BRUTAL MARKETING

12 COMMON PROJECT MANAGEMENT MISTAKES AND WAYS TO AVOID THEM

BRUTAL MARKETING

12 common project management mistakes and ways to avoid them

12 common project management mistakes and ways to avoid them – Brutal Marketing blog

Companies often spend a lot of money and time on ideas that ultimately fail to materialize. So why do interesting projects often fail? In the material, we have collected 12 typical project management mistakes and explained how you can deal with them.

Mistake #1: You chose the wrong project manager

It happens that at the stage of distribution of responsibilities, most of the efforts are spent on finding project executors, and not its leader. A manager is often selected on the basis of "free from assignments", and not "suitable for competencies". Thus, an incorrectly chosen or not having the necessary experience manager can easily ruin the resulting project.

Solution: Only appoint someone who really understands the tasks ahead to lead the project.

Mistake #2: Your team lacks motivation

The project is doomed to failure if not all of its performers are involved in the work process. The leader could not explain the role of everyone, or did not motivate them to work for the result.
Maybe the manager did not convey the significance of the project. This leads to the fact that employees are not enthusiastic about their work.

Solution: The project manager, first of all, must bring the whole team together. Including employees working remotely (using skype or other Internet services). The manager is obliged to talk in detail about the project and speak to the employees in such a way as to cheer up and motivate them to work diligently.
work.

Mistake #3: Nobody controls your project

"No boss means no constant accountability. Complete freedom of action, you might think. Just this is bad. Without work under the supervision of senior management, there is no incentive to keep yourself in good shape.

Solution: The implementation of projects should always be under the control of the director of the company in which you work. Or your customer will be the "supervisor". In any case, when a project runs on its own, it is likely to fail.

Mistake #4: You take on multiple projects at once

Many people think that they can get more done if they do a little bit of several tasks at the same time. Such a strategy is ineffective. Working on multiple projects at once only slows managers down. The worst thing is that they do not have time to check the work of performers in a timely manner. The same ones are just waiting for verification and for some period of time they are not busy with anything.

Solution: It is worth abandoning the management of several projects at the same time. This way you will not leave any tasks unfinished and will be able to help your team by answering their questions or giving advice. The fewer projects you currently have, the faster and better the work will go.

Mistake #5: Your team is not communicating well

The ability to find a common language with each employee is one of the key skills of a project manager. If you don't regularly keep in touch with everyone, the whole team will simply scatter, and the project will be overwhelmed.

Solution: Designate a day and a specific time of the week when you will all get together (online or in person) and stick to it. A pre-planned day will allow everyone to keep abreast of the project and help the project move forward.

Mistake #6: You don't have a clear end goal for the project, or you change it along the way

Any project that does not have a clearly articulated goal is likely to never be completed. And changing the target halfway is extremely dangerous. You may overspend your time and money. Any unplanned little things (color change in the logo or an additional page on the site) can lead to unforeseen difficulties.

Solution: Clearly state the purpose of the project at its inception. Then regularly check to see if everyone is sticking to the goal. Separately write down possible changes and immediately evaluate how this will affect your work schedule. Do not forget to coordinate the changes with the customer or company management.

Mistake #7: You miscalculated the time for the project implementation

Doing everything as soon as possible to please the client is not a bad desire. But if you allocate too little time and do not have time to complete the project by the deadline, this will only cause distrust and irritation on the part of the customer.

Solution: The right software for project implementation will organize your workflow. However, it is always important to have spare money and time for an emergency. This is especially true for projects related to the IT sphere.

Mistake #8: You don't make concessions

Don't treat the project plan like a bible that strictly dictates what should be done and by whom, when everything should be ready. Do not reject new proposals that come to the mind of employees in the process of work.

Solution: Look at the project from the outside. Consider if you need to change something in it. This does not mean that you need to constantly change something - just be open to suggestions from outside if they will benefit the project.

Mistake #9: You do not systematically track changes in the project

The project will not reach the final stage if you do not periodically sum up the intermediate results. You also need a dedicated space and time to discuss changes to the project.

Solution: You must develop a clear interim control scheme (checklists). Track everything in them to the details - cost, significance, impact on the project as a whole. And to find errors in an already finished project, conduct a full run or test run of the system.

Mistake #10: You control every step of your employees

Don't babysit the performers. Some managers feel that they need to walk around their employees and make everyone work. Otherwise, nothing will work.

Solution: Instead of tracking every step of the project team, set individual weekly checklists for them. Thus, the team will be set up for weekly progress and will already work for the result itself.

Mistake #11: You have not clearly assigned responsibilities in the team

It is important that no one in the team duplicates the duties of another and does his own work. It happens that employees, wanting to help, also take on "not their own" tasks. As a result, they not only perform badly someone else's work, but also do not have time to do their own.

Solution: Don't let anyone mind their own business. Write down the responsibilities of each in as much detail as possible and periodically conduct individual checklists on the work done. This approach will allow you to adhere to the project plan and make it possible to evenly distribute the load on all employees.

Mistake #12: You do not have a benchmark criterion that means the success of the project

As you work on a project, imagine what exactly will make it perfect, and aim for that. When you realize that your project has finally become the largest, most stylish, or most useful, you will be sure that you did everything right.

Solution: The project manager must know exactly what a successful project will be for the customer. This factor will give confidence that when the project is completed, all its performers can safely disperse.
If we haven't pointed out another project management error that you know, write about it in the comments and tell us how you can avoid it.

Finally

We at Brutal Marketing will select for you the best CRM program that you can use in your business. We will gladly tell you about the capabilities of the software and show you which settings will definitely help you achieve the desired financial results.

Brutal Marketing blog | 12 common project management mistakes and ways to avoid them

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