1. Defining the goals
First and foremost when working on a project, we want to know what we are trying to achieve. Clearly knowing our end goal, makes us feel like a part of it and motivates us to do everything in our power to get there. However, what happens with most teams is that the goals are not communicated and instead the day-to-day tasks are focused on. While it is important to know the short term tasks, it is even more important to communicate the end goal to the team. Only that will keep them focused, motivated and steer them into the right direction for the project.
2. Coordination
3. Communication
One of the most crucial parts when completing a project is effective communication. The team members, project manager and stakeholders need to have a seamless way of communicating on the project progress. However, what often happens is that communication between them is very structured and delayed. Instead of communicating the problem right away, there is a need to wait for meetings or to go through various levels of management. This means that the issues which could be solved instantly are put away until the next meeting to be dealt with, which delays the whole project itself.
4. Deadlines
5. Stakeholder engagement
More accurately a lack of stakeholder engagement. A team member, project manager or the client that is not really engaged in the project, does bring a lot of negativity into the process itself. For the most part, these projects still get to the finish line, however it is done in a slower and more painful way. Simply making sure that all the team members are motivated to complete the project will save a lot of time and energy of dragging the project to completion with a dead weight.
Do you encounter these or other project management pitfalls? Put them into your comments below.