15 Common Mistakes of Project Managers

Common Mistakes of Project Managers

While we will review many of the common errors made in each of the fundamental areas of project management throughout this book (so you can avoid them), understanding the most common project management mistakes will help focus our efforts and help us to avoid the same mistakes on our projects. The following are some of the most common mistakes made by project managers:

1. Not clearly understanding how or ensuring the project is aligned with organizational objectives.
2. Not properly managing stakeholder expectations throughout the project.
3. Not gaining agreement and "buy-in" on project goals and success criteria from key stakeholders.
4. Not developing a realistic schedule that includes all work efforts, task dependencies, bottom-up estimates, and leveled assigned resources.
5. Not getting "buy-in" and acceptance on the project schedule.
6. Not clearly deciding and communicating who is responsible for what.
7. Not utilizing change control procedures to manage the scope of the project.
8. Not communicating consistently and effectively with all key stakeholders.
9. Not executing the project plan.
10. Not tackling key risks early in the project.
11. Not proactively identifying risks and developing contingency plans (responses) for those risks.
12. Not obtaining the right resources with the right skills at the right time.
13. Not aggressively pursuing issue resolution.
14. Inadequate requirements definition and management.
15. Insufficient management and leadership of project team.

The Absolute Minimum

At this point, you should have a high-level understanding of the following:

• The different roles played by the project manager
• The five key skill areas every project manager should master
• The common qualities of successful project managers
• The common mistakes made by project managers

The map in Figure 2.1 summarizes the main points we reviewed in this chapter.

Figure 2.1. The Project manager overview.