A gestão de projetos é uma das áreas que mais cresce em todo o mundo. Segundo dados do PMI – Project Management Institute, até 2020 o setor deve crescer cerca de 30%, demandando mais de 15 milhões de profissionais.
A segment with potential size should be experiencing one of its best moments in terms of results, however, 75% of IT executives believe their projects are doomed to fail from the start.
The reasons for this kind of pessimism are as diverse as they come: from underestimating the resources needed to carry out the undertaking to an attitude of hubris on the part of the project manager, who is primarily responsible for the success or failure of each initiative.
In this post, you'll check out the 5 most serious mistakes made in project management and how to avoid them:
Poorly defined scope
The helps The project scope is one of the most important stages of all project management, as it's where you identify what will be included in the execution and what won't.
When the scope is too broad, without listing assumptions and constraints, the client has loopholes to demand changes at any time, which can impact both deadlines and budget.
A poor definition of scope can also result in a final product that doesn't meet the client's needs, leading to financial losses and dissatisfaction.
Read also: How to correctly define project scope
2. Not getting approval from everyone involved
Whenever there is an initiative, try to document all meetings, negotiated items, client and team statements, and information exchanged, everything.
Compile the information into documents that must be verified, approved, and signed by everyone, to avoid any future disputes.
A director who does not feel involved with the project can become an obstacle to the approval of budgets, hiring, and acquisitions, for example.
Therefore, get the buy-in from the project's priority stakeholders and keep everyone updated on the status of activities.
Want to understand how project management enables strategic management in a company? Click here
3. Communication failures
90% of project manager time is dedicated to communication. Whether it's with the client, the team, or any other stakeholder, it needs to promote a two-way flow, where information can be sent and received agilely and assertively.
If this flow fails, someone will be left out of the process, may miss the right moment to execute a task or make a decision, thus harming project performance.
In this sense, it is essential to create mechanisms that allow for the rapid exchange of knowledge, such as the use of project management software and mobile applications, which enable geographically dispersed individuals to be integrated.
See also: How to combine effective communication and project management?
4. Estimate deadlines incorrectly
Project schedule creation should be based on precise evaluation methods, such as the critical path method. Making only assumptions can be very risky for the project's completion, as many pitfalls may be underestimated.
At the time of defining the Project schedule, gather your team, talk to specialists in each area to determine the shortest and longest time needed for each activity. Then, you can estimate an average timeframe, achieving a feasible schedule.
An industry, for example, can suffer from a shortage of a certain raw material and end up with an entire project halted due to this type of event. A construction company can be impacted by heavy rains. Leave room for the unexpected.
Learn how to ensure project deadlines are met in this other article!
5. Not being ready for change
The marketing environment is constantly changing, and companies need to be ready for it, including in project management. If you manage projects rigidly, without flexibility, you run serious risks of seeing your initiative end up far below expectations.
Seek to implement project management methodologies, such as RACI methodology – Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI), Scrum, PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environments), MPMM (Multi-Project Management Methodology), among others, and your team will learn to better handle the nuances of each initiative. Having a system that automates control can also be of great help!
Have you ever made any of these mistakes? Leave your comment!
