Every IT organization has seen projects spiral and fail to reach their goal: In a 2017 study by the Project Management Institute, 14 percent of IT projects were deemed failures. The study also found that a significant number of completed projects fell short in budget issues, delays, or meeting strategic goals and benchmarks.
Understanding and identifying pain points in advance and performing regular check-ins not only help prevent roadblocks, but also help ensure that the project is completed efficiently and effectively. Here are six ways business leaders and team members can adjust and salvage a project that seems doomed.
1. Encourage more collaboration
Without transparency and collaboration, messaging can fall apart. Bring team members together to recap the situation and open channels of communication. When it looks like a project is veering off track, start an open discussion about its status, risks, and concerns.
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This will also help identify specific pain points that are causing the project to change course. Especially now, as many team members are working remotely, business leaders should embed frequent check-ins into a project’s timeline at the outset to increase discussion and course-correct immediately if needed. Check-ins can take place virtually using tools that enable team members to communicate more effectively.
2. Reinforce support for the team
Perceptive project managers are adept at identifying key warning signs that a project’s timeline may take a turn. These may include budget constraints that don’t match preferred vendors or client requirements that don’t meet the scope of work. Team members who make off-the-cuff remarks about budgets and “scope-creep” may be signaling a larger issue. Team member stress or early missed deadlines can also be signs of trouble.
Extra support from leaders and managers can help the project get over the hump and reduce potential burnout and fatigue for project team members. Even a listening ear can make a big difference in reinforcing the value a team member brings.
3. Audit the project status
Before you can rectify breakdowns in an IT project, it’s important to understand where all the pieces are. Assess where the project stands currently: what has been completed? Was the work done well? Does it meet the requirements outlined in the scope of work? Is it fully or only partially functional?
This detailed information can help you determine the next course of action. An audit might seem like a pause, but it’s important to be open and available to the project team to understand what’s going well and where improvements can be made once obstacles are uncovered. Schedule audits that work with the project’s timeline and stick to the schedule.
4. Refine the scope
When a project is faltering, it may be due to poor upfront planning or overextended team members. Audit the scope of work and any change orders that have been approved during the project to gain a better understanding of what has been contractually promised to the client. Before adjusting the scope, meet with project stakeholders to glean what parts of the project are most important to date so all team members clearly understand the next steps.
5. Make project details and goals easily accessible
Even in a remote work model, it’s critical to ensure that team members have a singular location to communicate and access the scope of the project. Once a plan is established and stakeholders have agreed on the next steps, all team members must be able to access information and communicate on the same platform. If communications are happening in different locations and project information isn’t stored in a singular environment, the project will almost inevitably swerve off-track.
If your organization is already on a cloud server, make sure the team can easily access project details, strategies, and goals from any location through a communications platform like Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams.
[ How do your team meetings stack up? Read also: Zoom tips: 6 ways to make meetings better. ]
6. Document and review lessons learned
What was it about this project that caused it to deteriorate?
You might be tempted to simply step aside and call it a loss, but there are important lessons to be learned that could help prevent future failed projects and revenue loss.
If the project is ultimately canceled, meet with the team promptly. Provide a supportive, non-threatening environment to discuss the problems while they’re still fresh in everyone’s mind. Document all the details, changes, and solutions throughout the project, and discuss them in a way that debriefs team members and closes the project while also offering insights to improve future projects.
Project teams that are agile and open to change will have a better chance to save projects that are struggling. That flexibility empowers leaders to identify warning signs and act on them quickly. Open communication and transparency with team members and stakeholders helps address concerns and bolster confidence.
Finally, it is essential to learn from mistakes along the way. Document missteps as well as solutions to help ensure the success of future projects. Doing so will help keep customers, stakeholders, and team members happy and productive.
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