The majority of projects either fail or are delivered poorly. Period.
Anyone in the trenches of one of today’s fluid eCommerce companies knows that project goals are, shall we say, flexible. Delivery dates, budget, scope—those are mere pipe dreams. Projects are too complex, too multidimensional to put into a box.
Or are they?
Truth is that there are relatively few ways to make a project succeed (other than great planning and execution!) and plenty of ways to watch it crash and burn. But companies, just like the people who run them, have bad habits; habits that doom their projects to failure.
If your company is constantly starting projects only to watch them sink beneath the waves, you probably have one of the following habits. Don’t worry, they are easy to break!
Here are 5 habits your company needs to quit today! But first…
The Cost of a Failed Project
Before we touch on which bad habits you need to cease immediately upon closing this window, let’s cover just how much that failed project is costing you. According to IAG Consulting, projects in the IT sector fail at a staggering rate of 68%. Half the projects were considered runaways. This means they either went 160% over budget or 180% over the estimated delivery date (or both!).
Project failure in this sector not only costs companies billions, but it also costs the government billions in revenue. Studies estimated that the US government loses out on up to $15 BILLION per year due to project failures and its ensuing loss of taxable profit.
So this begs the question: how do you stop projects from failing?
Quitting these 5 habits instantly is a good start:
1) Concentrating on the Process, Not the People
Antiquated project management focuses on processes and procedures. Sometimes, companies forget that there are real human beings with emotions who are tasked with delivering this behemoth of a project.
The procedure, budget control, and path analysis only account for one reason why projects fail (the technical side), but not for the more common reason—individuals.
Employee disengagement is a killer. Instead of focusing solely on the math and technical aspects, focus on ways to get engage your employees. Consider team building events, individual coaching and attention, and doling out praise!
Which reminds us…..
2) Not Giving Proper Recognition
This one is so important and all-encompassing that it deserves its own entry. Recognition is incredibly important. 82% of employees believe they don’t get enough recognition.
As a manager, you must cultivate an ecosystem of recognition and praise. If an employee doesn’t feel like they’re being recognized, they’ll go somewhere where they are. Literally. More engaged employees are more likely to stick around.
3) Not Creating a Work-Breakdown Structure
So after all of that talk about focusing too much on the technical side of things, let’s get right back to focusing on the techy side of things. A work breakdown structure is a structured decomposition of a project into manageable bits visualized by a hierarchical structure.
In English, that basically means it’s an outline that organizes the project into sections and delivers it in manageable bits. You must have one and you must guard it zealously. All changes to this sacred document must be divinely ordained (or at least discussed by the whole team).
4) Stakeholder Disengagement
The stakeholders in the project are just as important as the employees. Who exactly are you delivering this project to? Why do they need it? It’s up to the project manager to identify, manage, and communicate with the stakeholders.
This is one of the most common bad habits that companies must quit to succeed. Submitting a project to a team and saying “have at it” is not going to end well. Lack of visibility between executive management, project managers, and team members is a common killer.
5) Lack of Communication and Sharing
When there are gaps in communication between teams, failure ensues. Using only email isn’t going to cut it. Even some team communication apps won’t do the full trick. Before initiating the project, your company must have the technology in place to keep connected and engaged.
Chat, project tracking, time management, file sharing, etc.—have the right tools in place before getting underway. This way, team members can share documents, introduce new information to the solution space, keep each other updated, and blow off steam.
If your company possesses these 5 bad habits, quit them immediately. Your projects are not doomed to fail! We believe in you.
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