Have you thought of a product that can be sold especially for your needs? A lot of us have experience not having the right products for our needs and a lot of entrepreneurs turned this into opportunity. One of them is Bryony Farmer which we had the pleasure of having a chat with. See more (Hyperlink Interview no. 1).

A lot of innovative inventions started with someone’s need being catered to. We shouldn’t be afraid on taking risk on products or projects when there is clearly a need in the market. Prince2 defined that a lot of projects fail due to lack of business justification, products not being defined, and failure to involve customers, and stakeholders throughout the project. (insert hyperlink to article about acting on business idea). When starting up a project it is important for you to clearly specify the project objectives, the benefits of undertaking the project, the scope, the individuals involved and the project delivery. Creating contingency plans on potential problems that may arise in project initiation is a wise step.

The project manager should be planning, delegating the work, monitoring the progress of the work against plan, and controlling the response to any problems and opportunities. Controlling the aspects of project variables timescale, costs, quality, scope, project benefits, and risks.

“All projects commissioned by an organisation is to deliver outputs/products that contributes to the organisations strategic objectives. “

Pareto principle also known as the 80/20 rule states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes according to Vilfredo Pareto. We should see conflict as a challenge and opportunity to grow. Do not be discouraged instead keep in mind that identifying conflicts have probably saved us to an even bigger problem we may face.  

“The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak, becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong.” – Thomas Carlyle

We should remind ourselves that Thomas Edison failed thousand times before creating the lightbulb. He responded to failure saying “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that wont work”. From 1879 his invention is still being used nowadays in every household, and streets because he has not given up and remained positive.

Author: Alysson Aquino, ICO Project Worker (International Communities Organisaiton, London.