As Africa continues to records tremendous growth the property sector, project management has become key and is needed in each time development project is done.
Most of the project management companies can agree that they probably have a great framework that guides them on how to manage each project, but even the most robust project management system will occasionally encounter a snafu.
Here are five of the most common project management mistakes, and how you can solve them:
The Wrong Person is in Charge
I firmly believe that everyone is capable of managing a project if they put their mind to it, but the truth is that different people have different strengths, and some people are much better behind the reins than others.
A wrong project manager can make your project have low results that’s by making poor decisions that is normally brought about with the lack of experience.
Project Management Solution: During the early stages of a project, when you’re thinking about resources allocation, remember that you should also be thinking about allocating the right people to the roles within that project. Your people are resources, too. So make sure the job is going to the right person, not just the first name on a list.
Project Overload
It’s a common fallacy among managers that if you want to get a lot of work done, you should put all your projects into production at once. That way, progress is always being made toward all your goals.
The reality is that too many ongoing projects can leave your team feeling burnt out. Multi-tasking across multiple projects actually leads to a loss of productivity, as constantly shifting gears causes the brain to slow down in order to process all the new tasks required. Multiply this by all the people involved in a project across your company, and you’re going to have several delays.
Project Management Solution: Of course, depending on the type of company you’re in, it’s probably impossible to eliminate many of these projects. But try to decrease Work-in-Progress by 25%. You may be surprised at how much faster tasks are completed with less work out there.
Scope Changing
The issue of scope is often related to issue 2, above, but it can have other origins; external stakeholders adding further work to the projects, individual team members inflating their contributions, and clients misunderstanding what is or isn’t included in the project.
Scope-creep is one of the most devastating issues to strike a project, as it can quickly derail your timeline and budget, and you might not even notice until it’s too late.
Project Management Solution
A proper client-onboarding process will ensure that your client will understand exactly what they’re paying for, and how extra work is charged. It can also be good to include project documentation and a breakdown of costs in your initial estimate – clients can read through this information to better understand your process.
Frequent monitoring of the project through your project management software will ensure that the project remains on schedule and within the original parameters.
