Introduction

When the sponsor has approved the project plan, the project manager must make sure that the team gets to work. The tasks that have no predecessors must start immediately. It is not automatic. The project manager must make sure that the leaders of the first tasks are all ready to go and do, in fact, start. As the tasks are approaching completion, the project manager must make sure that the successor task teams are ready to go, and do start working. Tasks leaders who are not scheduled to start their tasks until the project is well underway may lose track of their start date unless the project manager keeps them well connected to the project.

The project manager keeps him- or herself well connected to the project by visiting with task teams who 1) have just finished their task, 2) are currently active, 3) are successor teams to the currently active teams. This visiting, discussing activities, and providing assistance with problem solving is called walk-about management, which is part of the project manager's full-time project management job.

Holding milestone meetings and continuously updating the working Gantt charts, supported by frequent status reports, also are a project manager's responsibilities. He or she must keep all the task team members, the sponsor, and other project stakeholders continuously connected to the project.