Project managers know that a lot of factors can lead to project failure: unrealistic goals, poor budgeting, and poor quality control. While the majority of projects that get off target can be saved, the secret to project success is not letting projects get off target in the first place. To do that involves key steps that are often overlooked and oversimplified: Planning, staffing, and communication.
Consider everything
According to project managers Ralph R. Young, Steven M. Brady, and Dennis C. Nagle, Jr., authors of How to Save a Failing Project; Chaos to Control, just scheduling, budgeting, and monitoring a project is not enough to produce satisfactory results. Instead, project managers must plan and identify their output: all the products that the project team must create.
A product breakdown structure can be created to define each component of the output, including progress reports, technical analyses, and other deliverables. Attached to this needs to be a work breakdown structure that estimates the resources needed for each aspect of the output. The project plan should also include a “process model” that outlines the activities and outcomes for each task.
If it’s anticipated that some tasks will need to be repeated, enough resources and funding should be allocated. Authors Young, Brady, and Nagle recommend dedicating 10% of the total scheduled project time to early planning and to continuing discussions about potential problems and changes.
Pick your people
These authors also cite bad personnel decisions as a factor in project failures. Project teams should be balanced and represent multiple skills sets. Once in place, regular, ongoing meetings should occur to discuss project progress, assess team performance, and make changes as necessary. An open and inclusive culture should be cultivated where people feel safe to point out problems and work with each other toward resolution. The article gives this example: A team with too many engineers and too few managers may struggle to keep a job on schedule and under budget.
Communicate
Finally, effective communication is needed to keep projects in control. The article states that stakeholders should all have the same understanding and expectations about a project’s purpose and its deadlines. They should have a way to discuss their needs and share input and learn updates about the project. In addition, project managers should work closely with stakeholders and customers to be sure they understand the “stated requirements.” Communication is vital to ensuring that developers understand what customers want and their actual needs. This communication fosters awareness and vested interest in a project so that quality control can happen throughout development, instead of as a final step in the process.
While these steps can keep projects in control, projects leaders should still be on the lookout for trouble signs:
- Missed deadlines
- Defective processes
- Demands for rework
- Relying on only select team members and not the entire team
- Poor change management
- Lack of backup plans
- Staff turnover
Enfocus Requirements Suite™ can help project managers stay in control. It provides intuitive automation plus a business analysis framework and a knowledgebase of resources to give PMs full control of planning, people, and communication.
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