Poor leadership and lack of leadership skills is the key contributor to failed in projects. This may often be as a result of the people entrusted with the responsibility of leading the project being too technical or lacking the necessary and basic team leadership and team-building skills. These skills are essential for team members to relate with their delegates and colleagues. Falling short on the ability to influence and motivate them is the result of this inconsistency. It is therefore important for managers to be trained on their managerial skills for them to be in a position to be able to provide the vision and overall direction for the project.
Managers can overcome this shortfall by employing and polishing their leadership and team-building skills. This can be achieved by having a situation whereby they delegate responsibilities to professionals who have specialized in the respective responsibilities. Management should also improve their communication skills to be in a position to effectively facilitate their personal relations with the employees. This can be achieved by the organization allowing efficient communication channels which will facilitate communication among the various project team members.
Poor planning is another cause of failure in project management. This is mostly a result of managers lacking plans at all or not making use of the planning methods available to them. These include the project evaluation and review techniques which are; critical path analysis, resource histograms, Gantt charts, and both SWOT and PEST analysis. The managers also fail in breaking down the projects into smaller and manageable components to assign them to specific individuals. Therefore, it becomes a challenge to manage the project from the four different perspectives of project management, i.e., Resources, Cost, Time, and Quality.
Poor planning can be overcome by developing effective plans which should be formulated by people with a great understanding f the area subject. The plans should also be realistic in a way that people and project team members comprehend them in a way that they are both relevant and effective. Created plans should also be designed in a way that they are achievable for them to be effective. This is so to avoid stretching the resources of the firm which may result in the organization failing to concentrate on other projects at the expense of a specific project. Management should also employ organizational skills which involve the use of project management skills and techniques to ensure proper order among organizational members and excellent documentation which should be made available at all the Project development stages.
The lack of a control mechanism also results in the failure of projects. It is obviously important to monitor the progress and to ensure proper controls are exercised. failure to exercise the controls may result in unexpected costs and a compromise in the ability to also meet the quality expectations. Where there is a lack of control, the project is likely to affect another project. The extra resources used in this project are likely to cause a shortage in other projects when too many resources are concentrated in this project.
To curb this failure relevant controls should be put in place to ensure that team members do not operate outside the limits set by the project plan. This can be achieved through the use of budgets, ethics and corporate governance requirements, standards set by international or national bodies. It is important to carry out reviews after every stage of development. These reviews help determine the success rate and establish whether the project plan was followed to the latter. It is crucial to ascertain that all processes are well documented and that no ambiguities are left before commencing a new stage. It is also important to evaluate the challenges that were experienced and set forth plans to curb similar challenges or to counter the challenges if and when they come up later.
An insufficient budget can also result in the failure of projects. This is so in the sense that it can limit the number of people being employed in the development of the project. This thereby limits the funds available to execute the project in terms of labor. It is also important to be objective about what a given budget can produce by weighing all of the outcomes. If there is a shortfall in the funding then there is a likelihood of the possibility that the project will be short in terms of resources that may result in the overall collapse of the project. This shortcoming can be addressed by having the management come with reliable financial plans which should be prepared by members with great technical and overall understanding in the resource planning of such projects. This is so to avoid such shortcomings which can affect the project and limit the development of the software product.
The likelihood of a project to collapse is very high especially when management fails to address certain shortcomings which are likely to befall the project. These shortcomings include insufficient skills on the part of the team leader or project manager, poor planning methodologies or no plan at all, lack of control mechanism on the various aspects of the project, insufficient budget, and poor conflict resolution. It is also important to watch out for moving targets. This is if the project specifications keep on changing as the project progresses. This will most likely add a cost and delay the project it is important that user requirements are thoroughly examined and analyzed before the project begins.
Again, it is very important to have change management concepts. Change in projects or organizations is inevitable. When changes are made, it does not necessarily remove the risks identified but rather enables changes to be made to have minimum disruption and slippage. It is the duty of the project management to ensure that a specific project being developed is done so with all the conditions being favorable and the failure to address any shortcomings which may arise may result in the eventual collapse of the project. It is therefore the duty of management to ensure that proper plans are developed which will facilitate the development of the project. management should also ensure that the resources for the project are available and allocated appropriately in such a way that there is no shortage. relevant controls should be put in place which acts as a regulator in ensuring that quality of work is highly regarded at the same time the employees of the firm remain and act professionally.
Possible remedies for all mentioned shortcomings are to take the project team through induction training and orientation, to do some sub-contracting with specific details of the required detail work, and possibly do some re-planning and change the facing of the deliverables. It may also call for a change of the specifications altogether. Sometimes, there may be no control and the project team members may just have to wait and let nature take its course. The project manager may also be required to give deadlines to specific team members or bonuses if they meet deadlines. Finlay, the project manager may be required to source for more financing.