8 COMMON PROJECT MANAGEMENT MISTAKES — AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
Project management is the basis of the success of your business. While some unforeseen circumstances may hinder the success of your project management, avoiding the avoidable can highly mitigate the chances of failure. It is best to learn from others’ mistakes, and that is why we have made a list of the top 8 common mistakes that make your project management inefficient.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT MISTAKES:
Not realizing the need for an experienced project manager
A project manager is like the engine to the project. If you do not hire a project manager who has had experience or at least vast knowledge in the kind of project he has to manage, there is a high chance of mishandling the project.
The projects should always be built on goals rather than processes. If the goals of a project are not clearly defined before embarking on it, the situation will get chaotic very soon.
Frequent changing of plans:
Every project has a plan A, plan B, and so on for its success. But it is not feasible to keep swinging to-and-fro between them.
Insufficient resources:
Be it the lack of the right number of skilled members, insufficient knowledge sources, or budgetary imbalance — insufficient resources become the greatest bottleneck in project management.
Communication gap:
When many people are working on a particular project from the technical department to the group members, stakeholders, leaders, managers, etc., there is a high chance of a communication gap developing in them.
Scope creep issues:
This is a very common problem when it comes to project management, where the changes in the project begin with a small change, and these small changes pile up into a seemingly never-ending demand of changes making the project a wreck.
Not making use of technology:
You may be old school and feel like you do not need high-end software applications for project management. But the truth is that not using a good project management software application makes you lag and in turn the process inefficient.
It is good to have confidence in your team but overestimating anything leads to disappointment. The major problems associated with over-estimation include impractical deadlines, unachievable goals, and underestimating budgetary needs.
HOW TO AVOID RISKS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
While the risks mentioned above may feel too real and scary, there are simple things to consider if you want to avoid them.
Hire an experienced project manager
A project manager specializing in the kind of projects you are planning to work on. Every project is unique but having some knowledge about the basics of project management in previous projects greatly gives you an edge
Have crystal clear goals and objectives
Your goals should be what your project is built on. Your methodology may change, resources may change, a bottom line may be twisted, but your objective should never change.
Never look back at plans that do not work
Stick to a particular plan until you can ensure that it does not work. Once you are sure that plan A has failed, simply chuck it out of the window and start afresh with plan B. The worst plan is to keep swinging between 2 plans.
Have a practical idea of resources
Having extra resources is better than pausing a project to the want for resources. Therefore, resource planning is crucial and depends greatly on the person’s experience. This is why choosing an experienced project manager may prevent the bottleneck of insufficient resources.
Communicate across all channels
Whenever a decision is taken, or an order is given, every person associated with the project must be aware of it. This prevents any clash of ideas or methodology in the future. Also, try and document the communication in emails or text messages so that any miscommunication is avoided.
Define the scope at the very outset
To prevent the scope creep issue, you must define the scope of a particular project at the very outset. Having fixed boundaries to the scope does limit the scope of the project and ensures that the project does conclude.
Use a project management software
The complex projects with a very grand set motive broken down into hundreds of actionable steps cannot be handled efficiently and quickly by the human brain. Stress a little less, and leave the major part of the Management to the project management software
Projects are often planned in an idyllic condition where real-world limitations are ignored. Practically, there may be a tonne of challenges that you might have to incur in the process of project completion. Keeping in mind a rough estimate of these hurdles helps manage the project better
WHY PROJECT RISK ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT:
Risk analysis and management is the practical application of the idea of “be prepared for the worst” As mentioned earlier, most projects are planned in an idyllic setting, but the real world is not ideal.
Risk analysis is a procedure that continues throughout the life of the project. It identifies the loopholes in the particular stage of the project and its risks. The risks may not be present at the moment of the analysis, but the analyser extends the current pattern of the project path and “foretells” any threats to the project objectives. This way, one can mitigate the risks associated with the project because if they arise, the team will be prepared to handle them.
PROJECT RISK ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT BENEFITS:
Project Risk Analysis and Management offers a wide range of benefits to the project’s success. Here are the top 5 such benefits that you can reap by applying the basics of Project Risk Analysis and Management:
The project plan may seem fool-proof, but there may be many loopholes detected once the Project Risk Analysis is done. If detected at the very outset of the project, these loopholes greatly mitigate the problems that may arise later!
If there is a sudden risk factor detected during the project that may pose a threat, later, the team of experts can start working on it beforehand. This way, you are prepared to face a problem even if you are not sure it will arise or not. Furthermore, this sense of preparation gives you and your teammates a lot of confidence in the project.
Decision-making is a continuous process throughout the journey of a project. With every decision made, there are some pros and cons. Risk analysis helps to pre-determine the risks associated with the choice you make and therefore helps you choose better.
Alleviated Disappointments
When project resources are over-estimated concerning the timeline, budget, or goals, it leads to disappointments. Risk analysis helps you define a practical bottom line and thus gives you a fair idea of the real world.
Effective risk management ensures a higher chance of success for the project that you undertake.
PROJECT RISK ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT MODEL:
A project risk analysis and management model or PRAM is a flow of activities or a plan of action chosen to identify and eliminate the risks associated with a project. Though each unique project may have its own set of requirements for a model, some universal models act as frameworks on which all the other models are built. The essence of all these models is to break up the risk analysis and Management into smaller phases to simplify their implementation. One such model with 5 phases is elaborated upon below.
PROJECT RISK ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT PHASES
A simple 5 step model can be used to analyse and manage the risks associated with project management:
Identification — The first step is to identify the risk associated with a particular project stage.
Analysis — The next step is to analyse how severe the risk is and if it needs immediate attention and if you have enough resources to manage the risk.
Coming up with solutions — Once the threat is identified, you need to develop all the possible solutions to the problem.
Implementation of the solution — You must analyse and implement the best possible solution out of all the solutions worked out.
Analysis of outcome — It is crucial to analyse the effect of the solution on the performance of your project to ensure its effectiveness.
PROJECT RISK ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Many tools are applied in the Project Risk Analysis and Management practices. The top three such tools are:
Root cause analysis:
As the name suggests, this tool analyses the root cause of the problem arising in the project. This is a great tool to solve a problem that has already arisen and helps you eliminate the very cause.
SWOT analysis:
The expansion of the acronym SWOT is-Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is the most popular tool implemented to analyse all the mentioned aspects of an option before implementing it.
Brainstorming:
This “tool” should never be underestimated. Whenever you have to deal with risks associated with the project, brainstorming in a group or as an individual helps you solve many problems.
A quick tip- make sure to keep a written record of whatever is going through your mind when you are brainstorming.
So, you see how your project is subject to many mistakes, but simple conscious efforts can help you avoid them and take your project to its desired conclusion.
Highbar Technocrat is one of the leading end-to-end IT solution providers for the Infrastructure, EC&O, Real Estate, and Power sectors. They are SAP Gold partner and offer a wide bouquet of digitally integrated solutions ranging from implementing SAP-based ERP solutions like RISE with S/4HANA, Cloud-based solutions to 5D BIM for mega infra-projects, RPA & IoT solutions, and many more. With an in-depth understanding and core competence of the construction & infrastructure industry, Highbar is the perfect blend of domain knowledge in the infrastructure business with a team that is well equipped to understand and relate to the requirements of the sector.
