8 PM Blunders

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8 Project ManagementBlunders That CanCost You Your Neck

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It's that point in the meeting that all project managers dread. The

moment when all eyes turn to you, and the Big Kahuna (aka the CEO,

the Chairman of the Board, the VP of Marketing) basically says, "This

cluster is falling on your head."

Maybe it's not a literal beheading that you receive, but it's definitely

nothing good for your career.

As a project manager, you'll be shouldering much of the blame if things

go wrong. That's not easy or necessarily fair, especially when you put

so much into your work.

Which is why we spoke with Solution Architect (and Project

Management savant)Carl Manello of Slalom Consultingto identify

these 8 common project management blunders. Addressing these will

not only keep your head on, but will keep it on straight.

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Any project manager has probably heard this time and time again: You must clearly define the

scope of your project. Be it in the form of a definition document, a program charter, or whatever

you want to call it, you need to document the who, what, why and how of your project.

Yet time and time and again, people don't. They fall victim to scope creep, and the project

veers wildly off track.

Consider Manello's analogy: Imagine you are project managing the construction of a house.

Have you agreed with the buyer how big the house should be? Will it require gas heat or

electric? One story or two? These questions must be answered upfront, or the schedule and

budget may be a disaster. Your project is no different.

1 You're Not Clear From the Get-Go

This happens all the time. Remember that scope document we so diligently crafted? Most forget

about it once the project is underway, and that's when the change requests come flying in.

Manello says you should stop and ask a critical question, "Do we line the requests up against

the original scope, or do we just blindly accept them?" In other words, is there a legitimate

justification for the change? If not, you're headed down a slippery slope.

2 You Accept a Change Request Withouta Second Thought

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A status report is due, and a member of a team documents everything and anything they've

done for the last two weeks. Manello notes this is an easy way for the team member to justify

his or her existence.

The problem is this that this information dump doesn't provide context to the project as a whole.

Are all those tasks the team-member completed helping to move the project forward? If so,

how? The ideal is to start with a document that shows how completed tasks will move the

project forward.

3 Your Status Report Has No Context

It's great if your project is on time and on-budget but what if the status report doesn't indicate

that you've only produced 10% of the widgets you were supposed to create? Make sure your

metrics reflect the overall progress of the project and include relevant business metrics.

4 Your Status Report is Only About

Money and Time

A one-page progress report can become a five-page report after five reporting periods, unless

you take out the information about what's already been completed. "There's no need to report

continuously on the past," Manello said. "A report should be focused on current efforts."

5Your Status Report is Cumulative

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Project management is about more than just managers and people. It also requires

governance over the methods, process templates and tools that will result in an initiative's

success.

"Processes should streamline delivery, templates should ease and enable, and tools should

only automate what has been proven to work effectively in a manual fashion," Manello wrote in

his article,The art of project management: the four horsemen,a sentiment which should make

a project manager stand up and cheer.

Carl admits to being a tool bigot in this regard. "Get a good process in place first," he said. "A

tool can be very encumbering to try and force-fit into an organization that has yet to master the

process or which lacks the capabilities to perform."

8 Your Management is Only About People

Now that you're up to speed on the 8 worst blunders, it's up to you to avoid them as best you

can. Naturally, some of these blunders will be out of your control it may someone higher up

the food chain who is running the train off the tracks.

If that's the case, feel free to share this article with them. Put your heads together. It's better

than the alternative, right?

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8 PM Blunders