As the Project Manager, your two key responsibilities are to create an excellent project plan and to manage your team to execute that plan successfully. If you have had extensive project management training or if you are in the bowels of a super-huge project right now, it is very possible that you have lost sight of these two basic accountabilities. However, if all you focus on as a project manager is having an excellent plan and managing your team excellently to it, you will have success in your field far above your peers. Here is a simple checklist to help you with each responsibility:

Create an Excellent Project Plan

Start planning as if you were already finished. Put yourself at the place where you think you should be at the end of the project. Imagine what is taking place, what date it is and what it took you to get here. This is the basis for your project plan.

With your leads, in a one hour work session, draft a 1-page project schedule in which you sequentially map out the main 5 to 7 (12 maximum) types of work that your team will be doing through the course of the project, such as "Plan the project; Understand current process; Gather requirements for To-Be process; Identify and Prioritize Gaps" and so on.

With your leads, in one or more working sessions, prepare a 'detailed' project plan based on the schedule framework. Include tasks, the name of the person responsible for task completion, and the required task completion date.

oClarify the deliverable(s) of each task. Provide, or be prepared to provide, a sample of the deliverable whenever possible.

oInsert a buffer period into all your time estimates. This will leave you some leeway in case a scheduled task takes longer to complete than anticipated. Recommend minimum 20% buffer.

oObtain agreement from each of your leads to the plan, and to their deliverables and due dates. If one of your leads raises an issue, consider it, and either adjust the plan or make a note of the assumptions you are making which mitigate or negate that issue.

oCommunicate the plan, schedule, and underlying assumptions to all 'assignees' and to the Sponsors. This not only shares important information, it also makes the plan and due dates public, which is a motivator.

Manage Your Team to the Plan

oWatch out for scope creep. Adding little things to the plan may seem small at the time but can add up quickly and put you way off schedule.

oConduct team "Status Check-In" meetings no less than once a week. Have each lead report the status of their plan items exactly as follows:

o"All my (team's) deliverables are on schedule except tasks 'A' and 'D'.

oFor 'A', to get back on track, my plan is 'xyz'.

oFor 'D', to get back on track, my plan is 'pdq'.

oDrop in on each of your leads at least once a week, and make sure that when you leave they know two things:

oYou know and appreciate they are important to the project's success, and

oYou know whether their work is on or off track.

oEstablish a simple issue management process, and monitor it continuously.

oTell your team members to let you know as soon as anything at all starts to concern them; you want advance notice, not surprises.

oBe prepared to delegate the actions needed to resolve whatever issues pop up. Your team members will get most of the actions, you will get most of the decisions, and your sponsors and stakeholders will get the rest.

It can be as simple as this! As you can see, the actions are not difficult. It is doing them consistently and diligently that is the challenge. If you're not convinced, make this a one month challenge to yourself to make these two activities your top project management priorities. My bet is you will be pleasantly surprised by your results.