Project Management is an essential tool for any organization. It enables you to avoid chaos, minimize risks, improve quality, and also to learn from failure. And despite all this, unfortunately, many businesses still see it as needless or costly, or they just do it the wrong way for lack of experience or knowledge.

If you are among those who aren’t sure if you are managing your project the right way, you will be happy to know that there several signs that you can use to spot any problems before they become a big issue. And they won’t mean any extra work or resources from you or your team, as you will see.

# 1 – Milestones aren’t being met

The first sign that should get your attention if your project milestones aren’t being met. And yet, it is very tempting to overlook it, thinking that this is just a question of time, that the team is adjusting, etc.

And while this is true, it is also true that, when you were creating your project and defining your milestones, you should have taken this adaptation time into consideration (if this really is the case). If you haven’t, your project won’t be reaching its goals in the scheduled time, so you better start making adjustments right now.

# 2 – There is a lot of miscommunication happening

If you feel like you have to repeat everything that you say, or if you catch your team resending emails, or not giving priority to what you think they should, you might have a problem there.

Lack of communication or a poor one is an evident sign that you are managing your project wrong, as it is mandatory that information flows as perfectly as possible. Otherwise, your project will suffer from stagnation and mistakes that could be easily avoided.

#3 – Too much overtime

Do you or your team tend to stay in the office after your shift is over, and still take a bit of work to finish at home? If your answer is yes, you need to rethink what you are doing.

It is understandable if it happens eventually, or if it is a specific person of your team who is doing overtime frequently (meaning, that they have a problem, not your project). But when staying late becomes a norm, it is evident that you have to re-evaluate your goals and milestones.

# 4 – You always need extra resources

Are you constantly asking someone to buy an extra resource so to get things done, from paper-clip to a new computer? In this scenario, it is obvious that you have miscalculated the materials you would need when you were planning your project.

If you spot this sign draining your project, it is time for you to look again at your project and verify if there is anything else missing. This way you will have time to adapt your budget, or even try to request an extra amount from your board of directors in one goal and before it becomes another last-minute demand.

# 5 – Your team is bored

Playing safe hardly is a mark of great achievements. Just have a look at any story of success behind any business. If nothing else, the injection of adrenaline that comes with risk taking keeps your team motivated and engaged with your project.

You also don’t want to bore your team to death by giving them only repetitive and predictive tasks. So if you spot people sleeping on their desks or going too often to the coffee room, maybe you need to check how you are managing your project.

# 6 – You need to figure out extra assistance in the last minute

If when a sensitive matter comes up, you need to run around the place and desperately find out extra assistance, it is a sign that your project management skills need an update.

This kind of situation exposes the fact that you haven’t predicted all possible variables of your project. And that you haven’t spent the time you should looking for all personnel you need so to have them available when required. So go back to your contacts list now and start making phone calls or sending emails to people you think you might eventually need along the way, so you can negotiate with them and get everything ready in advance.

# 7 – You don’t know where your budget is going to

Of course, you know what is going on when it comes to the big numbers. But what about the small expenses? Is there a lot of things going on that you haven’t expected and that demand payment? Can you tell out of the top of your head how much money you spend per day to make your project happen? If you don’t, you got a problem in your hands.

So, make sure that you have your accounting always updated and that you aren’t getting your budget drained by coffee, transport, and stationery – these items usually are among the silent enemies of any successful project.

# 8 – You feel like you are babysitting

If you feel like you need to be controlling everything that happens in your project, you certainly are managing your project wrong. Micromanaging is one of the most destructive ways to ruin a project so don’t you ever feel tempted to follow this dangerous road.

There are two possible scenarios here: one where your team actually needs babysitting; and another one where this is happening for your own choice. If you are dealing with the first case, you probably need a new team or to find ways to make them feel empowered. But if this is just the way you are, it is time for you to change your attitude before you put the project in jeopardy.

The bottom line

As you can see, it is easy to spot a faulty project management. It doesn’t require many skills to see signs such as those mentioned above, and you probably already got your to-do list ready at this stage. But, what is going to prove that you know your job is the way you will deal with it and ensure that it won’t happen again. So start working right now and get your project back on the right way as soon as possible.

