Project management is one of the most neglected areas of company operations. Many organizations only give some of their employees the title of "project managers", because it looks good. Others pretend they are applying project management skills, just because it is required by certain regulations. That leads to repeated mistakes in project management which are not based on any standardized methodology. The most fundamental pitfalls were described on the PM Hut website.
1. Misconceptions about managers
The idea of many companies that any manager can be a project manager is naive. The role requires years of experience in project management and special skills. You will get these skills neither in other managerial roles nor when working on projects as an ordinary worker.
2. Plans nobody follows
The main task of project managers is to plan and share plans with all interested parties. They plan costs, quality, human resources, risks etc. However, even the best plan is useless if it lacks the support of other stakeholders.
3. Finding managers after signing contracts
It often happens that companies sell a project and only then look for a manager who oversees the entire project. The project manager should, however, be involved much earlier and help prepare the project.
4. Determining the scope of projects after signing contracts
In order to sell their projects, companies sign contracts for fixed prices without specifying the precise scopes of the project. Then comes the project manager to assess the technical requirements and the overall scope of the project. Often it turns out that the project will not be feasible with the limits of the contract.
5. Insufficient skills
Projects are often run by people with insufficient skills. The main reason is to save money. IT specialists are, for example, expected to handle everything from basic parameters of a company's network to business negotiations.
How do you manage projects in your company? Do you use any project management methodology?
-kk-