News

6th August 2014

No matter how hard we try, no matter how well prepared we are, there are still “icebergs” out there waiting to sink our projects. All the planning, all the risk management, and all the issue tracking won’t make all of these avoidable or make all of them disappear. The key is to always be observant, always be prepared, and take nothing for granted. Whether it’s been going smoothly in your project or you’ve been hitting turbulence, there can always be something coming around the corner that you will need to react to.

These can be anticipated and managed (to some degree) as long as  you are at least somewhat aware. It’s when we move forward with blinders on that we get in the most trouble.

#1: Project Goals Are Poorly Defined

A top project manager’s responsibility – with the help of the project team and customer – is to ensure that the goals of the project are clearly and specifically spelled out. You may find yourself pushing hard for the definition of the project, but it must happen, especially since the person making the assignment often does not know what he or she wants at the very beginning of the engagement. However, don’t proceed until you find out, don’t hesitate to push back, and start the project only after these goals are defined. Otherwise, your success will be a matter of luck, not of skill or experience.

#2: Your Project Team Is Not Cohesive

When you struggle to create a team and don’t succeed, first examine your management style. Do you truly offer team members an opportunity to participate? Or do you discourage them from speaking out, offering ideas, or suggesting changes? Teams work only when you encourage participation and then follow up on it.

The problem may also be caused by excessive diversity in the team. If you have the chance to pick your own team, which I realise is rare, at least from my experience–try to limit as much as you can the involvement of a large number of other departments. Projects often demand help from people other than those you supervise directly, but it is not always necessary to strive for participation beyond those resources you absolutely need. Plus, keeping your team lean can help keep the budget under control.

#3: You Are Getting Pushback From Managers Whose Employees Are Assigned to Your Team

You may at times face a formidable task just in getting co-operation from other department managers, no matter how diplomatically you approach them or how well you define and explain the project. It’s common for department managers to want to hold on tightly to their best resources, the very ones you need badly in order to realise success in your projects (for the good of the organisation you both work in, of course). To solve this problem, you will need to convince the other managers that their priorities will be respected.

#4: Your Projects Are Missing Deadlines and Finishing Late

You may have an excellent process for schedule control, and team members are working well together. But in spite of that, you simply don’t meet phase deadlines, and projects aren’t completed on time. Frustration is setting in fast.

What do you do? One option is to begin allowing more time or increase the size of your team. It may be that your schedule is not realistic and tasks and phases cannot be completed in the time frame allotted in the schedule. You may have been forced to accelerate your schedule because management has imposed an early deadline. When you first organise your schedule, the realistic completion time will be dictated by the scope of the job. If the final deadline is unrealistic, then it is critical for you to push back to management or the customer to explain why there is a problem and ask for a later deadline or a larger project team.

#5: Department Management Skills Aren’t Translating Well to the Project Level

Be aware of the important differences between departmental management and project management. They often require different levels of supervision and leadership. In fact, skills that work for you as a department manager may interfere with team participation, so you will probably need to develop a completely different approach to supervising the project team. And, unlike being a department manager, your project resources report to other supervisors and probably to other project managers while working on your project engagement. Understand that, at any time, they could be pulled from your project if a need or emergency arises. The highest priority will take precedence, and that may be a more important project, or it may be the resource’s department manager needing them for a critical task or assignment.

#6: Unrealistic Project Budgets Are Resulting in Overruns

In your preoccupation with schedules, it’s easy to overlook the importance of the budget. Because the company’s risk is defined by the financial investment it has made in the project versus the potential reward derived (either from reduced costs and expenses or increased profits in the future), the budget should be controlled very conscientiously.

When you experience budget overruns, there are two possible reasons. First, the budget may be unrealistic. In that case, you need to ask for a more suitable one. Second, you may need to exercise more direct control. Review expense levels more frequently, compare budget and actual expenses, and look for emerging variance trends. Then identify what you need to do to correct the problem and take action.

#7: Your Senior Management Changes Project Scope After Project Initiation

Unfortunately, priorities change. You cannot always assume that a project assigned today will be valid at the time of its deadline. Chronic changes in project assignments are a sign of poor leadership at the top, and there is little you can do, all the while trying to accomplish an ever-changing goal.

The key is to be sure to continue to communicate while you are working on your project. Don’t abandon communication after the initial purpose and goals have been defined. Meet weekly with the person who assigned the project and present a brief status report. Restate the goals to make sure they’re still valid. Also recognise the fact that changes can occur because of new priorities resulting from perceptions about the market, the competition, and profitability.

#8: Poor Communication With Senior Management During the Engagement

How do you handle the problem of poor communication with your senior management members? Even when you make the effort to keep the lines of communication open, management may simply fail to keep you up to date on priorities.

While you cannot force top management personnel to improve their communication skills, you can always do your best to present status reports, ask for continuing definitions, and convey information to the top – even if your only avenue is the interoffice memo. If you can’t even get an executive to take time for a brief meeting, chances are your communication link will suffer. You may find that management does not respond to your requests or suggestions, fails to confirm project goals, and offers little support; but when the project is completed, you are told, “this is not what we wanted.”

In most cases, management wants to support you and will try to maintain morale. Therefore, even though the problems seem formidable, if you make an effort to communicate, they can usually be resolved — even if you have to train top management in the development of communication skills!

#9: Managing the Schedule Is Proving a Difficult Task.

Coordinating the many ongoing efforts of your team members and successfully completing many different phases within the same limited period may be a struggle. If so, examine the method you are using to develop and control your schedule. You may have to invest more time in developing a detailed network diagram and showing team members how to use it as a control document. Most instances of scheduling control problems are created by a lack of preparation in creating the schedule itself. Your only solution may be to revise your methods of project schedule management. You may have initially developed a schedule that is broken down in such a way that makes it difficult to follow or manage. Revisit and revise as needed.

#10: You Have No Time for the Real PM Oversight

You may find yourself committed so heavily to tasks and supervisory duties (as well as your ongoing departmental responsibilities) that you don’t have time to monitor schedules and budgets.

No matter how busy you are, don’t overlook the critical importance of overseeing your team. Project management involves several roles – trainer, supervisor, leader, and communicator. But your most important task is to control the project network. You are the organiser, the driving force who ensures that the project succeeds in every respect. Overseeing should be your highest priority. Therefore, don’t become so involved in other pressures that you overlook this important fact.