The Top 3 Mistakes Project Managers Make & How to Avoid Them

When a project struggles to get over the finish line, it is generally expected that the project manager is responsible for bringing the project back on track.

While it is not necessarily the sole fault of project managers, budgeting and scheduling mismanagement can also play a role in the projects’ problems.

So, why do projects with great potential, fail?

Our founder, Harpreet Singh shares a good antidote on why many projects are unsuccessful; “If a project does not have a clear goal in mind from the beginning, it will continuously face problems throughout the duration of the project.”

While it is most often the client who sets the goal for any big project, it is up to a hierarchy of project managers to ensure it is planned, executed and completed properly.

While any project manager (PM) is bound to make a mistake at some point in his or her career, it is important for a PM to recognize common mistakes and to learn from them.

 

Below are the top 3 mistakes project managers make with recommended solutions on how to avoid them in the future.

1. Failing to Initiate and Maintain Project Support from the Entire Team

Project Managers wear many different hats. From risk analysts to cost controllers, PM’s are expected to communicate the core objectives of a project to different departments within an organization. If proper communication and delegation of tasks to these various bodies is not clear from the beginning, the project is destined to suffer. Not harnessing enough support from people affected by, or involved in the project spells an invitation to trouble for the project manager.

Here are three reasons which could create lack of support in a project:

1. Each individual or department’s role(s) was not made obvious in the initial planning stages of a project
2. Each individual or department was not made to understand how they could benefit from the project
3. A strict timeline for the project was not enforced, where employees continue to complete day to day tasks at status quo

EPS Solution: Better Communication! Aside from the obvious, calling the team together to discuss project scope and initiatives, PMs should never stop improving their communication skills. Our article, “The Top Two Skills Any Project Manager Must Have” cites the importance of knowing your audience. The ability to explain a complex engineering process to colleagues and peers comes from expert communication. Participating in workshops, practicing speech techniques all contribute to improving communication so that the project team is up to date.

 

2. Reactive vs. Proactive

While it can be tough to predict obstacles, it’s important for PMs to have the mentality, “anything that can happen will happen” when problems do arise.

This can be a tough pill to swallow for many project managers who are already putting immense time and energy into a project’s key deliverables.

EPS Solution: Time Management; even though working on several projects at once can be overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Taking the time to look at the details of each important document in the pre-planning stages will save project managers from headaches at a later phase of the project. Minor details which may be missed or overlooked can often become larger problems down the road.

Some of elements of time management also include taking some time to sit down and share what you are working on with teammates and other project stakeholders so that they can offer feedback and insight. Seasoned Project Manager and EPS Project Director, Joseph Konney offers this key piece of advice; “Having an adequate level of project oversight when reading through specs and document review is a great help and a step towards eliminating project shortfalls.” Preparing and communicating a project schedule baseline plan that accurately reflects these review tasks mitigates the risk of being reactive to issues.

 

3. Changing Project Scope

Sometimes a change in project scope is inevitable and out of a Project Manager’s control; major cuts in project funding or time restraints may be imposed by the client. Yet, when minor barriers do arise it is also easy for the scope of a project to become unclear or disjointed. Over the course of a project, the focus and goal of the project manager will change to fulfill certain tasks. A common mistake many PMs make is getting caught up in the day-to-day details of a project while forgetting the overarching goal of the project.

EPS Solution: Be Specific! When creating a project’s scope statement. Project Managers should write the scope document and should be detailed and easy to understand for all levels of the project team. The Project Management Institute says a strong scope statement should include: the project goal, deliverables, what is both “in” and “out” of scope and project constraints. EPS founder and experienced Project Manager Mark Oleniuk explains, “when creating the scope statement for a project, I find it works best to first draft it, then get feedback based on the knowledge and insights of the entire project team. Including different people in the creation of this document allows everyone to have a clear understanding of project goals and in turn compels the team to stay on track later in the project.”

 

At EPS, it is important for our project managers to maximize their understanding of common risks associated with projects in their industry of expertise so they can minimize the probability of mistakes in the future. Being a proactive Project Manager means exercising expert communication skills from pre-planning to the post analysis phases of a project. Check out some of our other PM insights here.

 

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