If you are currently involved in a major project, whether it’s in construction, engineering, oil and gas or a public sector undertaking, I’m sure you’ll agree that being involved in that undertaking is no simple feat. Why? Because you’ll need to constantly stay on your feet by ensuring that the project remains within all the agreed-upon constraints like time, project scope and budget. And keeping track of all these can be truly challenging. So, to make sure that your project remains in track, here’s a peek at a few of the many challenges of project management, and how to easily overcome them.
Scope Creep
According to a fairly recent study published in the Harvard Business Review, one in every six projects costs more than 200% of the estimated amount, and almost 70% of IT projects face costly delays.
And, despite the availability of multiple resources, training materials, project management tools and flexible methodologies, a lot of companies are still wasting millions (or even billions) of dollars every year, and are struggling to tackle the various issues and challenges of managing projects.
And, one of the major challenges faced by many project management teams is scope creep, which is a natural and expected phenomenon for any project. Clients who don not precisely know what they want, and have vague requirements, are actually one major headache for both project managers and their personnel.
So, how do you deal with scope creep? Proactively engage with your clients during the project planning phase, so you can get their exact requirements, as well as understand their expectations. And, planning your resource and talent usage accurately will help too.
And of course getting a primavera cloud license would be of great help too, because the software is very flexible when it comes to organizing lots of activities, and it’s a multi-user system which lets teams work at the same time on the same project cross the organization.
Lack of Communication
Another major challenge of project management is the lack of communication. Like anything else in life, miscommunication can hurt the successful implementation of projects, just as much as it can do damage to personal and romantic relationships.
Thus, effective communication in project management is extremely important for a successful project. To do this, you will need to have timely and transparent methods of communication to ensure that all stakeholders are involved in the process.
Remember that miscommunication can be dangerous for project management teams because it affects their teamwork, and it can also cause conflicts among team members, as well as potentially delay any project.
And, to further ensure smooth communication throughout all stages of the project, project managers can rely on various collaborative and project management software that are available in the market, to make sure that everyone stays update. Like, let me give you one example – Get a primavera cloud license so that you and your team can get easy aces to timelines, Gantt charts, real-time reporting and dashboards for easy tracking of key project metrics.
Lack of a Success Criteria & Clear Goals
Another major pitfall of project management is the lack of clear goals and a success criteria. According to experts, clarity is one of the most crucial requirements for the successful completion of a project, and the lack of it can create a lot of project management issues.
A study that was done in the United States and Canada just recently states that about 39% of projects fail due to the lack of a project plan, along with a clearly-defined objective. Thus, it is important for project planners and managers to come up with a system for quantifying project progress by setting up milestones and quality tests.
Apart from helping your team progress, having a clear and well-defined set of objectives can also help you and your team, as well as your stakeholders, defend their vision in front of the upper management and your customers or clients.
Budgeting Issues
Many project managers consider financial and budget-related issues to be the biggest hurdles in effective project management. According to a 2017 study, around 49.5% of manufacturing managers reported costs as the biggest project management hurdle that they faced.
But, by practicing efficient cost management, and by getting a primavera cloud license, project managers and their key personnel can strive for better and quicker results. The Primavera P6 is so flexible when it comes to organizing lots of activities, with one platform which allows users to prioritize, execute and monitor their wok.
The Primavera P6 is also a multi-user system which lets teams work at the same time on the same project across the organization. It also has real-time reporting which provides meaningful data delivered fast, either on-demand or scheduled.
The software’s dashboard also allows users to manage a single project, or even a portfolio of projects, with greater ease and flexibility.
Inadequate Team Member Skills
A chain is as strong as its weakest link. And, in the case of project management teams, performance generally depends on the skill levels of individual team members. So, if you’re a project manager, you can create the most ideal working environment. But if your team does not possess the necessary skills or talents required to effectively tackle any issue at hand, then your project is bound to fail.
Veteran and effective project managers often pre-determine the needed project management skills and competencies, as well as assess the available workforce to determine whether additional personnel or skillsets are needed or not.
An effective project initiation plan will also help deal with the requirements of the project, and the resources needed to accomplish it. These resources include the human skill component too.
The project plan will also further build upon the groundwork of the initiation plan or document. And of course, getting a primavera cloud license to fully automate the documentation, monitoring, resource allocation, risk management, contract management and essential tasks of project management would be a truly wise move!
