, and WP Curve has documented how it used Trello.
Freedamp
Freedcamp is extremely powerful with all the features needed for the best price available, free. Recently, review site G2 Crowd rated it as the best Project Management Software for Small Businesses.
Conclusion
Project management is an essential part of any project. Planning, coordinating, and executing with the precision of a Nicky Parsons will help your project be a success.
What do you use to help manage your projects?
