The 03 Phases of Social Project Execution

As we mentioned in the previous article “Phases of the Social Project“, during the execution phase, for Umanitar Academy, as a global social enterprise, the focus is on the exercise of what was planned. In other words, this is the moment when all the processes defined in the planning are executed.

But no matter how efficient the planning is, there will always be unforeseen events and changes of course during the execution phase. Therefore, it is essential that the team is ready to deal with changes, incorporating the new goals with fluidity and avoiding a major impact on deadlines and final results.

For this reason, the Execution Phase of the Social Project is divided into 03 cyclical steps, that is, steps that repeat themselves several times until the completion of the project:

PHASE 01: HYPOTHESIS

Whenever we start something, until we can prove the effectiveness of what we have done, we consider that we start from a hypothesis.

A project always starts from hypotheses that will be tested, throughout the life cycle of the project. Some will be correct and some will not. For the process to achieve maximum efficiency it is essential to ensure that all hypotheses have been monitored, evaluated, and grounded.

When this happens, the manager can make sound decisions that have higher chances of success. When a hypothesis is not monitored the project runs a high risk of walking in circles without understanding “where they are going wrong”.

Assuming that all planned or re-planned activities are only hypotheses until they are monitored and evaluated is the best way to ensure those project decisions will always seek maximum support.

PHASE 02: MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Monitoring and Evaluation take place all the time because this is the way to ensure that the project is going well. The documents designed for this phase should take precedence by measuring performance, as they are essential for the decision-making of the project manager.

These documents involve control charts, monitoring of performance indicators, corrective and preventive actions, among other metrics. For the most part, this phase deals with the validation of hypotheses and progress towards the management plan but also serves to demonstrate the value of the project and give transparency to stakeholders.

PHASE 03: DOCUMENTATION

The documentation ensures that the efforts obtained by monitoring and Evaluation will not be in vain.

Data represents a series of facts, concepts, or statistics that can be analysed to produce information. Information, in turn, is the data aggregated in a way that produces purpose and meaning for the organization.

The documentation, therefore, will serve to:

a) capture knowledge: create repositories of information structured in documents, memos, reports, presentations, manuals, and articles, which can be easily redeemed according to demand;

b) improve access to knowledge: promote the facilitation of access and transfer between people;

c) value the available knowledge: some organizations are including intellectual capital in their balance sheets, while others take advantage of the asset to generate new forms of revenue, reduce costs and innovate.

This information was extracted from the Official Umanitar Academy Workbook.

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