Common Barriers to Successful Projects - #15-21
By Raymond Posch

In this series, I am writing briefly about some barriers to project success that are fairly common in my experience. Here are the next seven in my list:

15. Not getting team commitment to the plan – When the plan is developed with team involvement, they will naturally be bought in. But by asking them to commit to the plan, they will more likely point out where they have doubts about or problems with the plan. When the team resolves those issues and commits individually and collectively to the plan, probability of success quadruples. Believe me.    
16. Not involving sponsor and stakeholders in the planning process – The sponsor or customer representative needs to be heavily involved in the planning process because the business/customer organization will be the users of the results and should best understand what is needed. Stakeholders also have some vested interest in the project or the results (since that is the definition of “stakeholder”). Therefore, they need to be involved in the planning process also, but it may be at the beginning and at selected points rather than throughout.  
17. Not leveraging the team throughout the project  – The power and synergy of the team can be tapped throughout the project, not just during planning. Keep them informed about the external aspects of the project anything that might impact the project. Remind them of the business goals and expected results for the business/customer. Discuss risks and mitigation plans on a regular basis. The team will provide inputs, ideas, and solutions far more effective that you, the PM, could come up with on your own.  
18. PM not removing obstacles to the team in getting their work done – One of the jobs of the project manager is to facilitate the team in every phase of the project. If something is negatively impacting the progress of the team, the PM must identify that something and eliminate or minimize its negative impact, if possible. One of the big problems today is excessive multi-tasking – project specialists being assigned to work on too many projects at the same time. Negotiation with the resource managers on behalf of your project comes with the territory, but the ideal – getting bigger chunks of the specialists’ time is not always doable. This can be one of those things that needs to be escalated up the management chain.  
19. Poor communication with sponsor and stakeholders – The PM needs to learn about the sponsor’s and stakeholders’ requirements, concerns, and interests in the project. One-on-one discussions, with the PM doing a lot of listening, is often the better way to do that than in group meetings. It is also a good way for the PM to build relationships with these individuals based on direct interaction and learning about the people, their business roles, and what they think (or feel) is most important to them relative to the project.  
20. Inadequate team resources – If the project manager cannot arrange with resource (i.e., team or department) managers to have the right number of people with required skills for the necessary level (%) of effort when needed, then obviously the planned schedule will not be achieved. This is a common problem in many cases, especially when too few people are being asked to support too many projects.  
21. Pulling resources off for “higher priorities” – One of the most frustrating situations for PMs is to think that they have people with the right skills and right personality fit committed to the project on a planned schedule, or even working on project tasks, only to have them pulled off to work on some higher-priority project. This is deadly, because even if there is someone else with equivalent skills available, they may not be as familiar or up-to-speed on the project, or they may not be as good a fit with the team, and the net result may be that much greater time and PM attention may be required to get the planned tasks completed. 

Raymond Posch is publisher of Weekly PM Insights newsletter as well as being a full time project manager. See Ray's bio on our Meet the Experts page. He can be reached at ray@projectsuccesstips.com.