5 actions that endanger your projects
The success or failure of a project is often due to few things. A delay on a task, an unexpected expense or the departure of an employee are all elements that can derail a project that has started well.
In project management, there are a large number of risks and constraints that can endanger your projects. As a project manager, it is therefore essential to be attentive and to know how to identify behaviors that can hinder the success of your project.
Here are 5 actions to avoid because they risk jeopardizing your project.
Not planning your project
We have just given you the management of a new project that you are passionate about. Very enthusiastic, you throw yourself headlong into the realization of the project without taking the time to at least plan your work and the progress of the project. This rookie mistake could cause your project to fail.
Planning consists in organizing the progress of the various stages of a project. This allows you to break up the project into tasks, set deadlines to meet the deadline, and allocate resources. Planning allows you to have a global vision of your project and all the tasks to be carried out to succeed.
It is not recommended to plan your project in every detail because unexpected events can occur and completely upset your initial schedule. However, it is important to plan the outline so you can define your priorities, anticipate potential problems and ensure that everything is running smoothly.
Procrastinate
Do you often say to yourself: “I'll do it later” or “I don't want to/don't have time to do this task now”? So you tend to procrastinate, a barbaric word that means putting off until tomorrow what you can or should do the same day.
This bad habit affects your productivity and the success of your projects, because by constantly putting off until the next day, you end up falling behind in your tasks, and the entire project may not meet deadlines.
Overcoming procrastination requires goodwill, motivation, and organization. Start by identifying the reasons why you procrastinate. Then, set goals that are simple and easily achievable by breaking down your important tasks into sub-tasks, and listing the tasks to be completed during the day. Finally, eliminate all distractions (emails, social networks and the Internet, telephone) to stay focused.
Do not communicate
In professional life as well as in private life, the lack of communication can have disastrous consequences. In project management, communication between team members and with the various stakeholders is essential. How can you know the needs and requirements of your customer if you are not talking to them? How can you know where your employees are if you don't check in with them regularly? How do you engage and motivate them if you never communicate with each other?
As you will have understood, communication is essential because it allows you to inform, coordinate, plan, anticipate, improve, take the right decisions at the right time and unite a team. And above all, communication promotes collaboration.
Do not encourage collaboration
The success of a project is rarely the work of one man, but the collaborative work of an entire team. Here, it is the word collaborative that is very important. Indeed, if each member of the project team works alone in their own corner, the project may not progress as quickly as it should. Nobody knows who is doing what, or where the status of a task is, and some employees may get stuck on a task because they do not have the skills or knowledge necessary to complete it in its entirety. Your Project can then quickly fall behind schedule due to lack of collaboration. between team members.
Collaboration is for a group of individuals to pool their skills, knowledge and experience in order to work together to accomplish a task or to achieve a common goal. Collaborators share their knowledge, discuss and solve problems together, and move forward more quickly by pooling their efforts and by constantly discussing the progress of the project.
Bonus: discover our tips to facilitate collaboration.
In addition, today, there are a multitude of tools that facilitate collaboration and communication within teams.
Use the wrong tools
Do you persist in working with an Excel spreadsheet to monitor the progress of your projects? Do you continue to send emails to communicate with your employees? What era do you live in?
If you ask a chef to make a meal for 100 people only with a wooden spoon and one hand behind your back, you are seriously compromising his chances of success. On the other hand, give him the right tools and he will do wonders. It's the same for project management.
In the digital age, new software and apps are being developed every day to simplify your life and improve your productivity. Project management software like Wimi is a complete tool that brings together all the essential functionalities to effectively manage your projects, monitor their progress, organize the work of your teams, promote communication and facilitate collaboration.
Your data is centralized in a single space. Notifications and alerts let you know if there are delays or problems so you can take action as soon as possible. You have a better visibility on the progress of your project and on the performance of your team. In short, you have all the cards in hand to transform your projects into success.
To conclude
Plan, respect your goals, communicate, encourage collaboration and use appropriate tools, you now know what you should do and what not to do to avoid putting your projects at risk. It's up to you to play!
