A recent Project Management Institute study reveals that 70% of projects fail due to unclear objectives, scope creep, unrealistic expectations, limited resources, poor communication and changing priorities.
In this article, we will show you ways to eliminate project failures and complete your project faster by building the five solid pillars of project management.
Effective Communication
57% of projects fail because of communication breakdowns. Most of the organizations rely on email to communicate. Which is often unsuitable for project communication.
We can’t expect everyone to reply to emails on time, since they are already overwhelmed by tons of tasks. Also people write emails in a formal professional way which will take more time to send.
Instant messaging platforms eliminate delays of writing a perfect formal communication and it makes everyone ask more questions which will eliminate miscommunication.
Roles and Responsibilities
Clearly define assignee, reporter, due date and project members during the time of creating projects this will eliminate unnecessary conflicts.
Goals
Clearly define the project goal by project summary, description and due date. Utilize AI to create a perfect crisp project proposal.
Milestones
Research shows that organizations using project milestones save 13% on cost because of their strategic initiatives. Include due dates for all projects, if the project seems longer to complete, split the project and give milestones or due dates.
Centralized Communication Channel
Over 300,000 organizations use Jira for project management and over 750,000 organizations use Slack for real time communication.
Using these two tools for collaboration looks good at a first glance but people have to constantly switch between these two platforms to manage projects.
This will create project delays, data silos and these two tools have a learning curve. Training all employees on Jira and Slack will take time and it is expensive.
Organizations started realizing this and are migrating to tools like Swatle. Which are easier to learn and have features to manage projects with real time collaboration.
Risk Management
Almost every project has risk identifying, assessing and managing risks early will contribute to project success.
According to recent statistics, 30% of the project fail because of unidentified risks, this can be avoided by proper risk management.
Brainstorming Sessions
Before and during project progress conduct brainstorming sessions at least weekly once. This will help you identify risks and bottlenecks early.
SWOT analysis
Conduct SWOT analysis before executing the project, this will help you identify the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of the projects and ensure that stakeholders have a clear understanding of project challenges and advantages.
Historical Data Analysis
Analyze similar past projects and get an understanding of potential risks internal and external. This will help you prepare or solve those early.
Assumption Analysis
Not all the things can be done in projects by research there will surely be some assumption based decisions such as resources, timeline and cost. Analyze risks that come along with these assumption based decisions.
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Resource Management
Proper resource management will save cost , eliminate project delays, improve quality of the projects, enhance team morale, reduce risks and eventually bring stakeholder satisfaction.
Resource Planning
You can calculate employee resource planning using FTE (full time equivalent)Â
FTE is a unit that measures how much of a full-time workload an employee represents.
100% FTE = One person working full time
50% FTE = One person working half time
70% FTE = project capacity of a full time employee
A common mistake is assuming employees work on projects with 100% FTE, we can estimate their 30% of time goes to non-project work.
This results in an FTE of 70% for one person
Formula to calculate resource required for a project
Number of Resources Required = (Total Project Effort in Hours) / (Available Working Hours per Resource)
Total Project Effort = Number of Tasks × Effort per Task
Available Working Hours per Resource = (Working Days × Hours per Day × Resource FTE) - Non-Project Time
Example, Let's say you have a project with:
Project duration: 30 working days
Total project effort: 480 hours
Working Hours per day: 8
Resource FTE: 70%
Calculation:
Available Hours per Resource:
30 days × 8 hours × 70% FTE = 168 available hours
Number of Resources Needed:
480 hours ÷ 168 hours = 2.85 resources
Therefore, you need
2 full-time resources and 1 full time resource working at ~85% capacity
Resource Allocation
Organizations waste 12% of their resources due to inadequate project management. Lesser allocation of resources leads to employee burnout, delayed project delivery and higher allocation of resources may lead to not full utilization of resources.
Utilize the FTE method to plan and allocate resources.
Resource scheduling
Assigning resources to projects by considering their skills will reduce risks and eliminate project delays.
Track their workload using the Workload tracker, try Swatle where you can see how many tasks a project member is working on right now. It will help you make better decisions before allocating new tasks.
Resource Monitoring
Even if all the above resource planning, allocation and scheduling are done correctly. You can’t conclude projects will become successful. You have to constantly monitor projects from start to finish. Manually tracking everything will take your precious time away.
Utilize Swatle to view a detailed dashboard with pie, bar, and line charts showing the total tasks in To Do, In Progress, and Done statuses, as well as the number of assigned tasks versus completed tasks within a particular time frame. You can also track the workload of project members.
Stakeholders Engagement
Studies show that projects with high visibility of stakeholders are most likely to succeed. Organizations that use advanced project management tools like Swatle where stakeholders can easily view project reports in real time saw a 30% improvement in project delivery time.
Bird eye view
Stakeholders already have a lot on their plate, it is almost impossible for them to analyze project details elaborately.
Use Swatle and share project details in reports directly in the chat.
Real Time Communication
Stop bombarding your stakeholders with long email threads; It will take more time for you to get a response.
Onboard with Swatle and send messages instead of emails. By default, Swatle will send a push notification, which makes your message hard to miss. If the message remains unread for more than 30 minutes, Swatle will automatically send it as an email.
Automated Reminders
If the assigned tasks have only 6 hours to surpass the due date, Swatle will send an email reminder to complete the tasks sooner.
Get Feedback
Once a project or milestone is completed, get feedback instantly by sharing project details and reports directly to stakeholders inbox.
Quality Assurance
Studies show that 65% of the projects failed to meet quality standards. Not delivering projects at the expected quality will lead to dissatisfaction and may result in increased costs due to rework.
Set Quality Standards
Regularly have discussions to understand the needs and expectations of stakeholders. Use the SMART framework to clearly define quality standards.
Regular Audits
Conduct regular audits within the team and improve the quality of the projects.
Get Feedback Instantly
Standardize the process of obtaining instant feedback from reporters on tasks and stakeholders on projects. This will help you improve quality faster.Â
Conclusion
Project failures can significantly impact organizational growth. By following these five pillars of project management you reduce project failures.
Don't let your projects become another statistic. Try Swatle today and join the organizations achieving 30% faster project delivery times.
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