Top Reasons Why Project Management Fails and How to Avoid Them

Many businesses of various sizes and from different industries have experienced project failures. The truth is without proper planning and project management, it will be difficult for projects to succeed. There are many other reasons as to why a project can fail. And to help you avoid these project failures, it’s important to know them better before any of them hits you. Here are eight of the top reasons why project management fails along with some tips on how you can avoid these pitfalls.

1. Lack of Project Visibility

One of the most important things that most project managers seem to neglect is visibility. For a project to succeed, it’s important for team members to see what they are up against. Seeing what tasks are pending, what are done, the size of the task queue, and other aspects of the project is essential. Without a visual of the overall project, it may lead to confusion, and it can affect the team’s overall productivity.

Solution:

Use a visual tool, such as a Kanban board to improve your team’s project visibility. Kanban is one of the best processes to implement if you want to support your team and make it easy for them to keep track of your team’s pending tasks. Through the Kanban board, you can organize your processes, tasks and resources, and easily manage any project. Moreover, by using a virtual Kanban card you can create individual Kanban cards for each task and assign them to your team members. You and your team members can then keep track of all pending cards and see to it that they are all completed on time.

2. Unclear Project Objectives

To have a better understanding of the whole project, it’s important that you identify clear objectives for the whole team. But some project managers tend to neglect this part, and make the wrong move of jumpstarting the project without giving everyone in the team proper guidance. This leaves everyone in the team unsure of what to do.

Solution:

If you have multiple projects going on, you should see to it that your team knows which projects and tasks should be prioritized and know the purpose of each of these tasks. Before starting a project, see to it that you create clear objectives and make sure that everyone involved in the project is aware of these objectives, so that they can understand the importance of completing their individual tasks. You should also make sure that your team is constantly reminded of your project goals by making these objectives visible to everyone. This is something that you can also post on your project Kanban board to make sure that everyone has access to the objectives.

3. Inexperienced/Untrained Leaders

One of the reasons why project management fails is because some companies tend to make the huge mistake of running projects without an experienced project manager. Having someone inexperienced go through the challenges of managing a project can lead to some problems. To run a project successfully, one has to have the knowledge, and as much as possible, experience in handling the role, especially if the project is a huge one.

Solution:

Hire a trained and experienced project manager. See to it that you assign a project manager who knows what to do and how to handle projects. Your project manager should have the capacity to oversee all of the tasks and make sure that they are all fulfilled as expected. Moreover, you should also make use of your team member’s individual skills to optimize the productivity of the whole team handling your project.

4. No Formal Process Policies Implemented

In the business world, creating process policies is a necessity. It’s important to have the right guidelines in place, since one wrong move can cause you to lose some of your resources, or worse, your business. Some startup businesses tend to disregard the importance of having a standardized set of procedures for every business process. This can greatly affect the success of any project.

Solution:

If you are running a project or two, you should see to it that there is a standard set of policies your team is expected to follow. This helps put everything in order, as the process policies you have in place will serve as your team’s guide as they work on tasks. To help you make sure that your methods are followed accordingly, it’s a good idea to have a task management app such as a virtual Kanban board, wherein everyone can keep track of their pending tasks and make sure that they are done on time and the right strategies are followed. By making process policies explicit, you can avoid the possibility of any project management fails.

5. Poor Communication

Another reason why project managers fail is poor communication. Communication is a very important aspect of being a leader as your team will rely on you for directions. As a leader, you are expected to provide your team with guidance, and without proper communication channels, it will be difficult for your team to handle any project, no matter how big or small. The lack of standard communication protocols is one of the many reasons why project management fails.

Solution:

Come up with a communication hierarchy and method to make it easier for your team to accept tasks, follow directions, and communicate with one another. Whether you are working in the office or remotely, there are different communication tools available online that your team can use. From group messaging and chat tools, to teleconferencing and work board apps, there are many forms of team communication and collaboration tools available for various types of businesses. You should also have clear guidelines on how communications should be done, such as when video calls are allowed, when instant messages are appropriate, or when emails are a must.

No matter how big or small your business is, it’s important to always plan everything before you start a project. Project management failures can be easily avoided if you have a competent project manager, good project visibility, clear objectives, formal methods and strategies and efficient communication process. And if you want to optimize your project management methods, check out Kanban Zone. This virtual Kanban board can be a good tool to help you accomplish your projects and avoid any project management fails.