How does a bunch of delays creep up during any number of simultaneous projects? More often, these incidents happen due to the following common issues.
Project delays have a severe effect on the project financials. After all, resources are finite; no matter how abundant they are. That’s one of the stark realities of multi-project management these days.
Other than that, project delays cause a whole lot of issues that may impact the timeline when the milestones are nearly achieved.
1. Setting realistic and achievable goals
Not only does it matter for project managers to set realistic goals, but it is also equally important to devise deadlines that are centered around maximum achievability. The best way to deal with goal-related delays is by under-promising and overdelivering. It works all the time.
2. Daily standups vs. accountability issues
Daily standup meetings have an intimidating effect because everyone has to notify PMs on the achieved vs. deliverables theory. These meetings also eliminate any performance blockers and productivity issues that might be holding certain team members from performing at their best. Don’t forget to highlight what everyone has done so far, and whatever needs to be achieved for any given day.
3. Resource management 101
If a project manager has an estimate about resources running dry, he or she can mitigate any issues before they show up. Likewise, project costs can be adjusted by deprioritizing low-status activities until later. The rest is all about allocating resources to different aspects of the projects and creating a fallback plan, in case anything happens out of the blue, where not only the budget but also, the human element of the resources have to be reallocated.
4. Schedule carefully and schedule often
Although project schedules make up for all the activities that have to be followed; there are special cases where activities have to be moved around. Determine dependencies, high-priority tasks, and CPM-dependent workflow for a sequential approach to uninterrupted process management.
5. Performance measurement and time tracking
Data collection is important for future retrospectives as it eliminates any performance blockers. As far as the issue of managing timesheets is concerned, that is crucial for ensuring that everyone is putting in their hours. Data maintenance regarding ongoing projects is essential for ensuring task completion, quality of work, and budget requirements are met accordingly.
Delays are inevitable. They are part of the game and serve to groom a project manager’s skills in the long run. Therefore, take adversity with a grain of salt and determine how to respond to delays categorically.