Seven Project Management Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them
By Space Coast Daily // June 26, 2018
Up to 97 percent of organizations believe that effective project management is critical to organizational success and business performance. While this is true, there are still businesses struggling with project management, resulting in wasted time and resources.
If this situation sounds familiar, then it may be time to get to know some of the biggest project management mistakes made, and how you can avoid them. Being informed is the best way to ensure business success.
Mistake 1: Choosing the Wrong Person to Manage the Project or Task
If you choose a project manager who doesn’t have the proper experience, then the project is destined for failure. While someone new to this role can learn the process while on the job, learning along the way may also lead to complete failure. The best option is to hire the most qualified person you can find to handle the project.
Mistake 2: Lack of Skills and Resources
If you don’t have the proper resources for a project, it can result in failure. Even if you have plenty of people on the team, this can happen if no one has the skills necessary for a certain task. If this happens, success will be difficult to achieve.
Also, poor resource matching can have an adverse effect. Make sure everyone on the team has all the information needed before beginning any project.
Mistake 3: Doing Everything on Your Own
It’s important for project managers to listen to suggestions from their team members. If they ignore these individuals and discourage them from sharing suggestions and ideas it can lead to discontent. Also, project managers need to delegate tasks, rather than trying to do everything on their own. A tool that can help with delegation is a Kanban task board.
Mistake 4: Improper Communication
One of the biggest pitfalls of project management that many managers encounter is being able to communicate to their members effectively. If a misunderstanding happens, then everyone is going to being pointing fingers and blaming one another.
Mistake 5: Poor Project Initiation
It’s important to have a kick-off meeting when beginning any project so that everyone on the team will have a clear understanding of the goals of the project, in addition to their responsibilities and roles. During this initial meeting, make sure that members understand and that they know what is expected of them. Also, include deadlines and milestones in the agenda.
Mistake 6: No Clear Objective
The success of any project can be significantly impacted by poor planning that results from a poorly identified objective. One of the main issues for project management is the inability to create an objective that is easy to understand. There’s also a need for success measures. Make sure to clarify to ensure members understand everything necessary for the project’s success at the very beginning.
You can also use a Gantt chart tool for efficient planning and successful implementation of the project.
Mistake 7: Inaccurate Estimation of Budget and Time
In some cases, you may go overboard when it comes to estimating the amount of time or budget for a project. If you aren’t sure or haven’t handled similar projects in the past, then it’s a good idea to seek professional help. It’s a good idea to use a bottom-up budgeting approach to determine a reasonable estimate.
If you want to avoid some of the most common mistakes that occur in project management, then make sure to review the list here. This will also help ensure that you are setting your workers up for success, regardless of how big or small the project may be.
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