​A project is a unique undertaking that’s full of risk and uncertainty, because it has never been done before in that exact way. Project management, as a discipline, is a response to this ambiguity. It’s a way to control the unknown. Just consider the most important techniques we use as project managers: we define scope, analyse requirements, plan and estimate work, add contingency, manage risks, track changes and check the quality. These techniques are designed to control uncertainty and plan for the things that could go wrong. We also analyse our stakeholders and draw up a communication plan that will help us gain their buy-in and support. If we don't take time to apply these project management tools, we may jeopardise the success of the project. As Murphy’s Law reminds us, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And when it goes wrong it may be the worst possible moment.
 
Let the following three examples remind us of how bad it can go. These projects have served the public in amazing ways after they became fully operational. But let’s not forget that they started off as failures. 

Heathrow Terminal 5

Heathrow Terminal 5 was built to handle a yearly capacity of up to 35 million passengers. It was 19 years in the making with the construction phase spanning 6 of those years. It consisted of 16 individual projects and involved over 60 contractors. In other words, it was a HUGE project.
 
At the time of opening in March 2008, only 85% of project deliverables had been completed. As construction work was running late, IT testing and staff training had also been delayed. In spite of the delays, it was decided to go ahead with the original opening date without deferring it. Terminal 5 was a big deal and moving the opening date would have been a big deal too. As a result of the delay there was less time available for hands-on training, dress rehearsals and fixing any problems arising from testing. Cutting short the testing and simulation activities had severe consequences.
 
On the opening day itself, staff had difficulties parking, moving around the terminal and operating the systems. But worst of all was the failing baggage handling system. On the first day 15,000 bags were lost and 35 flights were cancelled as the airport struggled to clear the baggage backlog. By 5pm passengers were told to travel without luggage if they still wanted to fly. 

​In the first week 500 flights were cancelled, 23,000 bags had been misplaced and hundreds of passengers had been left stranded. MPs described the opening as a national humiliation.
 
Although Terminal 5 was a much bigger project than most of us will ever get involved in, we can still learn from its lessons. Making a project operationally ready should never be underestimated or compromised. Testing, training, dry runs and handovers are essential activities on most projects. 

The Millennium Bridge

London’s Millennium Bridge was the first pedestrian bridge over the Thames in 100 years. Proclaimed as an engineering feat in its slender profile, the 320 metres suspension bridge was built in 2000. It was constructed using lateral suspension, an engineering innovation allowing suspension bridges to be built without tall supporting columns. But two days after its initial opening it was forced to close due to safety reasons. It was swaying – or wobbling – so much that people had to hold the handrails in order to stay safe. 

​The bridge had been hit by a phenomenon called synchronous lateral excitation caused by the movement of the thousands of people who crossed the bridge by foot on its opening day. Whereas lateral excitation was a known phenomenon, the engineers had failed to understand that even when people walk randomly, a certain percentage is bound to “match step” and thereby cause lateral motion in the bridge.
 
As a result of this oversight the bridge was closed to the public just two days after its initial opening. Engineers spent 19 months reinforcing the structure with 91 dampers designed to reduce the movement. When the bridge was reopened in 2002 it had cost an additional £5million ponds.
 
Although the Millennium Bridge is a beautiful piece of architecture, let’s remind ourselves of the importance of proper risk management. Some risks are highly unlikely but if they were to happen the impact would be severe. It’s the team’s responsibility to respond appropriately to these risks. In the case of the Millennium Bridge it seems the risk of lateral excitation had been identified, but not appropriately addressed. 

Sydney Opera House

​As Australia’s most distinctive brand, Sydney Opera House attracts tourists from all over the world and adds almost $800 million to the Australian economy every year. But although the Opera House is a national symbol and has been recognised as an incredible feat of architecture, it’s one of the best-known case studies of a failed infrastructure project.
 
The architect, Jørn Utzon was appointed in 1957 with the construction of the Opera House starting in 1959. The goal was to complete the building in four years with a budget of AUS $7 million. But the project took a very different turn. It ended up taking 14 years to complete and cost a whopping AUS $102 million. A number of things went wrong that could be classified as project management failures:

• There was no detailed plan in place when the project started and there was no project manager
• The project was deliberately underestimated by its proponents to get the project approved and started
• The design of the building was not completed by the time construction got underway. Utzon protested but for political reasons the government was pushing for the construction to start.
• Major changes to the requirements were approved after construction had started, moving from two to four theatres. This meant that the designs, which were already challenging for the construction team to build, had to be modified on the go.
• The Danish architect resigned from the project mid way through as he felt his creative freedom was restricted. The government had started to withhold payments as it felt costs were spiralling out of control.
• Redesigns, underestimates and cost overruns continued until Queen Elizabeth II finally inaugurated the Opera House in 1973.

