Project managers are responsible for ensuring that their projects are completed and delivered on time. Having said that, doing so is tough as there are hundreds of things that could go wrong and be an obstacle to the project’s progress. To handle this efficiently, we have collated the top productivity roadblocks that you may face in project management. We will also discuss some solutions to overcome these roadblocks and streamline your project. There are broad, two types of roadblocks in project management. External roadblocks usually cannot be predicted and could be difficult to manage or require a lot of time and finances to overcome. Whereas internal roadblocks are challenges that happen within the project and are related to resource mismanagement or scope creep, etc. Internal roadblocks can be easily resolved with the right tools. Project resource management software also enables efficient planning and mitigation of such challenges.
Most Common Roadblocks and the Possible Solutions
- Poor communication and lack of collaboration
For any project where you have multiple resources working, the first thing required is seamless collaboration. Now, this becomes difficult when teams are working in silos or are located in various cities or geographies. That leads to poor communication, half-baked information being passed on, and the project data not reaching the right people in the right shape. Though there are numerous benefits of distributed teams and remote working, distance can be a big barrier to open communication and collaboration.
Solutions: The project manager needs to ensure that the team members follow open communication and collaborate seamlessly. Weekly team meetings, status calls to discuss project milestones and progress, any possible red flags, etc. is a must. In addition, setting up a workflow, maybe with a Kanban board, could be quite helpful. This way, the team members would know to be aware of what needs to be done and the timelines for it.
- Too Few Resources
Having too many projects to manage with too few resources has become a very common concern. Juggling your best resources between various projects with conflicting timelines makes it tough to focus on quality deliverables and productivity. By resources, we mean specialist individuals, tools, materials, machines, or equipment, and also finances. So, imagine; if you do not have people or machines to get the work done, then that’s one of the biggest roadblocks, which is quite difficult to resolve.
Solutions: Meticulous and detailed planning to schedule and allocate resources before starting the project is a must. Other than planning the number of resources needed for a project, it’s also equally important to finding competent resources as per the exact requirement. At times, you may have the requisite amount or number of resources, but they may not be skilled enough to do the tasks at hand efficiently. Who says resource management is a cakewalk? Handling multiple projects with few resources can be tricky. But if you do proper planning with the help of project management software, you can ensure to get the work done to deliver your projects on time, and within the established budgets.
- Poor planning
If planning is not done properly, it can become a huge challenge and roadblock in project management. Sometimes it is too tough to complete the planning phase of the project as you can’t get the right estimates or support you need to make a detailed plan. Ideally, you should plan not only for the timelines but also how to manage the budget, project requirements, if there are any changes, etc. If your calculations and schedules go wrong during the planning phase, the entire project can get derailed.
Solutions: Your planning should include all the stakeholders or team members who could be impacted by the project’s output, schedule, etc. It is a good idea to request everyone’s input and expertise to design a comprehensive plan. Project management software helps you make detailed resource and project plans and create a Gantt chart so that all the stakeholders have clarity of the time and effort it is going to take. Implementing eResource Scheduler for seamless project management and creating flawless project plans will enable you to lead your team and projects without any hassle and help you create realistic plans.
- Too many conflicting priorities
Many times, a team may have too many tasks on their plate and wouldn’t be clear on what priorities they should set. This becomes a huge productivity roadblock and hampers the project’s success. Most of the project managers, leads, and other team members also struggle with multi-tasking and fail to determine which task to complete first.
Solutions: As a project manager, you should be clear about your responsibilities, schedules, and various tasks. If you need a helping hand in your day-to-day project management, you should consider implementing project management software. Such a tool can help you with planning, project management, capacity planning, resource management, setting your priorities, creating visual dashboards, and a lot more. As such a tool gets updated in real-time and it can be accessed from anywhere and at any time, your team will never face any confusion about the project plan, priorities, timelines, or any changes that may be happening.
- Changing requirements or scope creep
Most projects get executed in a very dynamic environment. Mostly, clients request for changes, additions, or revisions to be done after completing a particular milestone. Many times, these amendments may be out of the scope of the preliminary requirements discussed. Scope creep typically happens due to three major factors. The first scenario is when the details or requirements are not discussed properly and clearly at the beginning of the project. Lack of clear direction and misleading communication leads to rework and delays. Another reason could be differing opinions and disagreements between the team members and the client.
Solutions: The good news is that like any other roadblock, scope creeps also can be handled well with clear communication, discussion, and documentation at the kick-off stage. It is also imperative to note all details in the contract and provide a creative brief to the team where you discuss what’s in scope and what’s not.
- Limitations of time, effort, and burnout
Timelines are of prime importance to completing projects on time. But imagine what can happen if they are unrealistic. Data shows that almost 30% of employees experience low productivity as they have less time which they need to juggle to complete their work. Many teams members multi-task and also handle multiple responsibilities or projects. This leads to burnout and frustration.
Solutions: Implementing resource and project management techniques right from the start of the project goes a long way. Project management software helps in this regard as you can monitor your team or an individual’s resource utilization, capacity, and availability, and then create your plans. If you notice that some team member is over-booked or over-burdened, then you can assign some tasks to a person who has some bandwidth. A leading project management tool such as eResource Scheduler also helps you to get accurate forecasts for upcoming projects and ensure that you do project planning, resourcing, and capacity management efficiently.
- Technological challenge
These days, technology has connected the world like never before. It’s a lot easier to handle distributed teams too. However, there are still many challenges related to technology and that does impact your team’s productivity.
Solutions: To resolve the technological challenges that could occur, it’s important to gauge how comfortable or tech-savvy are your team members. Then, you can use that information and decide on the next steps such as organizing workshops to upgrade your team’s awareness or support from some technology experts. After doing this, the best would be to choose the right project management software to overcome the roadblocks and streamline the processes in your team.
Clear the Roadblocks with Top-rated Project Management Software – eResource Scheduler
If you are seeking project management software to create detailed project plans, optimize your resources, monitor utilization, and project status at each milestone, go for the award-winning eResource Scheduler. Choose the plan that suits you the most according to your existing requirements and the number of people or users. This top-rated tool not only helps you with capacity management, project, and resource planning, tracking productivity, costs, etc. but also helps to manage your remote team. If you have some specific questions about this tool or the implementation process, Enbraun provides you with an Account Manager to enable the configuration of this solution. Check it out by signing up for a free trial and clearing all roadblocks in project management.
