10 IT Project Management Challenges – How to Overcome Them
In starting a software project or any information technology (IT) project, you should know that difficulties are bound to happen imminently. IT projects, as you may have already known, are highly sophisticated due to the involvement of complex technological and digital components. For that reason, managing IT projects are always challenging in any circumstance concerning them. To help you and your IT team in making your project successful, we will show you 10 IT project management challenges and how to overcome each of them.
10 IT Project Management Challenges – How to Overcome Them
Communication Between Teams
Most IT projects have immense scope and size, which makes it near impossible for a single team to complete them. That said, multiple teams must work in harmony in an IT project. Now, if there are that many people working for one objective, communication can certainly be a challenge. In relaying information from one team to another, the risk of misunderstandings can possibly be inevitable. However, solving that dilemma is quite simple. Make use of emails, SMS messages, or arrange general meetings in communicating updates regarding an IT project. You must also establish a communication structure or roadmap for a proper relay of messages.
Unclear Expectations/Goals
A project plan that has unclear expectations/goals occur from time to time. Managing such projects is challenging. Without clear expectations and objectives, it’ll be challenging to come up with strategies on how to complete a project. Plus, everyone involved in it won’t be on the same page. The ultimate result will undoubtedly be a failure. To overcome this challenge, create a checklist comprising the various purposes of an IT project. In doing so, clear expectations and goals will be discovered. Another method is to simply review the project plan and analyze its procedures and components thoroughly.
Complicated Client Requirements
Clients with complicated requirements can’t be avoided in the IT industry. The challenge of encountering such clients is that you can never say no to them. If your IT company does that, then its clientele will decline surely. The best that your team can do is listen to these types of clients. Sometimes, it could be that their requirements are actually quite simple. What made them complicated is the unclear manner the clients explained their specific requests. Remember that you and your team are more knowledgeable about IT projects than clients. During the duration of the project, maintain constant communication with the clients, and update them about the progress. Moreover, if a client’s requirements are impossible to achieve, don’t refuse them. Instead, suggest realistic and better alternatives that’ll meet their demands.
Delivery Model
A delivery model refers to the group of skilled people, equipment, tools, resources, and strategies required for the delivery of an IT project. The challenge of a delivery model is that it should be complete. If it isn’t, an IT project will be a struggle to deliver. To overcome that challenge, your company must exhaust every possible resource and formulate effective strategies. And if the company’s budget estimate allows it, invest in assets and additional resources that can reinforce the project delivery model. An excellent suggestion to invest in is project management software. This type of software will help your IT team in countless ways possible. According to a study from Hive, 77% of IT teams and project managers with successful projects utilize project management software.
Lack of Training
Some of your team members may have the credentials and necessary skills to work in your IT company, but they may lack the experience and fall short in other areas. That could be a significant challenge for specific projects with high levels of difficulty. To counteract that, beforehand, conduct and invest training programs for your team members and expose them to top-tier workloads. That should enhance their capabilities and knowledge as IT personnel. Plus, their training experience will help them in developing their composure being involved in high-difficulty projects.
Insufficient Team
Lack of manpower is undoubtedly a major challenge. Without enough teams to work on various IT projects, meeting the deadline for each of them will be difficult and can be near impossible. You can resort to ordering workers to incur overtime work on their timesheet to meet deadlines. However, there are other much better solutions, such as creating a strategy for a much efficient workflow, reinventing standard operating procedures, and hiring new employees with complete skillsets. Sometimes, project management is a matter of making the most with what you have.
Infrastructure Challenges
Infrastructure refers to the software and hardware components of your company’s IT services. Infrastructure is necessary to carry out every process and transaction in your company. So if the infrastructure is depleted or isn’t capable enough to complete a project, that truly is a big challenge. The best solution is to invest financial resources for the reinforcement of your company’s infrastructure. In doing so, you’ll be optimizing your company’s capability to achieve highly-advanced IT projects. When that happens, your company could attract more clients to avail of its services. Besides, you must also assess your company’s infrastructure through SWOT analysis.
Prioritization Challenges
Indeed, there will be instances when your company will have to focus on multiple projects. The challenge of such an occurrence will be prioritizing, which projects to complete first. The factors to consider in prioritizing projects are their deadlines, importance, and level of difficulty. Consider projects with hectic deadlines, high importance, and severe difficulty as top priorities. In that way, your team will have a roadmap of which projects must be completed within a given period of time.
Risks Identification
In every project, certain risks could derail their production. As a project manager, it’s your responsibility to identify them. Some of these risks are a challenge to determine on your own. In that case, assign each team member to report any issues and technical problems that they encounter during their work, regardless of how big or small they seem. Even the slightest risks can escalate into significant issues that can affect day-to-day operations. For the dangers imposed by malware and hackers, you have to counteract them by optimizing the security measures of your systems.
Lack of Accountability
Unfortunately, there are instances when some members of a team don’t perform their jobs well enough or didn’t showcase commitment. In other words, they lack accountability. It’s a common problem that leaders encounter. Members on your team who don’t clear full responsibility can derail the project. The most direct solution is probably to fire them, but there are other better alternatives. You can implement sanctions, such as salary deductions and suspensions without pay; those should motivate them to accomplish their obligations. Other than those things, you can also try to boost the morale of your team members. It could be that their lack of accountability is caused by their lack of confidence and stress caused by work-related problems. Those things can be talked through. A big part of project management is also managing people.
When it comes to IT project management, there’s no such thing as a “walk in the park.” Everything is a challenge that you have to overcome for the success of the projects. So as an IT project manager, learn to rise to the occasion and handle challenges using standard managerial practices and methods.
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