Insurance Projects Failure – Our top Nine Lessons
In our Project Management Pitfall post last week we discussed the Project Management Pitfall #4 and stressed the need for the Project Manager to be assertive and take charge of the direction of the project. We used the phrase that the project manager needed to be the “Alpha Male or Female” and to take charge and be assertive. Today we are going to discuss Project Manager Pitfall #5 and discuss the risk of making assumptions.
Project Management Pitfall #5 – Making Assumptions
JMR Consulting UK Ltd with Clients
Making assumptions can be a very dangerous thing and no more so on projects. So don’t assume anything about your project. Walk through the project step by step with your entire team, communicate each step, and get sign-off on each one. In the past on successful projects, I have been partial to using a little technology in project review meetings and recording the proceedings. Later, I used to transcribe the meeting notes and email them to everyone that was included in the meeting. Depending on the risk or profile of the project, n some cases we included the stakeholders and other business members who were not in attendance at the project review meeting. With the wide use of iPhones, Android phones and tablets this is evern easier to do nowadays than when we employed tape recording machines.
The point to not assuming anything is that as project managers and team leaders we need to ensure that everything is spelled out clearly and concisely for each team member. It is a good idea to employ a direct tactic like before a project meeting ends, call out each team member by name and ask the simple question: “Are there any questions or concerns?” Address them and don’t assume anything and in that way you will avoid Project Management Pitfall #5.
Maintaining Abosolute Clarity is Key to Project Success
The point of this process was to maintain and communicate absolute clarity to all the project team members, business leaders and the stakeholders involved in the project. Project management is a difficult role and isn’t for everyone and a good Project Manager has to keep many balls in the air and also has to manage his or her working team but also to make sure that the wider team in informed of all planning decsions taken at project review meetings. Making sure that there is absolute clarity at every stage in the project is an excellent discipline to follow and avoiding project assumptions is a key control mechanism that all project managers should follow.
How JMR Consulting UK Ltd can Help Your Business
Here at JMR Consulting UK Ltd, we have worked very successfully with some of our major clients to deliver fairly complex business projects and we are experts in robust project management disciplines. We promote the use of project management best practices on all our projects. If you want advice or help with your projects or project tools and software, please contact us. To find out more about how we can help you with project management, please get in touch by using the contact form, sending an email to info@jmruk.com or calling us on 0845 052 0900.
Tags: project management, project management lessons, project management pitfall