Ask Cadence: The Project Management Podcast

• Project Problem 8: Project Managers are Passive

  In this episode's conclusion to "The 8 Biggest Problems" podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number eight in the series: Project Managers are Passive. "In some companies, this is problem number one. I've saved it until problem number one, however, because I want to underscore it's importance." There's a core confusion in organizations between coordination and leadership. A coordinator assists the project manager in the logistical needs and support of the project. "They're describing the wake at the rear of the boat," says Patton. They are not project leaders. On the other hand, project managers are well prepared with excuses defending poor project performance. "One of the most common," says Patton, "'This project was delayed due to circumstances beyond my control.' If it's out of their control, how could they possibly steer the project around it?"

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• Project Problem 7: Changes are Not Controlled

  This time, in "The 8 Biggest Problems" podcast, Cadence founder John Patton brings you problem number seven in the series: Changes to cost, schedule, and performance are not controlled. Even project teams with the best intentions suffer the challenges of "Scope Creep," says Patton, and there are a number of contributing factors. For example, project team members often don't have a complete understanding of projects during the planning phase and make changes to the work they're doing past the half-way point of the project. Project managers agree to changes without due process, in an effort to provide good customer service, without understanding the changes being requested. "Managers are uncomfortable with limits," Patton says. "They want the flexibility to make changes when they think of them because they live in a world which is constantly changing and they're constantly making adjustments to provide better customer service, better service to their clients in this living operating environment." However, a muddy change process becomes a circle that causes the schedule to slip, tasks to be late, and has a potentially negative overall project impact. This time, Patton describes a process for addressing Task, Deliverable and Project level change to maintain efficiency and understanding while maintaining control over Cost, Schedule, and Performance variables on the project and respecting project authority. "The people who complained the most about scope creep are the people who make the changes" Patton says. "Those are the project managers and the team members."

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• Project Problem 6: Responsibility is Unclear

  A common stumbling-block for companies appears well into the project planning and implementation stage, when roles have been decided but actual responsibility at the task level is lacking. We have detailed several causes and effects below, along with a best-practice solution to help you ensure that your project has the greatest possible chance of success. While the overall project aim, timeline, team, and roles may have been defined, often the tasks that are needed to move the entire project forward are not sufficiently detailed. Some necessary tasks may be overlooked altogether and others are not assigned to the appropriate person. The solution for this is to have a constantly-updated chart where the individual tasks are clearly detailed, along with the team member responsible for each one and a completion date.

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• Project Problem 5: Inability to Get Team Members

  A common challenge many clients face in project management is simply being able to get enough people onto the project team. To build crucial momentum, a successful project requires sufficient team members to take care of all aspects of the planning and execution. What makes this problem especially insidious is that in some cases, it may initially appear that you have enough willing team members for your project. What becomes apparent as the project gets underway however is that a significant number of these members are already overcommitted on other projects and therefore unable to contribute fully in their role as intended. This can also be a timing problem, where people assigned earlier to your project are unavailable at its commencement due to other projects they are involved in running late. Then there are the situations where recently completed projects fail, leading to emergency situations that occupy human resource, leaving your project stuck on the runway.

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• Project Problem 4: People Don't Know How to Plan

  A common problem that we regularly see with clients in a broad spectrum of industries is that many people simply don’t have the ability to plan their section of the work required for the project to be successful. Planning isn’t a skill that comes naturally to most people. It requires determined, focused mental effort – as Henry Ford is reputed to have said: "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it!" There are tools to assist with project planning, but these don’t necessarily break down the project into the component step-by-step parts that each individual will need to contribute. This problem can lead to the project never getting off the ground at all, or alternatively, proceeding in a series of small gains followed by setbacks due to a lack of proper planning. This in turn can lead to discouragement and negative feeling on the part of all involved.

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