Effective Scheduling: How to Avoid Project Failure
Benjamin Franklin once stated, “Failing to plan is preparing to fail.” For any business to succeed, it is vital to plan well. This is especially true for complex projects with many stakeholders, dependencies, and tight deadlines.
It is easy to lose sight of the important milestones and focus when managing multiple projects. Chaos is the result.
You stop controlling Deadlines and they start controlling you
McKinsey & Company, an Oxford University study covering 5,400 large-scale IT projects found that large projects are 45% over budget, 7% over time, and 56% less valuable than expected. 17% of projects fail so badly that they threaten to endanger the company’s existence.
Why projects fail
The obvious question is: Why are so many projects failing – despite the best intentions and efforts of stakeholders?
Poor project planning and scope creep are two of the most common reasons for project failure. Either project managers don’t have a clear view of all tasks and milestones, or they make changes to the schedule that were not planned before the project began. Ineffective management and insufficient communication are two of the top 10 reasons projects fail.
Important deadlines and other information can be lost if there is not clear communication between project members. This results in confusion and chaos.
What do all these reasons for project failure have in common?
If project managers don’t have a clear view or visualization of the project, it can lead to project failures. They must be able to clearly understand the various tasks and steps required to complete a project.
You can avoid project failure by having a clear overview and central exchange of information.
How can I avoid project failure? One strategy is to use a project management software
Project management software is a great tool to not only plan but also review and document projects. InformationWeek conducted a survey in 2014 and found that 53% of respondents used project management software to monitor the progress of their projects.
Gantt charts are a key feature of project management software. They can be used to track and visualize the progress of a project. Visual creatures are what we are. Visual information accounts for 90% of all information we process. Gantt charts are a great way of visualizing the relationships and deadlines between project tasks.
Gantt charts in OpenProject
OpenProject is a web-based open-source project management software. It allows users to create Gantt charts and timeline reports, among other features.
Users can also show the differences between the current planning version and the original planning state. To signify blocking elements (e.g., vertical planning elements), Vacation, server maintenance) can be displayed across the entire task spectrum. OpenProject allows users display Gantt charts for multiple projects in one project to show the progress of complex project hierarchies. This makes it easy to display the progress of multiple projects from one place. This is a great way to give managers a dashboard overview of multiple project statuses.
To the End
For more information about this and other OpenProject features please visit the OpenProject website or read our OpenProject software review.
Software for Project Management
If you’re interested in learning more about top rated project management software, the editors at Project-Management.com actively recommend the following:
