Posted on Jun 12, 2021
7 Project Mistakes To Avoid When You Are The Project Manager
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Projects are tricky, time-bound, and complex. Moreover, there are a lot of moving parts here and there to manage it. That’s why approximately 70% of the organizations have suffered at least one project failure in their last 12 months.
I managed several multi-million dollar projects throughout my career journey, primarily for fast-moving consumer goods. One of my projects was to expand distribution to 39k additional outlets, adding 650 logistics and 750+ people. Other projects included brand launch campaigns, merchandising campaigns, business plan escalation, national conference, etc.
Some projects were successful, few of the projects were failures. Both dynamics helped to escalate my learning and showed some true colors of projects.
So, I thought to write down the biggest mistakes that you should avoid when managing a project.
#1 Some project managers do not care to understand the project mission.
It is called the mission statement of a project. Unfortunately, many project managers do not care to understand the meaning and often dive into the project without understanding the purpose.
For example, think of a project that plans to add 500 new retail stores to generate 4% revenue growth ‘year on year.’ Of course, many project managers will drive the project to attain the numbers. But, there might be more to it apart from the numbers.
First of all, they might miss the term ‘year on year,’ which means it has to be a sustainable growth. Second, to meet the numbers, they need to know how it was derived. And how the numbers will translate into other variables (workforce, timeline, budgets, etc.).
Without defining the broad mission statement, it is simply the execution of tasks.
As a planner, the project manager needs to understand and ask questions to clarify. Some people break it down into smaller goals or milestones. However, breaking it down to quantitative and qualitative terms is an essential part.
Once the project team knows the purpose, they can do better planning. Hence, a better execution, perhaps!
#2 Some project managers do not care to learn about similar projects of the past.
Some projects are a sequel of previous projects. Yet, many project managers do not dig deeper to understand the lessons learned.
And they suffer (whether the project becomes a success or a failure).
Learning about similar projects can facilitate clear understanding, provide direction, and give exposure.
When I started the earlier mentioned project, I went to meet the previous supervisor. I learned about market dynamics, studied project summary and conducted stakeholder interviews. Those steps immensely helped me throughout the project.
It can cut down the learning curve too.
Learning about the mistakes, success, challenges, and milestones from similar projects improves insights. Many projects fail because of not looking into the available works.
Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
#3 Projects fail due to the absence of process mapping and due to the presence of scope creep.
Understanding project objective provides a guideline for scope management. Scope-creep (considering too many scopes in one project) is one of the key reasons to fail. And the absence of process mapping makes it worst.
Every project should have a defined scope. In the initial stage of a project, the project team decides which are part of the scope and which are not. Once settled, it is easier to generate a process map to structure the project period.
Some projects have to consider too much scope due to stakeholders’ demands. It creates scope creep.
Inaccurate requirements (scope) gathering are one of the top-most reasons for a project failure. When it happens with inaccurate process mapping, the project is bound to fail.
So, avoid scope creep, and make sure to create a simple process mapping.
#4 Many projects fail to plan structured resource management & delegation.
Based on the project objectives, the resource management plan has to align. Shortage of resources will impact the success of the project.
According to the PMI ‘Pulse of the Profession — 2018’, 28% of project practitioners mentioned inaccurate cost estimation as one of the top three reasons for a project failure.
Some projects fail, even with proper resources.
One of the main reasons is improper delegation. Even with great team members, wrong assignments will dilute the efforts. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the delegation based on the strengths of the project members.
Once identified, a delegation chart with timeline, budget, and responsibility grid helps.
Another issue might be assigning a massive workload to some, while others have fewer loads. Burnout is real, and for projects, it is no exception.
#5 Micromanagement shoe.
Many projects fail because of micro-management.
A project manager does multi-tasking. Sometimes to make the progression faster, they intervene in others’ work. However, by doing so, they create confusion and demotivate the people. Plus, the project manager also falls behind in completing their tasks.
The success of a project depends on an enterprising spirit and delegation. However, when you start micro-managing, it negatively impacts the progression. It reduces efficiency and team motivation and breaks down the responsibility grid.
A confused project team with a micromanagement issue never achieves its core purpose.
Photo by Leon on Unsplash
#6 Irregular meetings and too-frequent meetings can both have negative impacts on the project.
Some project managers do not schedule regular feedback sessions. Some others do it too frequently.
If the feedback sessions are irregular, stakeholders might not get the due updates. If those are too often, the regular cycle to complete the in-between tasks linger.
Example: I needed to extend the project timeline for one of my projects. But there were no immediate sessions with respective stakeholders. After spending a few more valuable project days, we finally got it.
