Get the best people you can, and treat them right. They will have more impact on the outcome of your project than you will. That said, the project manager is the single most important determinate of project success.

Make sure everyone on the project knows what to do. Once they know, start measuring progress. Remember; you can’t control what you can’t measure. Make sure promises made are promises kept.

Keep your schedule as simple as possible. There is no shame in tracking non-linear, multi-faceted functions off schedule. Use the best tool for the job – spreadsheet/database.

The schedule is indispensable for project management, but a complex, difficult to maintain schedule will be of little use. Large, cumbersome schedules require more effort to develop and maintain, and provide very little return. As a rule of thumb, try to keep the number of activities of the Master Schedule to less than 3000.

Involve your customer in your project as soon as possible, but do not let them control your project. Requirements yes, direction no. Remember, no surprises for you or for your stakeholders.