Michael AdamsSolutions Architect| LANLLos Alamos, Nm, United States
I'm curious to learn about people's biggest project management mistake. What was that mistake? What were the impacts of it? Were you able to correct it, and if so, how?
How did that experience alter your approach to project management? Saving Changes...
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Michael AdamsSolutions Architect| LANLLos Alamos, Nm, United States
I'll start this off. My biggest mistake is one that I have a tendency towards reproducing. Over confidence in an optimistic view of deliverables. I have a tendency to think "nah...we can pull this off."
I've had to train myself to note when I have that thought and then get into communication with the sponsor, to discuss the status of the project and determine how best to proceed. Saving Changes...
Gopal SahaiCorporate Trainer| Self employedNew Delhi, Delhi, India
The biggest mistake in (software) project implementations that I have noticed in most of my projects has been in terms of Project KPIs: shifting goals...shifting priorities.
With passing time and loose scope control, the destination keeps changing the moment a hurdle is faced in implementation. This is more so in case of a Functional Organization setup.
And yes, we tend to think "nah...we can pull this off..." and we can''t.
Coming from the stakeholders most of the time, frankly I haven''t developed the flair to have that curbed. I have suffered in the hands of Influential stakeholders with coming back on making changes in the design document itself.
For me, the biggest mistake is not having adequate Change Control and not having an effective Stakeholder Management. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
My biggest mistake is not sharing unresolved issues to the project sponsor. It''s easy to think, you can resolve them on your own. Make sure she knows what your three most important issues are so she can help you. Saving Changes...
Michael AdamsSolutions Architect| LANLLos Alamos, Nm, United States
Gopal and Stephane, thanks for sharing! Those are both excellent examples.
Gopal, change control and stakeholder management can definitely undermine a project. I''m curious if you''ve primarily used Agile for software implementations or waterfall? It sounds like your organization wants to employ an agile methodology, but I could be quite mistaken here. Have you tried creating a change control board? I''ve seen them be quite effective and I''ve seen them be more of a rubber stamp committee.
Stephane, I think you hit the nail on the head with that. It is a very succinct way of saying what I said, and more. Mine was very specific, and you pointed out that simply avoiding the sponsor is the issue. It made me think, and I realized that I tell myself "nah we can do this." But what is really happening is I don''t want to have that conversation with the sponsor, so as you say, I fail to share unresolved issues with the sponsor.
You''re right too, the sponsor is an important resource for project success. Saving Changes...
Gopal SahaiCorporate Trainer| Self employedNew Delhi, Delhi, India
I get confused when the CCB authorises changes that eventually land you into "spiral staircase" kinda situation. I call this as software ''manufacturing'' instead of development...just as in manufacturing the finished product is rolled out and not left to be further developed later. Not all scenarios can be developed on day one and I guess software needs to develop in phases over a period of time.
This urge to cover ALL business scenarios - more often than not, by the stakeholders themselves - has led to uncontrolled scope expansion in my current project. In cases where the heads of respective functional departments are the stakeholders and some being part of the (informal) CCB, I find it a big struggle not to include the new set of customizations.
And hence I identified it as a problem of Change Management control and Managing my Stakeholders. Saving Changes...
Michael AdamsSolutions Architect| LANLLos Alamos, Nm, United States
Gopal, I just saw this response...apologies for the late response. Thanks for your input. You make an interesting point about a CCB being more of a rubber stamp committee. Do they do this even after you''ve explained how their approved changes will impact the schedule and/or budget? Man, that is a tough situation!
I''m going to add to my initial shortcoming a sense that, "I can learn and do this." I really like learning new things and practicing them, but when I''m working on a project, as the PM, it often is not the right time to learn and practice new SME skills, like marketing!
I''m in that situation right now, and the project that I''ve worked very hard on may not be very successful due to my thinking I could learn a new skill and do a great job with it. I needed support and a mentor on that skill, who could step in and take over if what I did wasn''t enough. Oops! Saving Changes...
I used to think of resources as people and equipment – only.
Where I worked we had a test floor and a "floor manager' whose job it was to schedule testing areas (square footage) with physical security, power, cooling and whatever was needed to meet project requirements. Every project required something odd or different. This was a big building and he and his team had jobs planned out years in advance on a big board. I can see it in my mind as I type this.
One project I had required that we build a prototype with that included computer racks with chilled water cooling, large amounts of power (AC: 1600 Hz), hydraulic lines, filters… the works. The project team did a great job of decomposing our scope and deciding what was required. We ordered the parts. Lots of parts. EXPENSIVE parts. They arrived in shipping and receiving one day and I received a phone call. “Where do you want us to deliver all this stuff?”
I forgot that testing floor space was a valuable resource. I had no place to start building the prototype. The project team had no place to work. My lack of planning skills became the topic of several high-level discussions.
Lesson: Resources are EVERYTHING you will need to complete your project. Saving Changes...