If we had a better and more frequent meeting schedule, it would have been easier. These pauses affect the projects negatively.
On the contrary, too many meetings make the sessions redundant and meaningless. So, please determine the frequency of the sessions in the project planning phase. Of course, you have to keep backup options if required any exceptions.
#7 Some projects don’t have appropriate Risk management plans.
There are lots of known and unknown variables in a project life-cycle. That means there are a lot of risks associated with each variable.
It is not possible to enlist and create plans for everything. But, having a comprehensive risk register helps a lot. Without it, project managers mostly walk in a minefield with blindfolded eyes.
Let me give you an example.
In a brand launch campaign, we planned to distribute our products with huge discounts. As it was a small project, we did not prepare a risk register; hence no fall-out plan was present. We launched the product, and it was a success at first.
The retailers took a massive load of products. But, because of lower sales on the consumer end, those started to stack up. It was a rainy season, and with a shelf life of 15 days, the products started to deteriorate. The retailers began to complain about it, and we had to return some of the product from the market.
The brand image suffered, and financially, the project took a huge blow. We didn’t have a risk register; there was no backup plan to tackle the risks; hence the project failed.
Every project should have a risk register and risk-response strategy. 29% of project management practitioners said that failure to identify opportunities and risk is one of the primary causes of a project failure.
Project managers should identify risks in both qualitative and quantifiable terms. Then, based on the risks, the team can prepare backup plans to tackle the threats. There are several risk response strategies, like avoidance, reduction, transfer, etc.
Once created, it will help to ease some pains for the later stages, for sure.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Other major causes of a project failure
According to PMI ‘Pulse of the Profession, 2018’, project management professionals identified the following as the other main causes of project failure:
Change in organization’s priorities (39% agreed)
Change in project objectives (38% agreed)
Inadequate/poor communications (29% agreed)
Inadequate vision/goal for the project (29% agreed)
We can see that apart from the communications part, all the remaining three were mostly determined by the stakeholders, hence not a fault of the project team itself.
Many project managers fail to comprehend these facts, hence destroys the projects. But, on the other hand, experienced project managers learn from their previous mistakes; thus, they get better.
So, for your next project, please make sure to omit these mistakes for a smooth implementation.
I managed several multi-million dollar projects throughout my career journey, primarily for fast-moving consumer goods. One of my projects was to expand distribution to 39k additional outlets, adding 650 logistics and 750+ people. Other projects included brand launch campaigns, merchandising campaigns, business plan escalation, national conference, etc.
Some projects were successful, few of the projects were failures. Both dynamics helped to escalate my learning and showed some true colors of projects.
So, I thought to write down the biggest mistakes that you should avoid when managing a project.
#1 Some project managers do not care to understand the project mission.
It is called the mission statement of a project. Unfortunately, many project managers do not care to understand the meaning and often dive into the project without understanding the purpose.
For example, think of a project that plans to add 500 new retail stores to generate 4% revenue growth ‘year on year.’ Of course, many project managers will drive the project to attain the numbers. But, there might be more to it apart from the numbers.
First of all, they might miss the term ‘year on year,’ which means it has to be a sustainable growth. Second, to meet the numbers, they need to know how it was derived. And how the numbers will translate into other variables (workforce, timeline, budgets, etc.).
Without defining the broad mission statement, it is simply the execution of tasks.
As a planner, the project manager needs to understand and ask questions to clarify. Some people break it down into smaller goals or milestones. However, breaking it down to quantitative and qualitative terms is an essential part.
Once the project team knows the purpose, they can do better planning. Hence, a better execution, perhaps!
#2 Some project managers do not care to learn about similar projects of the past.
Some projects are a sequel of previous projects. Yet, many project managers do not dig deeper to understand the lessons learned.
And they suffer (whether the project becomes a success or a failure).
Learning about similar projects can facilitate clear understanding, provide direction, and give exposure.
When I started the earlier mentioned project, I went to meet the previous supervisor. I learned about market dynamics, studied project summary and conducted stakeholder interviews. Those steps immensely helped me throughout the project.
It can cut down the learning curve too.
Learning about the mistakes, success, challenges, and milestones from similar projects improves insights. Many projects fail because of not looking into the available works.
Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
#3 Projects fail due to the absence of process mapping and due to the presence of scope creep.
Understanding project objective provides a guideline for scope management. Scope-creep (considering too many scopes in one project) is one of the key reasons to fail. And the absence of process mapping makes it worst.
