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10 Impressive Project Management Planning Tips

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The Top 10 Project Planning Difficulties

A listing of the top 10 difficulties suffered with project planning. Keep these pitfalls in mind when implementing your own project planning strategies to make it a success.

Misalignment

Number 10 on this list is not lining up project strategy with that of the group. Projects should mirror and enhance the strategy of the group as a whole so as to reach business goals. 70% said that their project portfolio matched that of their group, affecting both achievement of business goals and performance.

Lack of Experience

Number 9 is an inexperienced or untrained team. Project success heavily depends on having top notch people involved. Experience and staff training are vital to creating an effective and efficient team. 32.1% of organizations work towards improving project performance through skill development and ream building.

Inflexibility

Number 8 on this agenda is project scope inflexible to changes. It will never be a good thing when the scope of your project changes and it can normally be prevented with thorough planning. However, being adaptable and having a “Plan B” in case of unexpected change is imperative. Only 46.5% agree that a process was in place to address baseline changes in the scope of a project.

Over Optimistic

Number 7 would have to be being overly-optimistic with deadlines. Repeatedly missing deadlines creates an environment of distrust for your stakeholders, who may begin to question your ability to lead the project to completion. Respondents accounted for project failures to missed deadlines and inadequate estimations 32% of the time.

Poor Communication

Number 6 on this list is poor communication and a lack of regular meetings. Without regular communication and clarity among your team and all stakeholders, your project has a higher risk of failing. 38 percent say that their projects lacked clarity and critical decisions and actions were not effectively communicated.

Budget

Number 5 would be failure to budget properly. If you fail to have a budget in place before you begin the project, you may not be giving your team access to the resources they need to make the project successful. 45 percent say reasonable budget assumptions were neither documented nor assessed in recently failed projects.

Poor Monitoring

Number 4 listed on this agenda would be not establishing a system to approve and track changes. Accept that projects will change, but establish a process to track and approve so budget and success auditing can take changes into account when the project is over with. 62 percent say changes in scope, timing, approach, responsibility, pass/fail criteria, sign-off, and processes require effective quality assurance strategies.

Undefined Roles

Number 3 is undefined team roles and responsibilities. It is vital that everyone involved with your project understands what their work is, how it fits into the project wholly, and to whom they will be reporting. About 30 percent say no structure outlining teams and reporting relationships existed in past underachieving projects.

No Stakeholder Buy In

Number 2 on this agenda is not getting a stakeholder buy-in. All stakeholders in the outcomes of the project should fully support its employment. If they do not, then project failure will be blamed on you. 84% think the support of senior management contributed to their project’s success.

Lack of Clarity

Lastly on this list, number one is not being crystal clear about the scope of the project. When planning a project, the scope must be comprehensive, detailed, and crystal clear to team members, stakeholders, and, willingly, the whole organization to lay the foundation for success. 32% of managers believe poorly estimated timelines and outcomes are the largest reason that projects fail.

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