Are you Making Any of These 10 Project Management Mistakes

It is unfortunate that many project managers make basic mistakes and don’t put in place a solid foundation based on which the project can progress. This, amongst other factors, is preventing them from stepping up and becoming project leaders.

Project leaders know that projects must be rooted in a logical and structured approach to delivery, as without it everything else falls apart.

If we do not have a solid method for defining and controlling the project’s scope, benefits, deliverables, costs, quality, risks and responsibilities, the project is unlikely to be successful even if the project manager is excellent at leading and motivating people.

It is true that people deliver projects, but processes support them in doing so.

Below is a list of the most classic mistakes that project managers make when it comes to the more process-related aspect of the job. Are you guilty of making any of these mistakes too?

1. Not paying sufficient attention to the planning stages of the project; being too eager to start building and developing without knowing what the end game is and how to get there is a classic mistake.

Project managers succumb to pressure from senior stakeholders who don’t understand the importance of planning and who have a naïve hope that the project can be delivered quicker if the planning stage is reduced.

2. Lack of attention to the project’s business case; many project managers fail to ensure that there is a sound rationale for undertaking the project.

They assume, often incorrectly, that the business case has been completed by senior management and don’t see the bigger picture, commercially and strategically.

Unfortunately this also means that projects oftentimes aren’t aligned to the to the organization’s strategic objectives.

3. Not completing an accurate project charter; many project managers operate at a surface level and leave out important information in the charter or project initiation document.

They fail to uncover what the project will deliver in detail and how it will go about delivering it.

They also make the mistake of not walking the stakeholders through the information in the charter; they simply chase a signature as opposed to gaining people’s genuine buy-in for this important planning document.  

4. Not using product-based planning techniques; many project managers fail to make use of intuitive product-base planning techniques, such as product breakdown structures and product flow diagrams.

They don’t involve the team in the planning process and plan for the far future in too much detail. Oftentimes they fail to split the project into shorter phases with clear outcomes and deliverables that can provide early successes and benefits to the users.

5. Unclear scope and lack of detailed requirements; scope descriptions are often vague and open to interpretations and not enough thought has been given to what is out of scope.

Requirements are documented at too high a level, they are not baseline and changes aren’t tracked, assessed or incorporated into the project in a structured manner.

The result is scope creep, or in the worst case a project which fails to deliver what the customer needed.

6. Underestimating the project’s effort; it is a classic mistake that project managers underestimate the project’s effort, either as a result of not appreciating what needs to be delivered, or as a result of poor estimation processes.

They are often too optimistic; failing to challenge the estimates given to them and leaving out contingency to cover for risks and uncertainties.

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Am I Good Enough As A Project Manager

As a project leadership coach I often come across project managers who feel that they are not good enough at what they do. Feeling that they will be “found out”, that the project will fail and that they will be fired because of incompetence is – unfortunately – more common than you might think.

There is nothing wrong with being aware of risks and being concerned about the delivery of the project. But it’s unhealthy to worry to the point where it affects our confidence.

More often than not the project manager’s feeling of inadequacy isn’t rooted in incompetence. It’s linked to an underlying lack of self-esteem.

Of course, there will always be certain PM techniques that we can get better at, but without a strong self-belief project managers will have a tendency to doubt their professional abilities.

But how can you begin to strengthen your belief in yourself and your project?

Review your project

At a practical level it’s important that your project is properly defined, that your team in motivated and that your project plans are adequate. Don’t feel that it’s your role to have all the answers.

Your team members are there to support you. Discuss with them how you will be working together to deliver the project. Make reference to deliverables, procedures, roles and responsibilities and to team behaviors.

Similarly, don’t set out to plan the project all on your own. 

I’ve talked and written about the benefits of collaborative planning for a long time. Collaboration creates buy-in and commitment from the team and produces a better plan than if you were to create it on your own.

You should also run regular risk management workshops where the team shares their concerns and puts in place mitigating actions.

If you’re still worried that you have missed something out, ask one of your peers to review your are facts and to sit in on some of your meetings.

You might also benefit from regular conversations with a mentor. Choose someone who works in the same organization, or industry, and who has more experience than you.

A mentor should be calm and measured. She should be able to listen to your concerns and give you advice in areas where you are unsure how to progress.

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Global Software Consulting and IT Services Firm Turns Agile with Orangescrum

ONE Business Consulting Group (One BCG) is a Global Software Consulting and IT services firm offering integrated business solutions, enabling clients to optimize their business with greater efficiency, and increased responsiveness.

ONE BCG was founded in Sydney back in 2000, and now has spread its wings across the globe with presence in Australia, Botswana, India, UK and US servicing clients across the globe, from enterprise level businesses to helping start-ups take their ideas to launch. ONE BCG offers full range of IT/Software consulting services including design & architecture of Cloud based solutions, software build & deployment, along with infrastructure maintenance and support.

As evident from their portfolio, clientele, wide technical outreach and distributed teams project agility was a top priority for them. 

Having a wide range of clientele, multiple in-flight projects, ever-looming project delivery timelines and a robust project pipeline are challenges all organizations love to face.

“And as always, these challenges bring with them – scope creeps, changing business demands, budget & resource constraints, change in project schedule and at times the project end goals due to the ever-shifting business landscape.”

One BCG too had a mixed bag of the above problems and needed a platform that

• Supports quick sprints and task iterations
• Provides with absolute clarity the progress of – Backlogs, To Do, In-Progress & Completed tasks
• Offers resource availability & utilization for project execution
• Presents accurate billable information for on-time billing and revenue generation
• Gives granular data on actual vs. estimated project hours for within budget delivery 
  Allows capturing of true time spent on project tasks.

“Our project were running out of budgeted hours, dependency on other tools to get real time data on project progress and inability to perform timely project health check-ups were significant challenges we had to overcome says Sachin Kumar, Project Manager, One BCG”

Sachin Kumar further adds on – a lot was at stake. It was not just about delivering projects, but about being agile in our approach for faster and accurate execution. One BCG prides in working with a sense of urgency and the ability to deliver high value services on time and within budget!

For us Agility meant – try fast, fail fast and succeed fast! Success here meant getting the minimum viable product approved within the stipulated time. We are committed to delivering products that enable our client’s processes and integrate seamlessly with their existing toolset.

Hence it becomes very important as a product development and software consulting agency to be highly agile and have nimble execution process to support our clients’ changing demands.

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Orangescrum’s New Task List Page and an Ever Intuitive Project Dashboard for You!

Orangescrum’ers gets ready for further meaningful enhancements to your favorite project collaboration tool!

Continuing with our efforts to present an ever seamless user experience we have added enhanced features to our “Task List Page” and the ‘Projects Overview Dashboard” so that you manage projects & tasks your way! More freedom and control to you!

“Projects Overview Dashboard” has received a major overhaul in terms of quick project information as well as design.

No more guess work! Real data, real time!

Projects Overview – Quick Highlights

• Instant project start and end dates
• Real-time project progress status
• Task Group progress status
• Project team info with a quick peek of true task status of each resource
• All your project files section for quick access and review
• Accurate billable and non-billable hour info
• Project finish line flag to act as motivation for you and your team
• “Insta-activity” stream of your team
• Detailed “overdue task list” with time & resource information

(Image: Orangescrum Project Overview)

The Task List page is the soul of Orangescrum as this where all the action is! We have revamped it with additional features that make it easier for you to track and manage your tasks. No matter the number!

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