Common hurdles faced by PMC's
Project
Managers across the world face challenges on a day-to-day basis, not
only on project levels but also at the organizational level. While most
of these challenges are easy to resolve, whilst some are which need a
more dedicated and systematic approach to resolve, especially when
dealing with resources of the home organization.
Masters,
like any other professional company, have not remained inexperienced
from such hurdles during their journey, but have certainly resolved the
obstacles; in their own ways!
Some
of the most common hurdles faced by Project Managers are summarized
below, to which, I bet, most of my colleagues would agree:
1.Lack of clarity on the project scope
The
project scope/ brief which are supposedly THE key (!) documents forming
the basis for all stakeholders as well as the teams to develop the
project, plus, also act as the guiding bible against which the project’s
success can be weighed, are in most common scenarios found either not
appropriately defined or are all together missing!
Masters, with its experience of 10 years, insists on the importance of
identifying the project scope in the initial phases of the project,
which is in an agreement amongst all the stakeholders. Project scope
definition not only reduces the project changes (which in turn also
relates to the project timelines + project costs) but also minimizes the
risk of key scope items being left-out.
2.Scope Changes
This comes into picture only if the project scope in the first place was ever defined!
Scope
change refers to any change that occurs after the initial project scope
(if) has been agreed and signed-off. Some scope changes might be easy
to manage and may not affect the project (timeline/ cost/ quality);
however it will greatly depend on the time at which the change is
initiated!
To
avoid the unnecessary impacts on time/ cost & quality, Masters
continues to insist on identifying the project scope which is
all-inclusive in the initial phases of the project, when the damage
towards changes is reasonable!
3.Absence of Realistic & Agreed Project Schedule
It
is very important for the Project Manger to set a project schedule
which is realistic and agreed by the project team including the Client
and all stakeholders. A schedule which is not agreed by all is equal to
not having a schedule at all!
Once,
if the schedule is agreed, another problem that comes in then is the
commitment to the project schedule. Lack of commitment towards the
agreed project schedule leads to delay in project completion.
4.Client Approvals
While
Masters work as a Client’s Representative, however, Client, who is the
holder of the project, his approvals work as a stamp to proceed for all
activities on the project at each phase.These approvals are not needed
only to proceed but they also signify Client’s conformance on the
design/ documentation produced during each of the project stages.
As
a Project Manager, one integrates the time-line for these approvals in
the overall project schedule to ensure timely sign-offs. However,
unfortunately, it is often observed that formal approvals are either
never provided or if provided they take much longer than the time
allocated in the project schedule; project schedule which initially was
signed off. Therefore, the works are either proceeded with without an
approval in place (which leads to drifts at a later stage) or with
approvals which are much delayed (which leads to project delay).
5.Project Funding
Since
Project Managers are usually not directly involved in the project
funding matters which are undertaken by the Clients teams, Project
Managers continue to remain in dark on this most important element of
work as this has a direct impact on payments to be made to the
contractors, vendors and service providers.
While
getting work done is the prime role of Project Managers, however, in
the absence of updates on monies fronts, the Project Managers are at
times trapped between the contractors & clients as non-payment or
delays in payment is a major issue which affects the project performance
and causes project delays.
6.Timeframes for authority approvals
Every
project requires approvals from various authorities ranging from the
local municipalities, to utility service providers, depending on the
projects size, use and location.
Although
on the condition of approvals the project schedule/ cost &
development is based, however, approval processes as are always
complicated requiring a variety of supporting documentation and since
the timeframes for these varies authority-to-authority and are often
open-ended, varying on a case-to-case basis therefore there is always an
uncertainty on this aspect of the project due to which most projects
get delayed thereby also increasing the project cost.
7.Poor communication between teams
Most important stigma!
Clear
communication between the project team is an obvious and most important
requirement on any project; however it may be one of the most difficult
tasks. Lack of communication or poor communication leads to issuing
incomplete/ partial or unclear instructions thereby affecting the
project scope/ deliverables and performance of the team.
During
project execution, the contractors often communicate with a number of
project team members (including the client, consultants and Project
Manager) in critical situations and in the absence of properly
documentation, such instructions leads to disputes which hinder the
project progress.Masters maintains the importance of proper
communication protocols which must be agreed and strictly followed on
all projects ensuring proper flow of information and instructions to
relevant parties.
8.Lack of knowledge transfer to the delivery team
In
most projects, where the initial pre-construction stages are undertaken
by a separate team than the construction team (who takes charge during
the construction stage), during the process of knowledge and information
transfer between the teams, minor details and intricacies are generally
overlooked. Such lapse of information, which may be minor in nature,
but if not acknowledged appropriately and in time, usually turns into
major changes and affect the project in a big way in terms of time, cost
and quality.
Masters,
with its experience of working in various types and natures of
projects, understands and acknowledges the importance of building a
right team as well as maintain thorough systems & documentation
through the life cycle of the project ensuring that no project
information is overlooked at any stage of the project.
9.Resource sharing
At
times during multiple projects, when skilled resources are shared
between projects, the team’s performance gets reduced on one of the many
assignments due to pressure and commitments, thus affecting the
project.
At
Masters, the higher management therefore understands the importance of
having in place a core team which supports the project teams at all
times thereby ensuring that that the resources are not over-committed or
burdened.
10.Project team’s roles and responsibilities
Poorly defined roles
and responsibilities generally lead to overlap of roles which results to
confusion and conflicts between the project team. While overlooking an
important responsibility can hinder the project progress, at the same
time, stepping over other team member’s responsibility also affects the
project performance and waste valuable time.
To avoid such
occurrences, Masters strongly follows a viewpoint of defining clear and
detailed roles & responsibilities of the project team as well as all
the stakeholders at the project initiation only as a part of the
Project Execution Plan.
Sujata Gupte
(Design Manager)
Masters Mumbai
