Keys to Project Success - Using Audits and Reviews as a Best
Project Management Practice
In recent years, many companies are putting increased emphasis
on project management techniques as a result of lessons learned
on past project performance. After experiencing project delays,
overruns, missed quality goals, communication barriers, "scope
creep", and a general perception of projects being out of
control, these companies are scrambling to implement good
Project Management practices to prevent these types of problems.
As part of these best practices, many companies have established
project review and audit programs, periodically reviewing the
status of projects and their alignment with individual and
corporate goals. While worthwhile, in many cases these reviews
and audits are performed by senior managers with either a stake
in the project outcome or no real experience and training in
project management. Several companies have found that these
management reviews have not succeeded because senior management
and project managers may be speaking a different language and
viewing the projects from completely different perspectives.
Audits and reviews require preparation to be fruitful.
Pre-defined project review and audit protocols can help focus
both the project manager and the reviewer/auditor on the
important aspects of the project. Basing these protocols on
proven philosophies from the Project Management Institute
(PMI