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How to Manage a Demanding Workload
By Susanne Madsen
As a project management coach and facilitator I often come across project managers who find their workload overwhelming. They want to do a good job and don’t want to appear “weak” by saying no to more work. But in spite of working long hours, there is so much […]

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How to Become a Project Manager: Can You Learn by Watching?
By Margaret Cato-Smith
Going on a formal project management course is a must for an aspiring project manager. However, there are a number of additional approaches you can use to develop your project management skills. Direct experience is often cited as the ultimate teacher and most […]

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Managing Your Team During the Holiday Season
By Joel Roberts
Keeping employees stimulated and productive during holiday season can be complicated. The euphoria of holidays can cause the personnel feel distracted or lose interest. As can working while the colleagues take vacation days. Follow these tips to easily manage the team during any holiday season keeping them […]

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Managing Change: Secrets of Adaptable Leaders
By Richard Lepsinger
Why do some companies consistently outperform their peers? When companies that face identical circumstances are compared, one variable stands out among the winners- leadership quality. The best leaders are able to effectively influence three determinants of organizational performance-adaptation, efficiency, and human resources.
Adaptation involves changes made to cope with […]

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Project management isn’t always the easiest task. Pulling together everything you need and ensuring people execute it properly can be a thankless task. As most project managers will attest to, the team behind the project management matters almost as much as the manager themselves.

You may not know it, but your project doesn’t just need a team, it needs a creative team to help get it to completion in the most efficient way, with the greatest chance of success. Sure, a team of highly technical people can execute commands, but they’re missing a few elements that creative people can bring.

Here’s why you should be using a highly creative team for your project.

1. Creative Ideas

This one should seem obvious, but a creative team should be able to generate creative and innovative ideas. This can take a project from being good enough, to great. If the members of your team aren’t very creative, you can’t expect the ideas they come up with dazzle you. If you’re looking for ideas that are outside the box, you need creative people. They actually think differently.

2. Problem Solving

There is often more than one solution to a problem. Finding creative solutions to problems can be a little more elegant than the obvious ones. Sometimes the creative solutions are the only ones that work. The greatest inventors have always had a creative mind when it comes to solving some of our biggest daily problems. Having a diverse team of creative people can often lead to some pretty interesting solutions. They may even be able to solve the almost impossible issues on your project.

3. They’re Efficient

Creative people actually focus and work harder when they’re being creative. If you’re looking for a team that won’t drag its feet, make sure they’re creative. They’re also able to understand when something just isn’t working. They won’t waste time trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, they’ll find another solution. Likely a creative one.

4. They Have Understanding

Although being creative is often associated with having a higher IQ, it’s not what you may think. Being creative is just about having the ability to connect the dots. Some people will view this as intelligence. When working on your project, they’ll be able to have an understanding of the big picture. You’ll be able to rely on them to connect the dots between their task and the overall goal.

5. Many Leaders

Putting creative people on a diverse team will encourage them all to take leadership roles within their own work. There are several leadership skills that creative people possess. They’ll be able to work things out without the intervention of a project manager. Having a creative team is like having several micro-managers on the team already. Take advantage of these qualities.

6. Results Oriented

Hiring creative people means hiring people that are results oriented. This will mean less time figuring out how to get there, and more time actually working on getting there. That’s music to most project manager’s ears.

Having a creative team, or at least some members of the team that are highly creative can make a big difference in how the project is managed. The less you need to work with the team and the more they can just execute will be a big help.

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As a first time founder of a startup, you might be under the notion that the only way to succeed is by taking control of every little aspect related to your organization. This is undoubtedly true to a certain extent, but you should be smart enough to let go some things.

Micromanagement poses a huge challenge and can be dangerous at times. Besides impacting your daily routines and habits, it also has an ill-effect on your employees and business in general. Michael Pryor, CEO of Trello, states that micromanagement kills the satisfaction of workers, which usually stems from self-direction and one’s own effort.

The key for overall success and happiness lies in making a move to a macromanager from a micromanager. Here are five pragmatic tips to help you achieve this workable feat.

Hire the Right Person

The success of your startup begins by hiring the right person. You’ll give responsibilities to your employees only when you start trusting them. On the contrary, if you don’t have trust and faith on your workers, the only natural solution is to micromanage things. So do your due diligence in hiring the right people.

Have an Established Procedure in Place

There has to be an established procedure in place so that every important task taken up by your team bears fruitful results. This will help prevent chaos among your employees.

By giving your workers appropriate input, you’ll find that they are comfortable with what’s going on. After establishing a set procedure and guidelines, put it in writing so that everyone sees.

