Common project management mistakes and how to avoid them

A person who does not make mistakes in his life never grows any wiser. With every mistake comes a lesson and people who learn from their mistakes go on to establish a wonderful life for themselves. The same is true for all the businesses and businessmen in the world. Mistakes happen whether knowingly or unknowingly but to repeat the same mistake over and over is what destroys businesses.

According to the statistics, most of the projects fail to be completed in the given time or budget because of the mistakes that happen due to ignorance. 

Whether you are getting started with your first job as a project manager or you have been at it for a long time, look out for these common project management mistakes that are discussed below.

Employing an incompetent project manager

A project manager is the leader of the team. Meeting the deadlines and completing projects using only the budget that has been allotted is the key job description of a project manager. When it comes to hiring a project manager, most employers make the mistake to hire an incompetent one. A project manager that doesn’t know the latest trends and tools of the market or cannot use them for his own benefit is going to lead his team to failure.

To avoid making the mistake of hiring the wrong project manager, don’t rely on references. See if they have a project management degree and how much field experience they have got. Another important factor to look for is the success rate- the higher the success rate the better the project manager.

Skipping the project orientation step

A project is divided into many steps but orientation is one of the most important. Every project brings new challenges to the table and using the same strategy every time will produce unwanted results. Many project managers don’t feel the need to gather all the team members and educate them about the projects. This will give a bad start to the project and they will face many unnecessary challenges that they don’t know how to overcome. 

To avoid this project management mistake, arrange a meeting with all your team members. Assign duties and responsibilities to each and clear any doubts that they have. Build a strategy and add timelines to the agenda to get better results in the end.

Lack of clear objectives & goals

Starting your project without having clear objectives in your mind will complicate things. Running a personal errand is different from leading a team to produce productive results. Team members will be of no use if they don’t know what is expected of them.

Divide the ultimate goal into smaller goals and assign different tasks to different team members. Having exceptional communication skills at this stage will come in handy. Be friendly with your team members all the while making sure that they will obey your orders and bring the results that you want them to.

Incomplete risk analysis

Every project is going to deviate from the plan no matter how foolproof it is. A project management team is composed of team members with different ideologies, strengths, and weaknesses. A small mistake at a team member’s end and the project will derail. To remedy this, a strong and comprehensive risk analysis is needed but most project managers ignore it because it takes a lot of time.

Pointing out the risks that you face during a project and tangible factors that can compromise your efficiency is key for the successful completion of a project. Devising different plans for different risks that you might face will keep you covered from every corner.

Wrong estimation of resources needed

Time and money are the two most important resources that are needed for successful project management. Using the latest technology and project management tools come after that. The bitter reality is that most teams don’t comprehend the vitality of these factors and jump into the field without any preparation to compete in the market.

At this point, it is better to consult an expert and decide the time and money required to complete the project at hand. For producing different reports and charts during your project, you can use software that is created especially for this purpose.

In the end, be brutally honest with your sponsors. Inform them about every setback and keep them up-to-date with the project to avoid any misunderstanding.