NFIB

Is everyone as busy as you are? You can count on it. As a result, they're likely to make mistakes, omissions and other foul-ups, even when they're working on your projects. When you're responsible for results, the errors of others can damage your reputation, cut into profits, alienate a client or even cost you your job. Assume that all the people taking part in your project will be so busy with other aspects of their work and private lives that mistakes will occur at every step of the way. The two operative words in the last sentence are "will occur." Note that it did not say: "may occur." In fact, you can count on mistakes being made. The only means you have to avoid or minimize these are to adhere to the following throughout the project:

Before a project begins, meet with every person involved, both as a group and individually, to set guidelines for exactly what needs to be accomplished and by when. These guidelines should be drawn up in writing and agreed upon by each person. The guidelines should contain: deadlines for various stages of the project, the ultimate deadline, specific goals of the project (i.e., what determines a successful conclusion), overall finances and times of payout for ongoing expenses, responsibilities of each individual and each team, etc. The more specific you are when writing these guidelines, the better.

If one or more teams will be working on your project, it's best that one person on each team be responsible for all other workers. This person should coordinate the work of others based on the written guidelines drawn up before work commences.

When the project is underway, you need to establish and follow an ongoing system that enables you to check and double-check on each person's progress. Never assume that work will be done on time -- or even done at all! If you wait until the last minute to check on an important cost estimate or blueprint, for instance, you may be let down and have to go to an important meeting without the information you need. Instead, write down for yourself a detailed timeline of when things need to be completed. Use this to check days or weeks in advance to make sure that everyone is aware of upcoming deadlines and will have their work completed in time.

Then -- and this is a key point -- use your timeline to double-check with the individuals involved to make sure they're on schedule. Do not assume after the first time you check with them that they will continue to work full speed on your project. With the stresses involved in life today, both on the job and off, a person may be pulled away from the project at hand and not even bother to tell you about it. To avoid this, contact the person a second time, perhaps several days after your first contact, to double-check progress. This second check-up should be timed so that people can correct mistakes, or get back to work on the project, without delay to the overall schedule.

When one of your projects goes wrong because someone else made a mistake, you may be held accountable even though you seemingly did everything right. Don't be afraid of irritating others by being persistent. When you contact people, whether to check or double-check on their progress, remain calm, be professional and remember that it's your project you're talking about. Use your written timeline to give everyone enough notice to correct mistakes or to get back to work, and you will have done all you can to assure success.