Project Management

Westlund Consulting Project Management Approach

Projects come in all different shapes and sizes. On time and on budget completion of your project demands agile delivery of processes aligned with your unique business strategy. At Westlund Consulting, we apply Project Management Professional & Lean Six Sigma methodologies to projects – both large and small. Additionally, we come to projects with a unbiased and objective approach to meet the needs of your project — and your company.

Our Action Steps Are:

1. Develop a pragmatic strategy

Westlund Consulting’s first step is to identify the problem you face and help you define the vision for a solution. This process is critical to ensure all team members have solution buy-in, share a common understanding of the project, and agree upon its specific goals.

2. Define scope

Together, we define the exact beginning and end points of your project. We analyze options; develop resources, time, and cost estimates; and agree on deliverables, all of which help prevent costly and unnecessary project expansion, commonly called “scope creep.”  In short, this frames the project and keeps your company designated assets on task.

3. Develop business justification

Few businesses invest without considering their ROI (return on investment). Westlund Consulting partners proactively with you to determine your project’s total value – from cost savings, to increased sales, to quicker turnaround, to creating a competitive advantage.

4. Design robust plans and schedules

Westlund Consulting creates thorough plans that serve as the major guides for your entire project. These plans link the project working parts, interdependent activities and personnel, internally and across third parties. Accurate input enables Westlund Consulting to coordinate interconnections and identify bottlenecks or other potential problems that need to be overcome.

5. Mitigate risks

To help you avoid fighting daily crises, Westlund Consulting explores and pinpoints project risks early. We determine the magnitude of these risks, probability of these risks, as well as determine how to avoid or quickly solve them.

6. Drive plan execution

Even the best plans hold no value if their execution falls short of the expectation. This is especially true with a more complex the project and multiple, varied stakeholders. Our project team works on-site and accepts responsibility for managing budgets and schedules, proactively tracking and resolving issues, collecting project metrics, and documenting best practices.

7. Coordinate and enhance communications

Functional silos or time zones do not impact our ability to communicate. Westlund Consulting creates a formalized communication structure that defines who needs to know what, when, and how. Additionally, this is further supported by an outline of project-specific channels for sharing information. Transparency is central to this communication structure, so the project team can more effectively agree upon goals, raise and resolve issues, and become a goal focused, resolved group across functions and facilities.

8. Build team cohesion

Westlund Consulting professionals use seasoned coaching and facilitation skills to work through conflict and political pressures to reach common ground to support project goals. Unbiased and objective, Westlund Consulting can gel personality types to a consensus in support of your project, which is connected to and underlines your company strategy and mission.