Every project should have a defined scope. In the initial stage of a project, the project team decides which are part of the scope and which are not. Once settled, it is easier to generate a process map to structure the project period.
Some projects have to consider too much scope due to stakeholders’ demands. It creates scope creep.
Inaccurate requirements (scope) gathering are one of the top-most reasons for a project failure. When it happens with inaccurate process mapping, the project is bound to fail.
So, avoid scope creep, and make sure to create a simple process mapping.
#4 Many projects fail to plan structured resource management & delegation.
Based on the project objectives, the resource management plan has to align. Shortage of resources will impact the success of the project.
According to the PMI ‘Pulse of the Profession — 2018’, 28% of project practitioners mentioned inaccurate cost estimation as one of the top three reasons for a project failure.
Some projects fail, even with proper resources.
One of the main reasons is improper delegation. Even with great team members, wrong assignments will dilute the efforts. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the delegation based on the strengths of the project members.
Once identified, a delegation chart with timeline, budget, and responsibility grid helps.
Another issue might be assigning a massive workload to some, while others have fewer loads. Burnout is real, and for projects, it is no exception.
#5 Micromanagement shoe.
Many projects fail because of micro-management.
A project manager does multi-tasking. Sometimes to make the progression faster, they intervene in others’ work. However, by doing so, they create confusion and demotivate the people. Plus, the project manager also falls behind in completing their tasks.
The success of a project depends on an enterprising spirit and delegation. However, when you start micro-managing, it negatively impacts the progression. It reduces efficiency and team motivation and breaks down the responsibility grid.
A confused project team with a micromanagement issue never achieves its core purpose.
Photo by Leon on Unsplash
#6 Irregular meetings and too-frequent meetings can both have negative impacts on the project.
Some project managers do not schedule regular feedback sessions. Some others do it too frequently.
If the feedback sessions are irregular, stakeholders might not get the due updates. If those are too often, the regular cycle to complete the in-between tasks linger.
Example: I needed to extend the project timeline for one of my projects. But there were no immediate sessions with respective stakeholders. After spending a few more valuable project days, we finally got it.
If we had a better and more frequent meeting schedule, it would have been easier. These pauses affect the projects negatively.
On the contrary, too many meetings make the sessions redundant and meaningless. So, please determine the frequency of the sessions in the project planning phase. Of course, you have to keep backup options if required any exceptions.
#7 Some projects don’t have appropriate Risk management plans.
There are lots of known and unknown variables in a project life-cycle. That means there are a lot of risks associated with each variable.
It is not possible to enlist and create plans for everything. But, having a comprehensive risk register helps a lot. Without it, project managers mostly walk in a minefield with blindfolded eyes.
Let me give you an example.
In a brand launch campaign, we planned to distribute our products with huge discounts. As it was a small project, we did not prepare a risk register; hence no fall-out plan was present. We launched the product, and it was a success at first.
The retailers took a massive load of products. But, because of lower sales on the consumer end, those started to stack up. It was a rainy season, and with a shelf life of 15 days, the products started to deteriorate. The retailers began to complain about it, and we had to return some of the product from the market.
The brand image suffered, and financially, the project took a huge blow. We didn’t have a risk register; there was no backup plan to tackle the risks; hence the project failed.
Every project should have a risk register and risk-response strategy. 29% of project management practitioners said that failure to identify opportunities and risk is one of the primary causes of a project failure.
Project managers should identify risks in both qualitative and quantifiable terms. Then, based on the risks, the team can prepare backup plans to tackle the threats. There are several risk response strategies, like avoidance, reduction, transfer, etc.
Once created, it will help to ease some pains for the later stages, for sure.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Other major causes of a project failure
According to PMI ‘Pulse of the Profession, 2018’, project management professionals identified the following as the other main causes of project failure:
Change in organization’s priorities (39% agreed)
Change in project objectives (38% agreed)
Inadequate/poor communications (29% agreed)
Inadequate vision/goal for the project (29% agreed)
We can see that apart from the communications part, all the remaining three were mostly determined by the stakeholders, hence not a fault of the project team itself.
Many project managers fail to comprehend these facts, hence destroys the projects. But, on the other hand, experienced project managers learn from their previous mistakes; thus, they get better.
So, for your next project, please make sure to omit these mistakes for a smooth implementation.
7 Project Mistakes To Avoid When You Are The Project Manager
Posted from medium.com
Leadership
Project Manager
Planning
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 3
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SFC (Join to see)
Yes it is. Always take an interest and learn about what you manage or you will most likely fail.
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All good stuff. I only had one project management rule for the construction stuff I did. Finish the job faster than you said. Worked great for me.
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