Here are among the project management mistakes that most managers experience.
1. Assigning the wrong person to manage the project.
A company that employs a project manager who lacks the experience can expect the possibility of failure for the project. Although a neophyte project manager can learn the ropes while on the job, the process of learning the tricks may mean failure. It is always best to hire the most qualified person to manage a project.
2. Lack of resources and skills.
Inadequate resources needed for the project can cause failure. Likewise, even if you have a complete number of members in your team but none of them has the skills needed for a particular task, it will be hard for the project to succeed. Poor resource matching will also give an adverse effect. Ensure that you have all you need before starting any project.
3. Doing everything yourself.
Project managers should listen to the suggestions of their members. When a project manager ignores his team and discourages them from sharing their ideas and suggestions because he thinks he is a lot better than them, members tend to keep quiet. Project managers need to be open to suggestions and learn how to delegate the tasks and show that he trusts the abilities of his team.
4. Failure to communicate properly.
Among the project management pitfalls that project managers encounter is the inability to communicate to their members. When misunderstanding happens, everybody points fingers and blame each other.
5. Poor project initiation.
A kick-off meeting is necessary in starting any project so that everyone in the team will have a clear idea of the project goals as well as their roles and responsibilities. During the initial meeting, ensure that the members understand and know what you expect of them. Include milestones and deadlines to the agenda.
6. Lack of clear objective.
Poor planning resulting in a poorly identified objective can impact the success of any project. One of the issues in project management is the inability to produce an objective that is easily understood. There is also a need for success measures. Clarify and ensure that the members understand all they need to know at the start.
7. Wrong estimation of time and budget.
Oftentimes we go overboard when it comes to estimating the budget and time of a project. Get expert advice if you haven’t done this project in the past. A bottom-up budgeting approach is recommended to arrive at reasonable estimates.
8. Failure to manage project scope.
Changes in scope are a common cause for failure in any project. There is a need to agree upon the project scope during the planning stage. There must also be a procedure to handle requests for any changes in scope and the proposal must follow a criteria so that its impact on the schedule and budget can be assessed.
9. Micromanaging projects.
New project managers usually act like police checking and enforcing the team for projects and updates. Instead of babysitting the team, lay down everything during the regularly scheduled meetings so that they can update and show progress of their work.
10. Not following a process.
Most project start with optimism only to end up not knowing where they are because they don’t have a clear idea of where they are going and what they are going to do. Create a work schedule that shows who is responsible for what and when are these tasks needed and should be finished. Don’t forget the milestones so they know how far they are to the finish line.
These project management mistakes are common that sometimes it is easy to remember them. Check out Nutcache’s project management program for more.
