DZone Agile: Everyone makes mistakes, and Project Managers are no exceptions. With so many things to take care of, a Project Manager can sometimes get off track and this leaves a huge dent on a project’s progress. Even with a project management software at their disposal, most projects tend to exceed the allocated time and budget and are shelved or abandoned.
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This year, we have been getting an introduction into the paperwork-filled world of stage and production management through Molly’s technical management class. The entire management world is entirely too vast and overwhelming for me to even begin to process, but I definitely think it’s been very helpful to understand a little bit more about how the theatrical management process works and to appreciate the sheer amount of work that goes into making a production run smoothly, not just through paperwork but also through proper communication and just straight-up people skills. Even though this article isn’t specifically theater- focused, we’ve definitely at least touched upon all of the points they bring up in terms of what makes a manager good. The point about “risk management” I think is particularly applicable to theater, because so much of theater is about designs changing, directors changing their minds, things going wrong during build, but still resolving all of those things in time so that no one knows what went wrong when the curtain goes up opening night.
I am not quite sure what field this article is referring to when it is talking about project management, but since I am currently in the field of technology, I will make my comments based on project management in software engineering:
1. Choosing the Wrong Guy to Manage Projects: this section largely talks about how untrained PM’s do worse than trained ones, but it does not go into any detail about how to make sure PM’s are trained – of course you should not allow someone to be a project manager if he or she has no or little experience with it. But, why not give that person training? There are very few large tech companies that allow employees to explore both project management and software, and that is an inherent problem that I find in the system as someone who is in software but also wants to pursue project management.
2. Poor Communication: Yes, I can agree with this. A project manager should be able to communicate effectively – but, isn’t this inherently true of the title “project manager”?
3. Giving Less Time to Project Planning: Again, something I agree with but feel should be obvious to someone trying to become a project management. The more time one spends to plan, the better one can execute (however, there is the added element of balancing how much time you spend on planning – there is no point in spending 9/10 of your time planning because then you will have no time to execute. I would be more interested in the recommended ratio of planning-to-executing time than the fact that planning is crucial.
4. Lack of Clarity in Project Scope: Okay. This is a tough one to talk about. I agree that having a clear, defined scope early on helps drive a smooth process. However, if that supposed scope is not the ideal one when it comes to outcome, why stick with it? I had a project for a class once that we changed over and over again. We still managed to execute it, though, and we ended up winning a competition with it at the end of the semester. And, I can confidently say that we would not have found the success that we did had we forced ourselves into the box of our original idea at the start of the class.
5. Setting Unrealistic Expectations and Deadlines: Having an unrealistic deadline is definitely detrimental, but how do you know when you have a detrimental deadline and when you have a motivating one? If you have a deadline that is too long, people have more reason to push work off. If you have a deadline that is too early, it may stress people out (or motivate them to work more effectively). There is a balance to this deadline choice, and this article would be much more helpful if it told its readers how to choose a “good” deadline.
6. Ignoring Risks: If risk management was the most important aspect for so many professional project managers, why is it only number six on this list of seven? Though I find this advice helpful, I do not fully understand it – an example would go a long way to help describe how to not ignore risks. Simply telling people to identify risks does not do much for a reader.
7. Neglecting Client Satisfaction: In the process of project creation and management, sometimes the cause (clients) can be forgotten. This is something I experienced myself in my aforementioned class for which I created a product and tried to push it forwards. So, I agree with this point that the clients/end users should be kept in mind through all steps in a project’s process.
Most of the information in the article was unsurprising to me, but it is good to keep in mind. I’ve also made most of these mistakes at some point, especially underestimating the importance of planning in situations where I was so pressed for time I “didn’t have time to plan.” Even though most of it was familiar, it was helpful to have a reminder of the mistakes to avoid. The one thing I was surprised by was the huge difference between trained and untrained project managers. I think I thought of project management training as something that would make someone much better as a potential project manager when first entering industry, but after awhile, someone who has been in the industry awhile without project management training would learn all those same project management skills. Based on this article, I was likely wrong about that, and being a trained project manager has much more of an impact than I previously thought.
Wow. 55% of projects fail. That's quite an impressive statistic. Although it all depends on what your definition of "fail" is, I'll assume it means not accomplishing the goals of the project. It's very interesting how much of a difference a formal training in project management can make a difference. In my experience, very few of the shows or other projects I've worked on had a formally-trained project manager. Most of them went pretty well, but the ones led by trained project managers with a lot of experience were notably different. The entire process went smoother and it was just an easier environment in which to work. Another "deadly sin" that I found interesting was not taking enough time to plan the project out. We're learning in Technical Management how to plan and schedule shows, and it seems almost impossible to function without a proper plan. This makes sense, because a show can't really be late. Opening night is opening night.
These were all made very apparent to me this semester, but I suppose it is good to have them in one list so that I can easily see them. Some of them are obvious, such as the necessity of good communication, and how imperative it is that one be realistic with expectations. One good one that I hadn’t consciously addressed is how important it is to take you time planning. Freshman year I tended to just start projects which was obviously inefficient and problematic. But another problem is the fact that even when you plan there are very bad ways to do it. For most projects, even small ones, planning is an event. It is a crucial part to the project. You NEED to know the job (Rule 4) and you NEED to take the time to consider each element of the project and how each requirement will be met.
A quick glance over the article gives us the general gist of the important points. It's easy to think, "well duh" but upon closer inspection of a personal experience, project management is much more difficult than it appears, particularly when there are multiple people involved. It all goes back to teamwork: you can't have one without the other. All aspects of project management go hand in hand and cannot be successful without missing components.
