If you are brainstorming your new project management plan, make sure you watch out for scope creep and PMO obstacles and a lack of communication that can derail your entire project.
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The biggest project management challenges – how to overcome PMO obstacles and roadblocks
If you are coming up with a project management plan to help your business stay organized, on schedule, on budget, and clear with the overarching business objectives, you may find that you hit some roadblocks and risks along the way. Although this can be daunting and derail your project, this is completely normal. When you are brainstorming your project management plan at the beginning of the conception phase, you have identified potential risks for your new PMO obstacles- these are the risks you had already thought about.
By figuring out how to identify risks, deal with the impending problems, and brainstorm solutions, you can keep your project on track and mark sure you are successful in the long run. It doesn’t matter if you are a new entrepreneur who is using PMO for the first time or if you are a seasoned veteran who has used project management skills for numerous years, you will always hit some type of roadblock – the most important thing when it comes to hitting an obstacle is figuring out how to use your skills and experience to fix the issue.
By being aware of the issues and staying flexible, you can keep an eye out for the most common issues in your project management organization, such as issues focusing on the project scope, the definition of success, your budget, and the time frame. Even though you may find that you have all of the tools at your fingertips, there are still issues that can arise, such as employee dissatisfaction, lack of clear goals, and other concerns.
Let’s see a few common issues that you as a project manager may run into during your PMO experience and how you can fix them.
Scope creep
When you are coming up with your scope mission statement, this is the first and main part of your business project management plan. The scope statement helps you define what you are trying to achieve by setting measurable goals that can be attainable and time-bound. Figuring out the details of your goals, such as setting a budgetary limit, a time frame, and the quantifiable data associated with your goal, you can easily figure out if you are on track or if you have more work to do.
But what happens when scope creep occurs? Scope creep occurs when you decide to change the goals or the objective of your PMO plan that you already set forth. If you find that you are going along in your project and things are not going the way you envisioned, it can be “easier” to change the requirements or the goals for the project.
However, whether you do this or other stakeholders or managers in your business decide to alter the goals this can be harmful to the overall productivity. Not only will changing the scope of the project alter the requirements, but it can cause confusion among employees. Scope creep will add additional features and must-haves into the overarching goal of your PMO – leading to new daily tasks for workers, new prioritized tasks for employees, or doing work that is not authorized under the pre-set scope. Unfortunately, scope creep is very common – over 50% of teams found they experienced scope creep during their business plan, causing distress and confusion in the workplace.
How to fix scope creep
There are certain ways that you can deal with scope creep and fix it to get back on track. By figuring out what your clients and customers want, you can better understand how to set realistic and measurable goals that will provide you with a happier customer and a rededicated clientele base. Instead of brainstorming goals that are not measurable and may only slightly pertain to your target audience figure out exactly what your ideal clients want you can tailor your business plan to their needs.
Furthermore, make sure that you do not make any alterations on the fly when it comes to your scope statement. You need to keep this as an overarching guideline and overview of how your plan should be progressing – if you begin to change this as much as you want, then people will be confused as to what they are trying to achieve.
Lack of communication
The second roadblock that can creep up during your project management planning PMO brainstorming is a lack of communication. As you already know by now, communication is key in all aspects of the business. Communication between clients and employees is key, as this shows to the business what the customers really want, what they are looking for, and what they want to be changed. Communication between employees and management staff is essential to a conducive workplace, as this increases collaboration and teamwork between various levels in a corporation. Furthermore, communication between employees themselves is essential in boosting workplace morale.
But how can a lack of communication lead to failure when it comes to PMO? Effective communication during the entire process of project management – such as the brainstorming, planning, and implementation phase – is key to figuring out a project that is successful and meets all of your goals.
During the process of brainstorming your project, you need to make sure that you are clear with your ideas, you are specific with your goals, and you are transparent in your methods of obtaining these goals. After all, over 30% of professionals think that a lack of clear communication between all parties is one of the biggest roadblocks to successful PMOs in their business.
How to deal with this
If you find that a lack of communication is derailing your goals, you need to deal with it immediately. By using project management software collaborative tools to ensure a greater level of communication, project managers can easily get everyone on board so they feel heard, respected,and listened to. By being able to increase transparency and boost collaboration, it can also increase the workload within a specific team and increase the daily responsibilities of individuals.
Conclusion
If you are using PMO for your business, make sure you take these two roadblocks into consideration – watch out for a lack of communication and scope creep!
