Even experienced project practitioners make mistakes. Find out how
to bounce back from three mistakes that commonly occur in project
management.
The most seasoned project managers are still not immune to
mistakes. Here are three common errors experienced project
practitioners make and how to recover.
Mistake: Keeping strategy close to the vest.
Proven leaders may have mastered aligning projects to business
strategy, but that doesn’t mean all team members see the connection. In
global project teams, team members may not even speak the same
language. Larger and highly complex projects often have numerous
stakeholders with differing departmental jargon and metrics, which can
get team members headed in different directions, says Michelle Wu, PMP,
business solutions IT leader, GE Global Growth & Operations —
Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, a PMI Global Executive Council
Member, Doha, Qatar.
Solution: To get everyone on the same page,
marching toward the same goal, a project manager should create a
training session for team members, contractors and vendors, says Ms.
Wu.
Provide company materials at this meeting and turn to the
organization’s annual report as the ultimate authority on the company’s
strategy. “[The annual report] gives context to varying combinations
of working groups,” says Atul Gaur, project manager, energy technology
company Alfa Laval (India) Limited, Pune, India.
Then, conduct weekly or monthly strategy updates with team members
to mitigate the risks of straying from the overall strategic goals.
Mistake: Blowing cost estimates. In a
deadline-driven world, time is scarce, and you might be tempted to cut
corners by relying on experience alone to estimate costs. But comparing
projects with similar requirements is only a start to estimating
costs, not an end, says Adrian Celentano, PMP, head of learning and
development, management consulting, global advisory group, KPMG
International, a PMI Global Executive Council Member, Toronto, Canada.
Solution: When the budget’s overrun and a project
practitioner pinpoints the source of the mistake, Mr. Gaur recommends
reversing course by soliciting cost quotes from potential vendors for
project expenses moving forward. Creating a wider vendor pool gives you
more negotiating power to find less expensive solutions to the biggest
unexpected cost drivers. It also helps when asking for discounts such
as commissioning assistance or complimentary trips for troubleshooting.
Mistake: Failing to escalate. A project practitioner
with years of experience might want to solve all issues alone — even
ones that require executive-level attention — in an attempt to prove he
or she is ready for the next career level. And that can have the
opposite effect when a big problem derails the project.
Solution: Increase the number of regular meetings
with the project sponsor to address project accomplishments and
challenges, says Ms. Wu. This helps you reassure the sponsor that a
failure to escalate won’t keep him or her out of the loop again.
“Every single project practitioner makes mistakes, and it happens
quite a bit more often than everyone thinks,” says Ms. Wu. “But by
refocusing on communications, resource allocation and creative problem
solving, practitioners possess the ability to swiftly recover.”