Assign Bit by Bit

The transition to minimal involvement from 100% micromanagement can be onerous to many. Even if you craft a perfect move, natural delays are bound to happen. In order to reduce the difficulty level, begin by assigning tasks bit by bit. By moving out gradually instead of totally moving away, you will get relatively improved results.

Close the Door

This may sound as if it’s opposed to everything else, especially when it comes to being a terrific leader; however, it generates astounding results. Taking a break on a periodic basis like shutting your office door, taking breaks from social media and other extended escapes pressurizes your employees to function in your absence. They now realize that they have to work without your help. As a result, they put in more initiatives and become productive.

Give your Workers a Stake in Ownership

Do you want your workers to have a feeling that they own the organization? Try to give them a stake in the firm. By doing so, you’ll be encouraging them to put in more efforts and make wise decisions.  Moreover, it gives them a sense of being a part of the company and not just individuals working for that particular organization.

There are two fundamental challenges as far as entrepreneurship is concerned. These include ideation and implementation. Ideation comes on its own accord to some people. If you belong to this lucky group, there is no need to brainstorm for coming up with innovative ideas. However, chances are that you may struggle with implementation.

Why Micro-Management is Bad?

Final Thoughts

To conclude, abandoning micromanaging can prove to be a very effective strategy for the well-being of your employees and yourself too.  You’ll also be able to lay more emphasis on your role as a Founder.

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Three Things You Should Do Whenever Someone Leaves Your Project
By Kiron D. Bondale
We start our projects with a small core team but as we proceed further down the rabbit hole we add team members to support planning and delivery activities. Then as work streams get completed, team size shrinks until we reach project closure where […]

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Need Help with a Tight Schedule?
By Christian Bisson
One of the main concerns for project managers is delivering the project on time. More often than we would love to admit, this can be hard, and a variety of reasons explain why it can be a challenge (events, client expectations, business need, etc.).
Either while we’re planning […]

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Project management is an interesting career choice; it offers challenging roles and hence it offers interesting career options. For example, as a project manager, one has to deal with spectrum of stakeholders. Project stakeholders have different aspirations, expectation, behavior, skills, experience, involvement in job, etc. And when one has to deal with different set of people and still get the things done, it is certainly a challenging profession. Let’s find out what are those specific things project project manager must know in order to succeed.

1. Project Scope, Goals and Objectives

One of the major reasons for project failure is lack of clarity in terms of why, what needs to be done and also what should not be done. To bring in such clarity, project managers have to be clear in terms of project goals, project objectives and project scope. Project manager should be judicious in accepting change request and avoid scope creep.

Image 1: Clearly Know Project Scope, Objectives

2. Type of Stakeholders and Right Frequency of Communication

Before taking up a project, project manager should know who are the stakeholders of the project, he should also do a stakeholder analysis and decide how they should be communicated, contacted, informed, apprised, etc. There will be stakeholders will be responsive, accommodative whereas some of them could be difficult to deal with; accordingly project manager will have to decide the communication strategy, communication frequency keeping in mind the best interests of project.

3. Support Of Senior Management Is Important

Support of senior and executive management is important for success of the project. If management is convinced about your project, they will support it, even when project has set backs. As I mentioned earlier, the stakeholder analysis will help you in assessing how far, the members of senior management are influential as well decisive. Senior management will tend to be accommodative if project manager saves them from bad surprises, hence one should be informing them about major developments, set backs on a regular basis.

4. Project Planning is The Key, Involve Subject Matter Experts

Traditional still believes that the level of project planning decides project success. If one wants to make realistic project planning, the input for estimations should come from subject matter experts and project manager should deduce those numbers while declaring a final project plan before kick off meeting. Experience project managers know things can go wrong, even with detailed project plan with all possible considerations; hence they make a provision for reasonable buffer time.

5. Follow Up Is Unfortunate, But We Are Dealing with Humans After all

One of the main reason, project manager is not popular among team members is Follow Up. And that’s how it is known for “Follow Up Guy”. But one thing team members forget is, if project manager has required information to share with customers or senior managers, he doesn’t have to chase project team or others. Because it is human nature to procrastinate things, and project manager has to answer someone, he has to follow up.

6. Use Of Technology For Project Monitoring and Collaboration

Image 2: Project Management Software

You don’t have to be a techie to understand the benefits of using technology. A good project manager well well understands the power of web based project management tool, collaboration tools to streamline project management process and improve productivity.

Transparency instills responsibility and accountability among project stakeholders. This is exactly why web based project management system can immensely help organizations in better project planning, monitoring and delivery.

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