Register now or log in to join your professional community.
The biggest mistake that project managers make, in my experience, is not accounting for or understanding that every project has risk and every project will take longer than you plan, no matter how good your plan is and how well-baked it may be. It's literally impossible to plan for every possible contingency, so the expectation that the plan is "the plan" and there shall be no deviations or departures is typically the Achilles Heel of project managers.
The corollary to this, once execution has begun, is being unable or unwilling to accept risks that are raised as valid and refactoring the plan to accomodate for these now-known risks.
No strategy ever survives contact with the enemy. Likewise, no project plan ever survives contact with the real world.
Accepting this (and getting exec teams to accept this) is the biggest battle that any project/product manager faces, and is essential to ensuring that quality products are delivered to customers who are willing to pay for them.
Not Assigning the Right Person to Manage the Project
Failing to Get Everyone on the Team Behind the Project
Putting Too Many Projects Into Production
Not Getting Executive Buy-in
Projects lack the right resources with the right skills.
Lack of (Regular) Communication/Meetings
Projects lack experienced project managers
Do not follow a standard, repeatable project management process
Not Being Specific Enough with the Scope/Allowing the Scope to Frequently Change
Providing Aggressive/Overly Optimistic
Not Being Flexible
Not Having a System in Place for Approving and Tracking Changes
Micromanaging Projects
Not Having a Metric for Defining Success
