On Clarity

“What obstacles do project managers face to successful completion of an Information Technology project?”

Information Technology and Services Professional: Healthcare

“1. Management not setting a clear goal and openly, honestly communicating this goal to all, and providing their support to the project.

2. Poor communication at various levels throughout the project, including not properly identifying all the stakeholders.

3. Unrealistic expectations and finger pointing.

4. Addressing each project as though it was the first one ever undertaken; each project is seen as an "exception to the rules", therefore no consistent process can be put into place.

5. Personal accountability hard to find.

6. People not being held responsible for their actions/inactions.

7. Conflicting priorities and an unreasonable rush to start coding

8. Staff not honestly invested in the project management process -- including management. Often lip-service is given, but off stage everyone tries to bypass project management.

9. Overbearing project management processes that are more about the process (religion) of project management rather than focused on steps that add (or reasonably could add) value.

10. Projects begun as a management directive instead of agreed-upon as a project that is of value (resulting in little user buy-in and often result in treating symptoms instead of fundamental problems). Any ROI is done while the project is underway, and is totally subjective and based on management directive rather an an objective analysis/review.”

MüTō Observation:

I completely agree with your 10 points! Further, I'll add that they can be referenced into three fundamental abilities of a project manager.

The short of it is;

Imagine the Project Manager that could communicate clearly, and guide a sponsor to open/honest conversation on the projects' goals, attaining their complete support. This same PM could completely understand the various parties involved to be certain they are a complete list of suppliers, stakeholders, and beneficiaries. Expectations would be normalized, and finger-pointing would be eliminated. Process would become secondary to the project's success, but intently adhered to!

Now let’s make that PM able to motivate the project team to such a point that the project is their primary objective! (Not just their day job.) When priorities threaten to conflict, a team-mate would think 'first' of the project; Opening the door to accountability.

This same PM might also be able to hold parties accountable for their specific tasks/milestones/responsibilities.