Top 5 Project Management Challenges

Project management is one of the most challenging and exigent field in which the desired results can only be achieved through unbound practice and relevant expertise. Companies have to attune themselves according to clients requirements and there is no such template that they can follow in order to make project development lifecycle less complex. Let’s have a look at the top five major challenges that project managers have to deal with.

1.     Communication

Communication must be prompt and transparent within the team when handling projects. Project managers should take regular feedbacks from each individual to make sure they are heading in the right direction. The art of effective communication in project management lies in engagement of team and taking incisive updates from them on weekly or daily basis. It can be face to face or through online meetings depending on your convenience.

2.     Ambiguous goals

For the success of a project, the goals must be clear and well defined without leaving any mark of uncertainty. Your team might lose track if whole process of planning and setting of goals is misinterpreted. Two useful approaches that can help managers to motivate team and complete projects are CLEAR (collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable and refinable) and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound). Through this complex tasks can be broken down into simple ones and can be assigned to appropriate individual who can complete them efficiently.

3.     Risk Management

Risk management is an important challenge that must not be overlooked. It might hinder the company to achieve its milestones, if proper strategies are not implemented to deal with the anticipated risks. Project managers have to pre plan in order to mitigate these impending risks. Using sterling software will save your time and cost and will also reduce the chances of things being missed by automating tasks. Such tools can also give you an overview of your project progress by presenting the time limit and resources available, involving little managerial efforts. All in all, this will help you align your strategies with the risk.

4.     Sticking to the deadlines

The most common challenge faced by agile teams is that of meeting deadlines. Many companies set shorter deadlines to satisfy and reassure their clients which can be problematic. Delays are mostly inevitable. However, if you keep a track of the project from the day it commences or use Gantt charts you can effectively meet the deadlines. Also, keep the customers in the loop in case of sudden alterations in the project from their end. It may require you to extend the date of completion if workload increases.

5.     Managing expenses

In many cases project managers fail to make a correct estimation of the expenses. This can impede the product development lifecycle. The successful completion of project depends on many factors such as the software, tools and equipment that you use and even includes your human resource. The accumulated amount of all these things serves as an expense that must be carefully calculated through project management tools. Budget related constraints can be a big hassle in starting various projects so showing prudence while managing expenses is crucial.

The success of every project depends on how well you deal with all the above-mentioned challenges. Above that, the role of a project manager is also crucial to achieve your goals.