Common Project Problems

Spotting showstoppers before

they stop the show!
 All Projects Have Problems!
• Recognize that problems exist.
– Not all problems require immediate action.
– Some don’t require any action at all, just careful monitoring.
– Large and/or urgent problems require immediate attention, effective
action and a bottle of Advil.
• Large problems often have multiple owners and involve several resources or
large sums of money and can jeopardize budget, specification, resources
and scheduling. They also take a lot of time to resolve.
– Small and/or non-urgent problems often take care of themselves as the
project moves forward.
• Small problems often can be solved quickly and with minimal resources.
Non-urgent problems can be deferred until later without impact to the project,
the client, or the company.
– Safety problems must be addressed immediately to avoid death,
destruction and lawsuits.
• Most problems are predictable!
 Keep This in Mind
• Problems and change go together.
– Change can cause problems.
– Change handled skillfully might even solve
problems.
• Be honest in your assessment of project
problems and document these appraisals.
• As soon as you know something is wrong,
tell your boss or client immediately.
Waiting will not make things better.
 Problems, We’ve Got Problems!
• Floating start dates • Hey, who moved our
• Not enough time target objectives?
• Too many reports and • “I quit!”
not enough • Out-of-control costs
communication • Clueless staff
• Faster! We need it • The impossible dream
faster! • Politics
• Why, it’s 90% done
• Stupid boss tricks
already!
 Problem: Floating Start Date
• What to do if you can’t get your project started:
– Reanalyze the priority for the project.
– If the project needs to be completed to a fixed
schedule, communicate the problem to management,
then get someone to start the project, or adjust your
own schedule to make time for it.
– If the project starts late, communicate in writing the
new finish date to management and the project team.
– Analyze your daily activities to determine whether you
are wasting time on stuff that isn’t so important.
– Finally, never assume that people will be available if
your dates slip. Always ask about continued or new
availability.
 Problem: Not Enough Time
• What to do when there are more things than time to do
them in:
– Delegate activities and involve other people in the prioritization
and assignment of work. Don’t try to do it all yourself.
– Eliminate any work that isn’t necessary. Skip tasks that don’t
count.
– Say no when someone asks you to add tasks that interfere with
project priorities.
– Change the priorities for the work, but only do this after
communicating this change to other people on the project.
– Work longer hours as a last resort, and don’t knock yourself out.
You don’t want yourself or your team suffering from burnout.
Problem: Too Many Reports and
Poor Communication
• Don’t bog your project down in paperwork with too many
reports. This will impact quality, motivation and
schedules.
• Make a list of all the reports being produced for the
project, who is responsible for them, and what their
contents are. Critical review each to make sure it is
necessary, stays simple, and conveys the necessary
information.
• Visit critical team members on a regular basis and
continue to do so.
• Meet with people informally and ask how the project is
going. Informal meetings often result in honest
communications. (Management by walking around!)
• Unless you’re really in a meeting, keep an open door.
 Problem: Hurry Up! Faster!
• Implementing a “crash” schedule to get
products out faster or to generate needed
revenue doesn’t come without a price.
• Always consider faster alternatives to
finish a project, just in case.
• Consider the trade-offs in terms of other
business priorities, use of resources, and
the costs of getting things done faster.
 Problem: It’s 90% Done
• Why does 90% of the effort take only 30% of the
time, and the last 10% takes 200% of the
original schedule?
– Investigate the scope of the remaining work through
meetings or private sessions with key project
members. Do tasks need to be broken down better?
Are there technical difficulties?
– Consider if the remaining 10% of the work is
predictable.
• Creative tasks are hard to schedule and realistically assess.
• Technology breakthroughs aren’t always forthcoming.
– Encourage open communication with the entire team.
– Reward people for honesty and effort.
 Problem: Moving
Target Objectives
• When changes are requested too often and arbitrarily on
a project, it indicates a lack of consensus regarding the
original project plan or some other big problem between
manager, project, stakeholders and company.
– Make sure the authority for making project changes is clearly
documented in the project plan.
– Don’t start a project until the plan is approved by ALL
appropriate levels of management and other appropriate
stakeholders, including clients.
– Don’t promise to implement any changes to a project until you
have time to analyze and then document said proposed
changes.
– If you decide to make a change, be sure to update your project
plan accordingly.
 Problem: “I Quit!”
• Many projects rely on the special skills of a
single key person. If that person leaves, you are
in big trouble. How do you prevent this?
– Keep your key people happy. If they are dissatisfied,
find out why, and do your best to repair the situation.
– Cross-train people as work on the project goes along.
This is just sound common sense. Training will
minimize the impact of losing a key person. At the
same time, it will allow key people to take needed
breaks and vacations, knowing their work is covered.
– Be sure your key people are team players and that
their work is documented.
 Problem: Out-of-Control Costs
• Why costs spiral out of control:
– Lack of skill or discipline in estimating costs in the original
project plan
– Inadequate detail in the plan that results in vague or inaccurate
budgeting
– Schedule delays that eat up more resources than anticipated
– Unforeseen technical problems
– Changes in material or service costs that weren’t anticipated
– Changes in the project’s scope that aren’t reflected in the budget
updates
• How to control costs:
– Monitor expenses using appropriate accounting controls.
– Deal with money problems when budget problems first appear.
 Problem: Clueless Staff
• What to do when you have great people who don’t know
what they’re doing:
– Develop an objective skills appraisal system to select team
members at the beginning of the project.
– Watch the team to see if too much time is spent in social
activities.
– If (a) cool but unskilled person/people is/are willing to be trained,
additional education and OJT could help if the schedule can
absorb time needed for training.
– A consultant or outside contractor can sometimes make up for
the difference in skills, allowing a nice person to remain on the
project team in a lesser role.
– The project always takes priority, no matter how much you like a
particular person on your team.
 Problem: The Impossible Dream
• Don’t commit to more work than is possible.
• Don’t commit to impossible projects:
– Projects stemming from poor plans or lack of support
– Projects already in the works that have no hope of completion
– Projects with no staff and no hiring budget
– Projects underway for more than six months with no discernible
progress
– Projects that assume you will fundraise for them
– Projects in which managers are fighting with upper management to
cancel or significantly modify a project.
– Projects with impossible or unfocused goals.
• Realize that some things won’t happen as planned.
• Document all risks before a project is approved.
• As soon as you realize a project is impossible, get yourself and your
company out of it ASAP.
 Problem: Politics
• If political attitudes don’t affect the end
results of your project, just ignore them.
• If political agendas start undermining
project goals, treat the politics as you
would any other conflict and resolve the
situation through conflict resolution
techniques.
 Problem: Stupid Boss Tricks
• Smile and agree to consider your boss’s
silly ideas, no matter how stupid.
• If actually forced into it, put the process
into practice using the basics of good
project management, leadership, and
common sense to actually get something
done.
 Final Words of Advice-1
• Here are four things that will reduce the
impact of most project problems:
– Ask questions.
– Listen.
– Observe.
– Communicate clearly and honestly.
 Final Words of Advice-2
• Take care of yourself and your sanity.
– Get a life.
– Stop everything and get a handle on the
problems.
– Scale back, if you can.
– If life is really hell, step down from the project.
• Listen to your project team’s complaints.
– They could just be telling you something.