18 Pitfalls of Project Management and Proven Ways to Avoid Them

13. Team Burnout

Some projects can last a very long time – years.  Stuck in the same old, day in and day out can take its toll on the team.  Then, when a critical phase hits, mental exhaustion takes over the team at the worst possible time.

Despite the ups and downs that go with a project, a project manager should also provide positive energy and motivation to the team.  Even in tough times, find the silver linings to keep the team motivated and focused.  Burnout is a very real thing. 

RELATED: Identifying and Preventing Employee Burnout

14. A Poor Paper Trail

Effective record keeping can be the difference between recovering costs from a customer-driven change and eating that cost because you didn’t document an agreement.   

Proper documentation is an essential mandate for any project manager.  While 9 times out of 10 it may seem like a waste of time and just administrative in nature, that 10th time will yield a piece of paper that can save the day.

Create a clear paper trail by:

• Establishing regular communication with customer and documenting agreements / decisions.
• Documenting meeting minutes with client.
• Establishing a Rolling Action Item List (RAIL) to keep records of task owners and dates.
• Proactively documenting things on behalf of the client if they fail to do it themselves (e.g. “Customer agreed to change due date to the 14th.”)
• Formally issue documents with dates, document numbers and revision history to establish proper history of events.

15. Organizational Indifference

It would be nice if every contract we win, big or small, is treated with equal importance.  But we know that’s not the case. 

You can have the right team, enough staff, a solid change management strategy and an excellent documentation trail.  But if the organization doesn’t provide enough support, make timely strategic decisions or remove barriers from the team, a great business opportunity can still sink.

Unfortunately, smaller, less risky, or less visible projects are often placed on a back burner by the organization.  It happens.  Still, you need the organization’s support and guidance in order to achieve successful completion of the project.

To combat organizational indifference:

• Schedule recurring reviews / status updates with stakeholders to force a conversation.
• Quantify issues – senior leaders are accustomed to hearing about problems and challenges. To get their attention, don’t just talk in generalities. Use specific numbers to explain costs, schedules and resources.
• Capitalize on escalation opportunities (e.g. mention issues when the VP happens to be in town).
• Publish regular updates in an email to the leadership team.  Use a simple and to-the-point communication approach that will convey important details quickly and easily.

RELATED: How to Create an Executive Summary

16. Failing to Escalate Problems that Need Support

No one like admitting defeat or that they can’t do something.  But, bad news doesn’t get better with time.

Even though the team may feel it has things under control, most of the time you know when help is truly needed. 

Failing to escalate big issues to the organization allows problems to fester and consumes valuable time.  If you let these obstacles go unresolved for, say, 3 months, not only is that time you cannot get back but it’s also likely to be more costly trying to go back and undo the actions you’ve since taken.

So, when a problem emerges that requires higher-level organizational involvement for resolution, don’t hesitate.  Asking for help is not only the right thing to do, it’s the responsibility of the project manager to do it.

To help with escalation:

• Include an agenda items for “Help Needed” in every program review with senior leaders.  A standard agenda item will force the team to identify (or at least discuss) any concerns it feels are noteworthy.
• Establish pre-defined financial limits on decision-making and required leadership involvement in projects. 
• Hold “subject-specific” reviews within your organization (e.g. financial, technical, program, supply chain, etc.). Focused discussions like this offer a forum to raise specific complex issues that may not be suited for a general program status meeting.   

17. Inexperience

Inexperience, of the team, the project manager, or the organization, can ruin a great project opportunity.  Worse yet, couple inexperienced decision-making with organizational indifference and any number of issues could emerge.

In any workplace, though, a lack of experience isn’t something you can just manage “around.”  All employees are learning and growing.  Nonetheless, having experience embedded in a team is incredibly important, particularly when it comes to making very calculated, strategic decisions.

So, when working through a steep learning curve and inexperience on parts of the team, here are some precautions you can take:

• Partner junior staff with a senior member of the team to both develop the junior employee but also to ensure there’s experience assigned to lead every branch of the project.
• Hold regular status updates with senior leaders of the organization to provide a safety net that can identify gaps or things the team has overlooked.
• If you are struggling or unsure how to approach a given challenge, seek out a mentor who can provide valuable insight.
• Discuss lessons-learned with more experienced project leaders to gain perspective, ideas and tips.

And if everyone is new and you don’t have enough internal experience:

• Look to hire a specialist to bring in that experience.
• Hire an external consultant to guide your way.
• Seek a free external business coach in your local community.

RELATED: Do I Really Need to Hire a Specialist?

18. Making Mistakes

Lastly, whether the result of an innocent error or a rushed decision, mistakes can be costly to a program.  And yet, mistakes will always happen.  So, what can you do?

As a project manager, the only thing you can do to combat mistakes is to develop ways to prevent them in the first place.  Here are just some of the ways you can do that:

• Establish a database where the organization captures lessons learned as it goes through every project.  Then, review the lessons learned database prior to starting every new program. 
• Continuously seek ways to improve your execution processes and strategies (e.g. communication protocol, process checklists, worksheets for evaluating risk, etc.).  Do this between projects, or at least annually.
• Challenge team members to verify they’ve thought through their decisions.
• Share your own thought process around your decisions to solicit feedback from team members.
• Continuously reevaluate the project’s direction and ask: “does this make sense?”

Avoiding Pitfalls and How to Prevent a Program from Failing

Any number of challenges can inflict harm on a project’s success.  Further, many of these pitfalls are the result of process or communication gaps that span the entire lifecycle of a program, from the planning phase to the conclusion of the project.

Fortunately, there are several strategies you can implement to prevent these common problems from influencing your project in the first place.

So, as a final word:

• Remain vigilant and keep an eye out for anomalies on a regular basis.
• Trust the team, but verify progress and decisions are in-line with expectations.
• Create and establish a clear documentation trail as a witness to progress.
• Maintain a culture of transparency and communication; healthy collaboration – internally and externally – is the best path to success.

By proactively monitoring team activities, maintaining necessary communication, and regularly engaging your organization’s leadership, you are well on your way to running a successful project.

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