Why Is My Project Late?

Design Changes – Design changes during project execution almost always cause delays and impacts to your budget. Once the Scope document has been signed, any changes to the design need to go through your Scope Change Request Process.

Skill Sets – When planning, assumptions are made regarding people's skills. Sometimes these assumptions turn out to be wrong. Also, you will usually have people on your team who are new or are less experienced. These new or lower skilled workers won't be as productive or effective as higher skilled workers. Make sure your project plan has accounted for skill levels.

Unplanned Work or Workarounds – Many times changes must be made to the sequence of planned work. These changes can impact time, cost, budget, and quality. Think about these risks up front and discuss what if any workarounds will be used.

Rework – Rework happens; it is part of project management. Ensure your project plan accounts for rework.

Team Morale – Turnover, project conflict, sick time, vacations all can wreak havoc with your schedule and budget; plan for these things. A happy team is a productive team. Ensure your team is working towards a common goal and not working against each other. Remove disruptive team members from your project if their behavior can't be changed.

Schedules – Trying to do too much in too little time will result in delays. Once you get behind it is very difficult to catch up. Your project will have delays. You need to have contingency plans to get back on track quickly.

Work Environment – Ensure that your team has a proper workspace. Cramming people into poorly designed work spaces will lower productivity.

Tools – Ensure your team has the right tools to do the job. Having the right tool, but not getting into the teams hands at the right time will cause delays in your schedule.

Project Manager Overload – Too many people on a project team without the proper management oversight can cause major problems for the project manager.

Overtime – Adding hours to people's schedules in order to make a deadline will usually do nothing but increase your budget. Adding overtime rarely results in getting a late project back on track.

Executive – Executive apathy can kill your project. People are usually not going to make your project a priority if their boss isn't willing to tell them it is important.

Plan for the above "risks" and you will start to bring your projects in faster, cheaper, with higher quality.

Leadership Principles That Transform

The organization I work for came up with a set of principles to guide the organization in the area of leadership. We all know that successful project managers are effective leaders.

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Leaders are charged with transforming our organization into a more flexible, responsive and efficient high performing organization by fostering a climate which will encourage active involvement by all:

a. Instill the culture of high performance through all in our community. (Accountability)

b. Share my understanding and assist others to elevate their understanding of our commonly held leadership philosophy. (Cooperation and Teamwork)

c. Continually seek and remain open to new possibilities (Innovation)

d. Work to improve the quality of life of our community through collaboration. (Trust and Integrity)

e. Actively pursue the realization of our collective vision and be held accountable for our actions and leadership in shaping our future. (Clarity of Direction)

f. Embrace confronting the unsaid in our conversations. While maintaining a bias for action, we acknowledge the need for patience as we work to improve our performance (Honesty and Integrity)

g. Value a sense of urgency and maintain a focus on achieving results at the pace possible rather than the pace expected. (Effectiveness)

h. Encourage the celebration of our results. (Rewards and Recognition)

i. Support and create talent networks that value and celebrate diversity with a holistic view that leads us to results. (Cooperation and Teamwork)

j. Empower and mentor all to be innovative and take risks. (Inspiration and Empowerment)

k. Be fearless in the pursuit of our vision. (Clarity of Direction)

Teamwork, Common Goals, and Leadership at all levels will result in success.

What Skills Does a Project Manager Need to Master?

Project Managers need to master the following skills and traits in order to be successful:

Have Recognized Leadership Skills

Posses Good Decision Making Skills

Posses Good Communication Skills

Have a Sense of Humor

Have Integrity

Possess a Driven Desire to Succeed

Have Demonstrated Project Management Skills

Have Self-Discipline

Have Vision

Posses Active Listening Skills

Be Compassionate

Utilize a Proven yet Flexible Project Management Methodology

The question we need to ask ourselves is how we master the above skills? My quick answer is a blend of education, experience, on-the-job training, mentoring, and a continuous feedback loop.

I'm grateful that in my career I've had mentors to help me improve my skills while helping me learn to drop bad habits. In order to move from good to great we must work to improve our skills and focus on our strengths; however, we must also identify and minimize or eliminate our weaknesses.

Finally, great project managers like working with people. They like challenges, they have an even temperament, and they are a motivating influence to those around them. They don’t just plan and delegate, they get involved and become part of the team. They have to respect others and be shown respect in return. They are congenial, they are approachable, and they have integrity. A project manager that is lacking in any of the above areas won't be successful over the long haul.