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Top Ten Mistakes Made by

Project Managers

Presenter: Bruce McGraw, PMP, MCTS

www.cognitive-technologies.com

1-888-PMGURU1

Blog: FearNoProject.com

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Over-committing key resources

• This relates directly to managing people, capital and

materials

• It is an element of wishful thinking

• Ever-optimistic managers are tempted to decide how long a

task requires, using the assumption that if the “best-of-the-

best” are working on it and the wind holds steady….then….

• Projects compete for scarce resources

– people.

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Believing that good technologists make

good project managers

• Project managers (PMs) must have outstanding people and

leadership skills!

• The problems that PMs are called upon to solve often

require working through and influencing others on the team

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Ignoring problems

• Problems are a constant, like change

• Just because you don’t acknowledge a problem does NOT

mean it will go away!

• In fact – problems usually get worse with time

• The Ostrich move—look familiar?!

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Not communicating with stakeholders

• Do you know who the stakeholders are for your project?

• Stakeholders are the people who care about the project

– They fund it

– They will use it

– They are responsible for it

• How often do you communicate with them?

• How you communicate with them is just as important as

how often

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Failing to control problem team members

• We know that work is done by PEOPLE

• We also know that people are not perfect (at least not all the

time!)

• First step is acknowledging when you have a “people

problem”

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Failing to manage risks

• Risk management is not glamorous

• It is not always the BIG risks that cause trouble

– Small risks can cause big trouble

• You have to manage the risks for your project

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Decreasing time allocated for testing

• When project schedules get into trouble and deadlines are

not being met – many PMs decide to cut testing and user

evaluation time.

• Problems are always going to be found

– Either in testing or in use

– By testers or by end users in production

• Double Trouble when you cut testing

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NOT learning from experience

• “Lessons Learned” must be documented and shared

• The best learning from mistakes occurs when you don’t have to

experience them first hand

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Not controlling requirements

• Scope creep is always a danger to projects

• Where does scope creep come from?

• The key to managing scope is knowing when and how to

say….

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Believing in Cowboys and Miracles

• Too often PMs and project teams look at problems using

schedules, budgets, scope as the only elements

– They are looking for the single thing that can be changed to solve a

project problem

• To quote Pawel Brodzinski—

there is no silver bullet

“Hope is not a strategy!”

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Conclusion

• Mistakes are made every day by everyone

• Learning from others’ mistakes is a great way to avoid

making them yourself

• Document the mistakes you’ve make and share them with

other PMs

• Use the tools and processes you have to capture lessons

learned on your projects