Managing anything is the embodiment of the saying 'easier said then done'. Past experience and communication definitely belong at the top of the list. Part of the reason I work well at the head of a team is because I've been on some seriously crappy teams. Ones where leaders were walked all over, no-one knew what they were supposed to be doing or why and ones that were so poorly constructed people just up and left. There is a certain strain being a leader takes and if you've never experienced it before you never know if you can handle it. Those with prior experience are those who handled well in a management position and went on to seek out another. Those who didn't don't re-apply to do a similar job again. This makes those with experience tested and proven to have the qualities necessary to lead. Something a newbie may be the best at, or the worst at, and a manager who has proved them self always is safer than that bet.
Reading this article reminded me how important it is to go back to basics. All of these seem like givens-- of course you need to consider risk and communicate properly, but because they seem so basic they can often times get overlooked. If your foundation isn't solid, there's no chance of success for any project. Nailing the basic skills and of project management takes time and practice and the best way to learn sometimes is just simply from failing.
I find it ironic that an article about projects going wrong because of flawed process oversight botched its editing badly enough to have the second part of the first point twice and no one caught it. Questionable writing quality aside, this article serves as a good reminder that the are what we most easily take for granted and are the things that we need to be most certain we pay attention to. It's even more important to make sure we pay attention to the things that seem like they can be done quickly and don’t need to be given as much consideration, like the article was talking about with project planning (and sometimes deciding on deadlines and other goals). On a slightly different note, I was amazed by their claim that roughly 80& of project managers lack formal training. I would have thought that even if a company was willing to hire untrained/less trained people for some jobs they would want well trained professionals to be in charge of things like project management since it can affect so many different things and be the difference between success and failure for a project.
It's good to see these listed out, as they seem obvious but in practice can be hard to catch yourself with. If a manager of any kind maybe keeps a little list to remind them while they are planning out before a sow or rehearsal, they might be able to avoid some pitfalls. That being said, in an academic environment, this is the time to make mistakes, as you won't get fired for doing so. But keeping these in mind will help a manager keep track of how the process is going, like making checkpoints and asking questions like "Did I communicate this as effectively as possible?" while asking others if everything is clear. Putting the right people in charge is also important, but again, in an academic environment, sometimes people that aren't good leaders need to be pushed by being put in those difficult positions. All in all, a handy list, but maybe not the most applicable to us right now while in school.
Let me quickly address the 8th and 9th deadly sins in this article: you meant "Choosing the Wrong Person to Manage Projects" and you also meant to include a photo of a woman in one of your examples.
I'm a little bit confused about why companies aren't hiring people with formal project management training, unless there just aren't that many people with formal training in the world. That is a pretty large difference, the 55% to 70% for successful projects, though I'm not sure how valid this piece of data is, given that it only refers to one company, which could obviously just be doing a better job of preparing their project managers, or have projects that are more likely to take off. I would be interested to see direct comparisons between companies with different training processes for their employees.
I think a lot of these are more obvious than not, so I'm not quite sure what to feel about this article. I think picking the right person is obvious, you don't hire someone you don't believe can do the job, that's the whole reason hiring processes exist in the first place. Poor communication also seems to be more of a given at this point. That's usually the first thing anyone tells you int he management business. I think if the author had prefaced some of these with "This may be obvious but..." they would have been a lot more effective that introducing the need for good communication to be as a groundbreaking revelation. In the middle of the article, most of the language is so vague that I wasn't really sure how to apply tit o anything as I really wasn't sure what the author was saying in the first place, especially about expectations/deadlines and clarity of the project. I agree that both of these are important, but I don't think the way in which the author phrased these sections made the argument any more effective. I will say, however, that the last sin before the conclusion is a good point that a lot of people overlook. So often we get wrapped up on perfecting the process that we completely lose sight of the end goal, which angers the client on the receiving end of the project, and that never ends well for anyone.
There are several ways project management can go wrong. It isn’t an easy job. If it was, everyone can do it. I feel like that’s part of the reason why we are given an opportunity in school to do project management. It gives you an opportunity to make your mistakes now, so that you can learn from them, and avoid them later on. I know I haven’t been the perfect project manager. It’s hard to think of the last time there was one. Everyone is bound to make mistakes. What is the kicker is if you don’t let one mistake start to tear you down, and then more continue to pile on. You’ve got to be able to pick yourself back up, and turn things around for the better. Some people are great with working on multiple projects at once. Others can make one project look good at a time, and if given multiple, won’t have the focus on what is needed to get the job done.
This article has some pretty typical problems that managers can face if they are not too careful, but they are a little to obvious and general. Most of these I have simply figured out by coming the Carnegie Mellon and going through the large amount of projects that are given to us. One of the biggest ones that I have faced though is giving yourself enough to time actually plan out a project. There have been many times where I have simply jumped into a project and by ignoring the planning part I have made the project a thousand times more difficult than it actually needs to be. Another one that has been difficult is setting unrealistic expectations and deadlines. There have been many times where I have decided to go with an idea for a project but then have had to switch courses halfway through due to lack of time, and it is never what I originally planned. This article has many helpful tips for someone who is just beginning to manage projects, but for those who have a lot of experience, it can feel like the most simple thing.
Im glad I found an article to make me laugh a bit. I really enjoy the photos all picked and used for this article. I have to agree with all of these points as the "7 sins" of Project management. I do find it interesting how my perception of them have changed throughout the Production Planing course. I believe no matter what, communication is the most important thing, and along with that, you have to pick people who you enjoy to work with so you would want to communicate with them. Before Production Planning I didn't realize how important planning ahead was. Now after excessively planning for Rube, it does make sense to keep track of everything and make sure things are complete by the right date. Once you complete the initial planning, that takes care of all the other "sins" as you keep track of all obstacles and make sure everything is attainable when setting up the initial plan. It is nice to know that I have learned all the things in my Production Planning class that this article clearly state.
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