Common problems you may face as a project manager. Managing projects is challenging. Here are three issues you may face:
1. Scope creep
Scope creep happens when a project’s requirements, goals, or expectations change from those initially defined. It’s usually caused by the main stakeholders changing the project’s conditions. However, it can also happen when the project scope is not adequately defined or documented.
These things occur more than you may think. A study by the PMI showed that 33% of projects completed in gymnastic enterprises experienced scope creep in 2021 alone. Scope creep can happen naturally. For example, a client may want more features for the same price, and the project manager may simply give in to keep them happy.
It’s crucial to avoid scope creep to increase the chances of completing a project on time and within budget. Here’s how to do so:
- Proactively engage with stakeholders during the project planning stage to get their exact requirements and understand their expectations.
- Don’t accept ad-hoc change requests during project execution since it results in delays and added costs. Stick to the original plan.
2. Poor communication.
Poor communication is at the core of most project failures. What are the results? Work has to be redone. Team members lose trust in each other. Stakeholders make wrong assumptions.
Here’s how to overcome poor communication when doing projects:
- Tailor your communication to your stakeholder’s needs. Ask about their communication preferences. What info do they want to get? How do they want to receive it?
- Whenever possible, have face-to-face communication with the stakeholders and team members. It’ll improve communication since body language and facial expressions can help you and other involved parties understand each other better.
- Create and execute your communication plan. Review and update the plan regularly and ask for your stakeholder’s feedback on how to improve your communication.
3. Financial setbacks.
Budget overspending is a litmus test for project success or failure. Wellingtone reports that only 43% of companies mostly or always complete projects while remaining on budget.
For a project to succeed, it must be on time and within budget and contribute to the company’s shareholder value and long-term financial success.
Here are some financial problems you may face that can cause project failure:
- Managing project risk costing more than it should.
- You’re unable to track expenditure.
- You can’t access management reserves.
- There’s a significant overspend on the project.
How do you overcome these challenges? You try:
- To manage the project risk efficiently and adjust your activities accordingly. Document the risks, costs, and benefits along with some options so that you have choices.
- To sort out the money-spending process. Make it clear to the project team that purchase orders must go through you for tracking.
- To make sure that any funds being held outside your official project budget are available to you. But it’s better to manage the project well, so you don’t have to tap into additional reserves.
- To find out why the costs are going up. Whatever the cause, pin it down and proceed from there. Involve every project participant so they know you can’t afford to bear those costs in the future.
