Project Management Findings and Tips

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it. - Edmund Burke.

Quite interesting quote. And if we think of it, in terms of project management and yet we keep ignoring project management findings of research, survey, it is quite likely that we will keep repeat the project failure

Here are few findings from various reports, researches and survey which I hope will be refreshers and tips for project management professionals

• As PMBoK says, project is a temporary endeavor that has a definite beginning and end. However it can offer great deal of continuous learning process for project managers and project team

 

• Remember - a project plan is just a tool and not everything about project; yet meticulous planning is required else you are planning for setbacks and failure. Why? – A study by McKinsey & Co along with University of Oxford has found out that large IT project run 45% over budget & 7 % delayed/over time and worse – they deliver 56% lesser value than expected. Another survey by IBM concluded that only 40% of the projects met desired goal in terms of schedule, cost and quality.

 

• But the failure is not just attributed to process or tools, same IBM study has observed that it’s people factor (changing mindset, aligning attitudes) which are bigger obstacles to project success.

 

• However it is interesting to note that best organizations are 10 times more successful than worst organizations

 

• It is alarming to note that many organizations could not measure benefits of delivered projects hence they would not be able to identify true value of projects, as reported in KPMG study

 

• Agile project management has gained significant traction. It is cheering for agile practitioners to know that agile projects have 72% of success rate compared to 63% of traditional approach, according to Dr Dobbs Journal

 

• Like organizational politics, projects involves political and needless to say that project managers, project teams have to live with it and they should be able to manage it well

 

• Projects need minimum “right” infrastructure to run, monitor projects effectively like communication tools, project management tool, etc.

 

• Always have senior management and customer buy-in. No one likes bad surprises and once you have buy-in and even if there are surprises, they will help you out.

Image source: wpmudev