Human nature allows us to err. However, project managers can’t afford to err.
A small mistake on your part could cost the company a lot of money or even the entire project. If things go wrong, your colleagues may lose faith in you and your ability to complete work. This can be a career-changing event, and it’s not good.
You can avoid making costly mistakes when managing your projects. Here are some common pitfalls for project managers and how to avoid them.
This article:
1. Forgetting to acknowledge the team
2. Communication problems
3. Being a robot
4. Prioritizing budget over quality
5. Failure to understand the effort
1. Forgetting to acknowledge the team
It is crucial to identify all stakeholders before you launch a project.
This includes everyone involved in the project and who puts their time and effort into it. You could undermine, or even cause the complete failure of your project if you don’t understand how important each member of your team is.
Tip: This article will help you engage stakeholders, since your team members are stakeholders!
2. Communication problems
Would you like your project to self-destruct? All you need to do is stop talking.
You can’t expect to see results or complete the project if you don’t establish basic communication channels and guidelines at the beginning. Regular status checks, target reviews, team temperature checks and team temperature checks will keep you and your team motivated at all stages of the project.
Tip: Create a communications plan before you start any project. Are you unsure where to begin? Here’s a free template for project communications planning.
3. Being a robot
Yes, numbers, deadlines, and clients are important. If that’s all you are concerned about, you might as easily replace your heart with a rechargeable battery pack.
Working with people is not about working with machines. Everyone has feelings and everyone gets stressed. If you act like a talking spreadsheet, people won’t care about your problems (in this instance, your project).
Tip: While your business case is important and deadlines are important, people are people too! Consider how you lead your teams to show empathy, consideration, and respect.
4. Prioritizing budget over quality
I feel like I’m about to say something controversial! Budget is important. You need to make sure you have the right budget and that you don’t overprice your solutions.
Managers make the mistake of focusing on delivering deliverables in order to complete the project within budget.
All quality checks are skipped during the process. What comes out is a product with lower quality standards than what you or your client would consider acceptable.
Tip: Plan for quality. At the beginning of your project, establish your quality standards and ensure they are communicated to the team. You can then check that you are on track to meet them every now and again throughout the project, so there are no surprises.
Be realistic when planning. Here’s why quality plans may not be all they seem.
5. Failure to understand the effort
Now that we have made it clear that deliverables don’t just need to be pushed out the door, let’s get on to something more important. It takes energy and time to meet deadlines and maintain quality standards.
Work takes time. It often feels longer when you don’t fully understand the job.
For example, I asked my IT colleagues for a quote on something that seemed straightforward.