 
Human ingenuity is not enough to make projects happen. We need proper project management to control the unknown elements. We also need excellent leadership to create a unified team of designers, engineers, clients and stakeholders, who act from a place of trust and honesty and who do what’s in the project’s best interest. Thankfully the world of project management has evolved since the 60ties and 70ties and is now a recognised practice. But we need to keep reminding ourselves of the failures of the past so that they are not repeated.


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Good project management is so much more than the application of processes – we know that. But although it's people who deliver projects, processes support them in doing so and certainly have a place. Even with the best people it's hard to deliver a successful project without a solid method for defining and controlling the project’s scope, requirements, benefits, costs, quality and risks. How unfortunate then, that many project managers make basic mistakes and fail to put in place a solid foundation based on which the project can progress. 

Are you at risk of making any of the below process-related mistakes?

1. You fail to see the bigger commercial picture of the project: You assume that the sponsor or someone more senior has already produced a strong and viable business case and that costs and benefits stack up.

2. You compromise the planning stage: You succumb to pressure from senior stakeholders who believe that the project can be delivered quicker if the planning stage is reduced.

3. You produce a superficial project initiation document or project plan: You leave out important detail about what will be delivered and how it will be delivered, and you fail to make use of product breakdown structures, milestones and iterations with clear outcomes and deliverables.

4. You plan in isolation: You don’t involve the entire team in the planning process because you believe that you ought to know it all and do it all.

5. You are not in sufficient control of scope and requirements management: You document the requirements at too high a level and don't clearly specify what is out of scope.

6. You underestimate the project’s effort: You are too optimistic when estimating the project. You only account for the sunny case scenarios and leave out contingency to cater for uncertainties.

7. You use a mechanical risk management process: You have produced a risk register but you haven’t turned it into action or accounted for risks when planning how the project is actually undertaken.

8. You have a poor governance process: The escalation process is unclear, the steering committee hasn’t been established or it isn’t summoned on a regular basis.

9. You fail to effectively review and learn from project mistakes: Projects are reviewed after implementation and not whilst they are being undertaken so that the team can learn in the experience.

10. You fail to get proper buy-in for planning documents: You treat the sign-off stage as a tick-box exercise instead of ensuring that stakeholders have actually understood the contents and the meaning of the documents.

You may feel that the above list is heavily exaggerated, but unfortunately it's the harsh reality that many projects suffer from one or more of these process-related mistakes. Project mangers sometimes follow a process for the sake of compliance without attaching much meaning to it. But value-add comes from the meaningful application of a process. If a process, tool or technique doesn’t add value it shouldn’t be used. Risk management for instance has little value if all you do is to log the risks and assign ownership and mitigating actions, but subsequently don’t follow up and don’t take these risks into consideration when planning, estimating and executing the project. Similarly the project plan or charter has little value if it hasn’t been produced in collaboration with the team and if the stakeholders aren’t fully bought into it. 

What’s interesting, is that many project managers know what needs to get done, but are still not doing it. Why is that? Are they too complaisant or busy putting out fires elsewhere? What is your situation? Do you sometimes fail to make use of proven project management practices even if you know better? What is the first step in alleviating that?

(Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)


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It is unfortunate that many project managers make basic mistakes and don’t put in place a solid foundation based on which the project can progress. This, amongst other factors, is preventing them from stepping up and becoming project leaders.

Project leaders know that projects must be rooted in a logical and structured approach to delivery, as without it everything else falls apart. If we do not have a solid method for defining and controlling the project’s scope, benefits, deliverables, costs, quality, risks and responsibilities, the project is unlikely to be successful even if the project manager is excellent at leading and motivating people. It is true that people deliver projects, but processes support them in doing so. 
 
Below is a list of the most classic mistakes that project managers make when it comes to the more process-related aspect of the job. Are you guilty of making any of these mistakes too? 

1. Not paying sufficient attention to the planning stages of the project; being too eager to start building and developing without knowing what the end game is and how to get there is a classic mistake. Project managers succumb to pressure from senior stakeholders who don’t understand the importance of planning and who have a naïve hope that the project can be delivered quicker if the planning stage is reduced. 
 
2. Lack of attention to the project’s business case; many project managers fail to ensure that there is a sound rationale for undertaking the project. They assume, often incorrectly, that the business case has been completed by senior management and don’t see the bigger picture, commercially and strategically. Unfortunately this also means that projects oftentimes aren’t aligned to the to the organization’s strategic objectives. 
 
