5 common project management mistakes and how to avoid them
Why do projects fail? A project can fail for a number of reasons. Every project, large or small, has moving parts that can make or break an initiative. In general, it's not a single major catastrophe that derails a viable project. In many cases, it's small deviations and naive mistakes that can leave teams scrambling to bring a once-promising initiative to fruition.
So what are the main mistakes made by project managers? From resource planning, to project scope and risk management, there are many things project managers need to consider when planning and executing tasks.
In this article, we reveal five common project management mistakes. And we explain how to avoid them from the outset.
1. Poor resource planning is detrimental to project results
Your resources are vital and, for the most part, limited. Strategic resource management is not only crucial to the health of a project, but also to the health of an organization. What's more, companies are often competing for resources (people, money, equipment, etc.), so project managers need to be strategic in their resource allocation efforts.
Poor resource planning occurs when project managers fail to see the big picture. Here are just a few examples of the difficulties teams can encounter as a result of an ineffective resource planning process.
- Unbalanced work loads (for example, one team member is at 95% capacity while another is at 30%, due to excessive work assignment to one of the two collaborators. This can also lead to burnout and staff turnover).
- Unavailable resources (deadlines are affected if resource availability is not properly taken into account).
- Inflated budgets (the cost of overtime, outside contractors and other unforeseen expenses can accumulate with a poor resource management process).
How to improve resource planning:
Find a tool that allows you to plan resources with features such as Gantt charts, team calendars, dashboards, etc. Most of the time, poor resource management is a symptom of poor visibility on workloads, availability, etc. You can't plan for what you need.
You can't plan what you can't see, so highlight team workloads and bandwidth with a resource-driven project management tool.
2. Not having a risk management plan can have serious consequences
As PMI points out, only 27% of companies claim to have a risk management plan "always" in place. That's not very many. Especially when you think of all the events that often go wrong in everyday life.
For example, you may leave home earlier than usual if you have a job interview or an important presentation. You know there's a good chance you'll arrive late if there's traffic congestion or delays with public transport.
Similarly, many people have an emergency fund in case of job loss or illness. They don't expect or anticipate this type of situation. But they do have a plan for moving forward in case it does. The latter is also an example of risk management.
It should be the same for project management. Consider Murphy's Law and assume that everything that can go wrong will go wrong - so plan for it.
How to create a risk management plan:
Assess project risks from the outset. Identify project risks and develop a risk management plan. This way, you can minimize last-minute confusion and costly changes. In the event of a problem, there's a documented protocol for how the team will pivot and chart a new course.
A project management tool with robust, cloud-based document management can host such documentation, creating a centralized "single source of truth" and a reference point to return to.
3. Limited project visibility creates chaos
Poor visibility is a project killer. It impacts almost every aspect of an initiative.
Poor project visibility...
- leads to poor resource planning
- creates confusion around tasks and responsibilities
- prevents project managers from understanding employee performance
- can lead to misalignment with customers
In project management, visibility refers to the accessibility of information. Do your team members know where to go to obtain key project resources? As project manager, do you have a tool that lets you see who's working on what, and what the deadlines are?
These considerations may seem trivial, but low visibility on a project will impact on the flow of information, the accountability of team members, and may mean that customers are left in the dark about the status of the project.
How to increase project visibility:
Increase visibility and improve the way you manage all your projects, from the resource and task planning phase to the customer feedback phase.
Wrike gives teams an overview of workloads, task status and real-time updates, so you're always in the know. Customized color-coded task updates allow your team members to adapt their status to their workflow. What's more, external clients can be added to projects in Wrike, shortening review cycles (i.e. putting an end to endless feedback loops).
4. Goal drift can cause your project deadlines to skyrocket
Goal drift. This term can strike fear into the hearts of any project manager. Goal drift is the phenomenon of slowly altering the scope of a project in response to customer demands, feedback processes or other factors.
It can occur when the project scope is poorly defined, or when project managers are eager to accommodate and accept changes that were not originally part of the project brief. According to PMI, nearly 50% of projects are affected by goal drift.
How to avoid goal drift :
First of all, determine the causes of this phenomenon in your projects. Are you skipping steps early in the project lifecycle when it comes to establishing scope boundaries (such as drawing up effective specifications)? Does your customer management process consist of simply saying "yes" to everything, even if it goes beyond the scope of the project?
Combat goal drift by specifying project parameters from the outset. Let your customer know what is (and isn't) part of the project, and discuss it with him or her from the outset and on a regular basis to avoid goal creep.
5. Inefficient processes and workflows are the enemy of productivity
Consider your workload and all the resources you need to complete the project. Now think about the inefficient processes that are making your work take twice as long. Perhaps your project team has a confusing process for receiving requests. Maybe they're spread across so many different applications that effective communication is almost impossible. Maybe you bill for your time, but can't integrate your preferred time tracking system with your other project management tools.
Inefficient workflows can slow down project progress, divert attention from key tasks and draw team members into unbillable tasks.team members into non-billable tasks that could be automated or carried out using pre-configured templates.
How to increase workflow efficiency:
Eliminate inefficient workflows with Wrike. From time management to receiving requests, everything becomes less time-consuming, allowing you to concentrate more on project execution. Prioritize important work instead of logging administrative tasks and chasing requests.
Avoid failure with a flexible, intuitive project management tool
Studies have shown a link between high-performance projects and the use of digital project management tools - and it's hardly surprising. Wrike is a cloud-based task management tool that enables project managers to execute their tasks from start to finish.
Project failure is common, but it's not inevitable. By using flexible, intuitive tools, your project team can stay on budget and on time every time.
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Article translated from French