One of the biggest problems in the IT industry is the mismanagement that comes along with handling multiple projects.
While no two projects are exactly the same, the issues that can affect — and potentially jeopardise — them are often quite similar. And even good project managers can make mistakes when wrangling a big, complex project — or when being bombarded with change requests.
Here are a few common mistakes that IT professionals make and a possible advice for avoiding them.
* 'It’s important for the entire team to know roles and responsibilities and deliverables' right from the start, says Shami Ahuja, director of agile practice at technology consulting firm Nisum.
This is why it’s a good idea to hold a kickoff meeting with all stakeholders.
'A kickoff meeting helps to define and set expectations — and makes the team more self-dependent and self-organised.
It also instills a higher level of accountability and ownership.
* To avoid leaving your team feeling overwhelmed break big projects in to smaller pieces.
'Breaking large project into small, manageable pieces will make the team feel more comfortable and confident that they can successfully tackle what may seem like an impossible project and accomplish each task,' says Sid Soil, owner of document imaging and storage provider DOCUdavit.
* It’s important for — and the job of — the project manager to let team members know what tasks should take priority and when priorities have changed.
'Many IT departments have multiple, concurrent projects running, for both internal and external customers,' explains Cortney Thompson, CIO of data center services provider Green House Data.
And 'too many times, we see staff keeping their head down on a project that is a lower priority while a higher visibility project starts to slip.'
'Clearly communicating project priorities can help save a lot of hassle and headache,' he says.
* Failing to properly manage team members, or micromanaging them, can 'lead to delays, impact quality and result in cost overruns.'
'Too many project managers get bogged down focusing on the scope, quality, cost and timeline associated with their projects' and forget about the people who are actually doing the work, says IrfanKapasi, managing director, strategic solutions and services, at IT staffing firm Computer Task Group.
To avoid this problem, 'make sure everyone understands how and why their role is important to the success of the project and schedule time for periodic check-ins,' he advises.
* 'While nobody will refute the importance of constant communication to successful project management, once a project is underway it's easy to miss times to meet with the team or provide updates to key stakeholders,' says Bob Drainville president of time tracking app maker Timesheet Mobile.
* 'When adding features [or considering changes] you need to ask yourself a few questions,' says KofiSenaya, director of product at mobile app development company Clearbridge Mobile.
He further says to ask questions such as, 'Do new feature requests align with the product vision? Do the proposed changes add value to the end user? Are they critical or nice to have? Clearly defining product goals and identifying success factors can help ensure that change requests and added features that aren’t aligned to objectives don’t threaten timelines.'
* As every project manager knows, sometimes, despite your best efforts, things go wrong or the project fails.
And 'the fear of failure can sometimes lead a project manager to an exercise of futility in trying to salvage a doomed project,' says Brandon Evans, CTO of project portfolio management software provider Changepoint.
That’s why it is essential to 'create a vehicle for transparent and truthful reporting… [that] provides executive stakeholders with information that allows for good, timely decision making,' he says.
Courtesy: www.cio.com
