Did you know that over 70% of organizations have suffered at least one project failure in the last 12 months according to KPMG?
Per the PMI Pulse of the Profession 2017, executive leaders state that ‘a lack of clear goals is the most common factor (37%) behind project failure.’
For every $1 billion invested in the United States, $122 million was wasted due to lacking project performance according to PMI.
Organizations must plan well, have clear project visibility, and work with the latest updates. This blog looks at a few reasons for project failure and remedial actions that can be taken, including using digital project management tools.
A change resistant culture
People drive organizations, and there’s always constant change in organizations. Projects are opportunities for leaders to bring about improvements and implement the best practices. Opportunities could also mean new workflows or adapting to new technology trends like automation. Situations like this create fear in an employee’s mind.
Employees who are resistant to change could be reluctant to share information, this is just one way to resistance change. Organizations must alleviate fears with frequent and clear communication on projects or changes introduced and their impact on jobs. Resistant behavior from employees can have a big impact on projects.
Lack of management support
An organization's leadership plays a vital role in supporting project managers and assisting in resolving conflicts. Project sponsors should play an active role in expediting funding, resolving conflicts, and providing support promptly.
Many times, leadership and project sponsors fail to have clear visibility which leads to delays. A lack of support from sponsors or top management sends the wrong signal to project teams which impacts their contribution. It’s important for support to be consistent from start to finish.
Ambiguous project goals
Every project has a vision and a goal which must be passed onto the project team members so that they can view the bigger picture. It’ important for project team members not to work in silos, instead there has to be a collaborative approach as the visibility of information is essential and should be shared with the relevant team members.
Unclear goals, poor collaboration, doubts, and incorrect understanding is the perfect combination to derail projects. There has to be clear visibility of tasks, insights from reports, and a good definition of deliverables. Project managers must ensure everyone is on the same page in order to smoothly progress in the right direction.
Disinterested team members
Projects are all about teamwork. It’s important for everyone on the project to focus on their schedules and tasks in order to meet their deliverable targets on time. Roles and accountabilities in a project must get communicated as poor-quality deliverables will hamper the project. Project managers need to identify the cause. It could be they are having overloaded schedules or internal conflicts. By identifying and resolving the issue earlier rather than later, it can prevent it leading to more complex issues.
Overstaffing and poor resource management
As the famous saying goes, ‘Time is money.’ The success of your project is dependent on how well you plan resources and your ability to view the time needed for tasks vs. time logged vs. resources allocated. Overstaffing will lead to miscommunication and a wastage of resources. Project managers should staff as per needs and optimize resource allocation and billing on activities.
Succeed in project management with Vault
There are new digital technology solutions like Vault that help avoid project failure and help move to the success lane in project management.
As per Capterra, reports/dashboards, document management, collaboration, requirements management, budgeting, resource planning, and time tracking are the most used and requested features in project management software.
The highlights of project management software are:
- Keeping the teams focused on goals
- Visibility with real-time data
- Helps with schedules, tasks, and tracking time
- Improves collaboration and communication
Read on: Improve your project management skills for success.
Smart KPI dashboards and checklists with Vault
Information is the key to making successful project management decisions. Vault provides you with real-time information regarding your projects.
Customize KPI dashboards so that you can view the metrics that matter. View it on the go through your mobile and take action as desired. Engage our Business Intelligence team for more custom needs. Are you interested in knowing if you have properly defined your KPIs to your best advantage? Read our blog here.
Digitize time-consuming processes. You can use Vault to prepare customized and structured checklists which can be assigned to your staff. Try checklists to map across any of the project management functions in Vault. Want more? Engage our automation team who reduce the time needed to carry out tasks in the business processes you just mapped out.
Real-time overviews show the progress. View the status of tasks - completed, on hold, delayed, etc. Notifications and reminders appear on dashboards so that all of you are on the same page and know what to do.
Customizable KPI dashboards help the right people get the right picture with actionable insights. Boost efficiency and save time in order to ensure you achieve project success.
Adapt Vault more as a way of working in your organization. With real-time KPIs and dashboards, you can easily see and take timely actions to steer your projects to success.
Take a demo
Vault’s a cloud-based project management tool that establishes a productive mindset in your business using business process automation and a focus on relevant KPIs.
Not only is the cloud-based SaaS application user-friendly, but it can improve team efficiency and productivity with real-time project visibility thanks to analytical dashboards and drill-down reports.
Schedule a free consultation with Vault and discover success.