3. Not completing an accurate project charter; many project managers operate at a surface level and leave out important information in the charter or project initiation document. They fail to uncover what the project will deliver in detail and how it will go about delivering it. They also make the mistake of not walking the stakeholders through the information in the charter; they simply chase a signature as opposed to gaining people’s genuine buy-in for this important planning document.   
 
4. Not using product-based planning techniques; many project managers fail to make use of intuitive product-base planning techniques, such as product breakdown structures and product flow diagrams. They don’t involve the team in the planning process and plan for the far future in too much detail. Oftentimes they fail to split the project into shorter phases with clear outcomes and deliverables that can provide early successes and benefits to the users.

5. Unclear scope and lack of detailed requirements; scope descriptions are often vague and open to interpretations and not enough thought has been given to what is out of scope. Requirements are documented at too high a level, they are not baselined and changes aren’t tracked, assessed or incorporated into the project in a structured manner. The result is scope creep, or in the worst case a project which fails to deliver what the customer needed.

6. Underestimating the project’s effort; it is a classic mistake that project managers underestimate the project’s effort, either as a result of not appreciating what needs to be delivered, or as a result of poor estimation processes. They are often too optimistic; failing to challenge the estimates given to them and leaving out contingency to cover for risks and uncertainties. 

7. Poor risk management processes; not paying sufficient attention to effective management of risks is yet another classic mistake. Risk management often ends up as a mechanical tick-box exercise without any real impact. The most important risks aren’t identified, owners and mitigating actions aren’t assigned and the project team doesn’t have a risk management culture.
 
8. Not setting up a clear governance structure; many stakeholders get appointed to the project board or steering committee without being explained what their roles and responsibilities are and what it entails to be the executive body of the project. In some cases the steering committee hasn't been officially formed and doesn’t meet on a regular basis.  

9. Not making use of key performance indicators; many project managers fail to track and control the project through earned value metrics. They report on project progress in a non scientific way and don’t understand the power of KPIs. This includes keeping track of the project’s financials compared to budget as well as products delivered compared to plan.

10. Insufficient attention to quality; not paying attention to the quality of the project’s deliverables is a huge mistake which can have detrimental effects. Many project managers never get around to completing the quality plan, they don’t engage an independent QA function, don’t make use of peer reviews, fail to incorporate user feedback early in the process and don’t use prototyping and iterative development as a way to reduce risk and improve quality. Instead they deal with the fallout and assign more people to deal with the defect.

Please don't fall victim of these fundamental process-related mistakes. We can do better than that!


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Don’t get me wrong! A lot of project managers are doing a fantastic job of organising and delivering their projects and keeping their clients happy. But it’s probably still true, that the majority of PMs are stronger with the harder skills of creating plans and reports than with the softer skills of communicating and motivating people. The below mistakes are the ones I the most often see project managers make when it comes to the softer communication skills.

Speaking more than you listen
A big part of a project managers’ job is concerned with assigning work, resolving issues, coordinating activities and assessing progress. The pressure is on and they are busy getting everything done. In this process they often give orders and tell people what to do. Very few take the time to really connect with the individual; ask for input, listen, and check how their message has been understood. You shouldn’t just tell people what to do as that doesn’t empower or motivate anyone. Just think about the times when you have been on the receiving end of that. Instead, take the time to ask people how they are, what they make of the message you just gave them, what they worry about and how they feel the team could work smarter. Really listen to what they say. It will provide you lots of valuable information and strengthen the trust between you. 
 
Communicating with the client in writing instead of face-to-face
Again and again I see project managers emailing their clients instead of speaking to them in person. Written communication is great for short messages without complexity, but should not be used simply because it’s more convenient or saves you having a difficult conversation. Many misunderstandings and disagreements are born because we don’t take the time to identify common ground with our clients and prepare them for what is coming. 

Face-to-face communication is a MUST in situations where;
- You want to build trust and make sure you’re on the same page
- The stakes are high, for instance regarding an issue or a significant risk
- You sense disagreement or conflict
- You want to ask for advice or feedback
- You want to win your client’s support for an important matter
- You want to understand your client’s point of view and how to best 
communicate with them
 
Saying ‘yes’ when you really mean ‘no’
Many people feel pressurised to saying ‘yes’ when put on the spot and asked directly if they can deliver something– even if they haven’t had the time to properly assess what they’re saying yes to. This relates to anything from small promises of “I will send it to you straight away” to “yes, I’ll see if we can incorporate that extra feature into the next iteration!” Overpromising is a classic and very serious mistake which doesn’t serve anyone. The problem surfaces later when you realise that you can’t keep your promise and that it’s starting to affect your reputation. Instead, take time out by saying “Can I get back to you on that?” You can also offer alternatives by saying: “I can’t do A, but I can do B”.

