Being proactive means to act to gain control over a situation before it happens not to react after the fact. It is actually the opposite of the passive approach when people are only waiting for something to happen. What does proactivity mean to Project Managers? This question was recently asked by the Project Smart website where an article describing the three most important proactive steps in project management was published.
1. Proactive customer engagement
Every Project Manager should do everything possible to engage his project customers. He needs them to remain active in the decision making process of important matters within the project, to share important information, confirm testing results ... To do this, he can give his customers regular status tasks including, to test something, to report back, etc. If he is not getting an appropriate response, he then can ask his customer's superior for help.
2. Proactive risk management
Many managers avoid taking risks because they fear what may happen. A number of problems really can be predicted so you could prepare for them. Typical examples include problems related to the technology you are using or the people who work for you. So let's start with these problems. What will you do when your server goes down or when an important member of your team leaves?
3. Proactive budget management
Many projects tend to exceed their budgets. Insufficiently proactive managers, or passive managers are at blame for budget overruns. A Project Manager should be familiar with the basic tools for monitoring his budget and forecasting costs. He should be updating the data of his project's budget weekly.
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