while trying to accomplish an ever-changing goal.
Your solution: Continue to communicate while you are working on your project. Don’t abandon
communication after the initial purpose and goals have been defined. Meet weekly with the person who
assigned the project and present a brief status report. Restate the goals to make sure they’re still valid.
Also recognize the fact that changes can also occur because of new priorities resulting from perceptions
about the market, the competition, and profitability.
6. Communication with top management while the project is underway is not effective. How do you
handle the problem of poor communication with top management? Even when you make the effort to
keep the lines of communication open, management may simply fail to keep you up-to-date on
priorities.
Your solution: You cannot force top management to improve their communication skills, but you can
do your best to present status reports, ask for continuing definition, and convey information to the
top—even if your only avenue is the interoffice memo. If you can’t even get an executive to take time
for a brief meeting, chances are your communication link will suffer. You may find that management
does not respond to your requests or suggestions, fails to confirm project goals, and offers little support;
but when the project is completed, you are told that “this is not what we wanted.”
In most cases, management wants to support you, and will try to maintain morale. So even though the
problems seem formidable, if you make an effort to communicate, they can usually be resolved—even
if you have to train top management in the development of communication skills!
7. The schedule is difficult to control. Coordinating the many ongoing efforts of your team members
and successfully completing many different phases within the same limited time period may be a
struggle. If so, examine the method you are using to develop and control your schedule. You may have
to invest more time in developing a detailed network diagram and showing team members how to use it
as a control document. Most instances of scheduling control problems are created by a lack of
preparation in creating the schedule itself.
Your solution: Revise your methods.
8. Deadlines are not being met, and projects are completed late. You may have an excellent process
for schedule control, and team members are working well together. But in spite of that, you simply
don’t meet phase deadlines, and projects aren’t completed on time.
Your solution: Allow more time, or increase the size of your team. Your schedule is not realistic, and
phases cannot be executed at the pace built into it. You may have been forced to accelerate your
schedule because management imposed an early deadline. When you first organize your schedule, the
realistic completion time will be dictated by the scope of the job. If the final deadline is unrealistic,
convey this fact to management, explain why there is a problem, and ask for a later deadline or a larger
project team.
9. Project budgets don’t work, resulting in expense overruns. In your Preoccupation with schedules,
it’s easy to overlook the importance of the budget. Because the company’s risk is defined by the
financial investment it has made in the project versus the potential reward derived (either from reduced
costs and expenses or increased profits in the future), the budget should be controlled very
conscientiously.
When you experience budget overruns, there are two possible reasons. First, the budget may be
unrealistic. In that case, you need to ask for a more suitable one. Second, you may need to exercise
more direct control. Review expense levels more frequently, compare budget and actual expenses, and
look for emerging variance trends. Then identify what you need to do to correct the problem and take
action.
10. There is no time for overview or control. You may find yourself committed so heavily to tasks and
supervisory duties (as well as your ongoing departmental responsibilities) that you don’t have time to
monitor schedules and budgets.
Your solution: No matter how busy you are, don’t overlook the critical importance of overseeing your
team. Project management involves several roles—trainer, supervisor, leader, and communicator. But
your most important task is to control the project network. You are the organizer, the driving force that
ensures that the project succeeds in every respect. Overseeing should be your highest priority. Don’t
become so involved in other pressures that you overlook this important fact.