Relying too heavily on the weekly status meeting 
For many project managers the weekly status meeting is the primary way of communicating with the team. In this meeting the project manager enquires about progress and receives an update from each team member so that they can gauge how far the project has progressed. This type of status meeting is great for the project manager, but not necessarily for the team member who may feel it’s a waste of time. Make the status meeting short and focused on progress since last meeting and on blockages which you can help resolve. To engage each team member however, it’s essential that you set up one-2-one meetings where it’s all about them and their needs; not about what you need. Ask them what they most enjoy doing, what type of support they need from you and how you can help them work more effectively. 
 
Providing too much and too detailed information
It is often assumed that the more detail we provide our bosses and stakeholders the better. But the truth is that we need to give them just the right amount of information and no more. When you send out a weekly status report or conduct a steering committee meeting, don’t overload the recipient with unnecessary detail. Highlight the good progress you have made, summarise risks and issues and how you are addressing them, and provide an update on the budget. Make it very clear if you need their input and decision on anything or if you’re merely providing an update. Detailed information should only be provided where they are in need of making a decision on something. Keep it simple and don’t use jargon. Your aim is to engage your audience and for this you need to communicate at their level of understanding. To download a free copy of a steering committee presentation, request access to the resources page here.

Failing to ask for feedback
It is human nature to avoid that which we feel is unpleasant – and that includes asking for feedback. You may fear that people will tell you something negative and therefore refrain from asking in the first place. But by not asking you’re doing yourself a big disfavour. Firstly you’re much better off knowing what people think about you and the project than not knowing; when you know you can do something about it and use the feedback to your advantage. In addition, you are likely to receive feedback about something which you’re doing really well and which you were not aware of. It will lift your spirits and enable you to build on your strengths. Why not try it? Ask people you respect; a) what you should stop doing b) what you should start doing and c) what you should continue to do. Nice and simple :-)

What are your own experiences? Which other communication mistakes do you see PMs make? I’d love to hear your comments.


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A new year is upon us, so let’s take the opportunity to review some of the most common mistakes project managers make and decide to rise above them in 2013.

1. Underestimating your project
When you estimate a project or feature, it is very tempting to look at the sunny-case scenario and only provide best case estimates – especially if you work with a new team who is eager to please. It is also a common mistake to miss out important activities such as management overhead, documentation, rework and training. Contingency is another element which is often left out. The end result, unfortunately, is that the project runs out of money before all of the products are delivered. To read more, go to guidelines for estimating project effort.
 
2. Poor understanding of the detailed requirements
Many project managers have a superficial understanding of the product’s they need to deliver and how these products fit into the client’s business. They leave requirements gathering to the business analysts, which makes them vulnerable and dependent on subject matter experts for decision making and advice. It is true that you don’t have to be the expert in the domain, but you need enough knowledge that you can successfully steer the project and make effective decisions around risks, issues and quality reviews.
 
3. Focusing on the urgent; not the important!
We all know that project managers can be insanely busy. Busy dealing with urgent issues, defects and interpersonal conflict. But the busier you are putting out fires, the less time you will have for the really important activities such as planning, building relationships, understanding your client’s business,
motivating your team, reviewing quality etc. The reason you’re likely to spend most of your time on the urgent, is that you have not invested enough time in building up your team to handle the low level detail so that you can be freed up to focus on that which is really important. 
 
4. Failure to properly initiate your project
We all know that failing to plan is planning to fail, but even so, many project managers jump straight into project execution without knowing what they need to deliver, how they will do it, or how much it is likely to cost. I am not an advocate of a waterfall methodology, but even in agile a firm foundation is necessary before you start to commit resources and funding. You need to fully understand what you are building, why you are doing it, how and when you will do it, and how much it is likely to cost. Find out how to initiate and plan your project here.
 
5. Not keeping your promises
As the project manager it is your job to keep track of the projects activities, risks and issues, and to convey the project’s status honestly and accurately to your client. If you over-promise or say you will do things without doing them, your reputation is at stake and your client will stop believing in you. To build strong relationships with your customer and your team, and to deliver your project successfully, you MUST have accurate information at hand before you make a commitment. This is true for even the smallest of promises. 
  
6. Failure to involve the end users
One of the best ways to ensure that your project is heading in the right direction – and that it will meet your client’s needs – it to gradually show the users what you are building and to listen to the feedback they provide. Unfortunately many project manages fail to do that. They gather the user’s requirements, and then go off and build the product in isolation without incorporating regular demos, prototypes and reviews. If you manage your project in such a static way, you run the risk of building a product which may be what your client wanted, but not what they truly needed.

To improve your project management skills, and learn how to overcome the most common challenges project managers face, study The Project Management Workbook.

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