Common Pitfalls to Avoid in the Project Management Journey

An overview with Biren Parekh

Leading a project presents its own challenges that must be navigated with precision. It involves seeing the big picture while also paying attention to the details that contribute to successfully completing the project on time and within budget. This is a complex task for project managers, who, in the process of leading the project, must manage stakeholder expectations, organize people and tasks, monitor the budget, and ensure everything is well-coordinated and communicated.

How to handle all of this is a topic we discussed with Biren Parekh, author of the book Supercharge Your Project Management Skills, and recognized as one of the Top 25 Thought Leaders in Project Management & FinTech by Thinkers360.com.

Read on to discover his insights and advice on navigating and avoiding common pitfalls in the project management journey.

Hi Biren, and thank you for joining PPM Hub. To start, could you please introduce us to your extensive experience in the project management field and share what motivated you to pursue a career in this area?

Biren Parekh
First, I’d like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to share my views on this platform. PPM Hub is doing an excellent job in presenting interviews with thought leaders and providing a space for diverse perspectives through this section.

While I have a strong technical background and spent the first decade of my professional career in development, my transition to project management occurred serendipitously. Due to my natural leadership skills, I often took the lead in various customer engagements and interactions. Coupled with my techno-functional knowledge, my superiors recognized my potential and introduced me to customers as a project manager.

Although I presented myself as a project manager to clients, in the early days of this role, I wasn’t fully aware of the actual responsibilities it entailed. It wasn’t until I pursued project management certification that I became conscious of my shortcomings in this position. This realization marked the beginning of my transformation into a more professional project manager.

The PMP certification brought about a significant change not only in my professional life but also in my personal life. This experience solidified my commitment to project management as a career path. Throughout this journey, I also gained insights into how my managers should have behaved in certain situations or where they should have demonstrated more resilience.

From your expertise, what are the most common pitfalls in project management, and what are the best strategies for laying a strong foundation to avoid them?

Biren Parekh
A common pitfall in project management occurs during the planning phase, which comprises numerous activities.

One of the most disastrous mistakes many project managers make is in estimating the project’s scope. Once you misjudge the resources and efforts required for project execution, your downfall begins from the moment that estimation is signed off. As it directly impacts profitability, effort estimation is key to the project’s success or failure. When done correctly, the project progresses smoothly. However, if it goes awry, you might face a disaster.

Inaccurate estimates can lead to understaffing or overstaffing. Once you fall into this trap, you may start delaying project deliverables or compromising on quality due to constrained resources. Both scenarios can have vicious and cascading effects, potentially leading to project failure. According to PMI data, 29% of waterfall projects fail, with a quarter of these failures attributed to incorrect estimation.

The best strategy is to ensure that project planning is carefully conducted with the help of a mentor and/or project sponsor. Since estimation can be the culprit, it’s crucial to determine which estimation strategy works best for the specific geography, domain, or customer. One should review “lessons learned” from the organization’s repository, select relevant insights for their respective domain, and consider them wisely during the planning and execution phases of the project.

If one must resort to “guesstimation” despite these precautions, it may be worth considering the creation of a “seed Statement of Work (SOW)” for estimation purposes. This approach provides the much-needed breathing space to conduct required due diligence and accurately assess the work involved before committing to potentially inaccurate efforts.

Which of these pitfalls is the hardest to tackle, and which ones are easy to sidestep yet often seem to be repeated?

Biren Parekh
It’s challenging to pinpoint a single pitfall as the hardest to tackle, as the definition of the most difficult challenge may vary depending on the project, domain, company, country, and geography. However, one of the most common and difficult pitfalls to manage is when a project manager lacks full authority.

Managing stakeholders’ expectations is one of the most challenging aspects of a project manager’s role. Only the project manager can engage stakeholders to the right extent. If the project manager incorrectly visualizes and prepares the Power/Interest matrix of stakeholders, they may engage stakeholders inappropriately. Insufficient stakeholder engagement can lead to misperceptions about the project status and the project manager’s performance. This may cause stiff resistance and delays, ultimately leading to project failure. Since project managers often lack direct authority over stakeholders, it requires significant effort, delicate attention, and the right level of engagement to ensure stakeholders remain updated and interested in the project. Failure to do so may even result in the project manager’s replacement.

On the other hand, one pitfall that is easy to sidestep yet often repeated concerns risk management. Project managers have the liberty to highlight all risks at the project’s outset, prepare mitigation plans, and seek budgets to address these risks. However, in the rush to kick-start the project, managers often simply copy and paste earlier risks without delving deeper into risks specific to each area of the current project. Consequently, when an undocumented risk materializes, it adversely affects not only the timeline and the organization’s reputation but also puts the project manager in the spotlight due to declining profitability and margins. Had the project manager documented the risk upfront at the project’s inception, they would have been able to explain it, preventing it from becoming a red flag against them. While identifying and highlighting risks is relatively straightforward, project managers often neglect to conduct a deep dive, resulting in problems at later stages when risks materialize.

Are there any basic guidelines that project managers can follow to make sure they meet expectations and successfully lead their projects?

Biren Parekh
It’s challenging to pinpoint one or two specific factors that guarantee successful project leadership. Based on the mistakes I’ve made in my project management and leadership career, I’ve written a book titled “Supercharge Your Project Management Skills” to outline areas that project managers can effectively handle. Here are a few key points project managers should consider during project execution, with more detailed insights available in my book:

1. Project managers often become biased and attempt to conceal facts by publishing “Watermelon” status reports. These reports, created for the sake of appearance, hide the true status of the project. Instead, project managers should neutrally report the project’s status in their periodic updates.
2. Novice project managers frequently overlook risk management in overall project oversight. This often occurs when a Business Analyst or Technical Lead is suddenly asked to assume the role of project manager due to a crisis. It’s crucial to understand each project area and diligently list risks in all those domains. These risks should be highlighted in all governance meetings, with risk mitigation plans thoughtfully developed and continuously monitored. “
3. Communication is another underrated area. Project managers often believe that merely publishing status reports fulfills their duty of communicating with stakeholders. While this is a good start, the project manager’s responsibility doesn’t end there. They need to ensure that the project status is communicated to stakeholders according to their preferences and that stakeholders acknowledge receipt. This approach largely ensures that all stakeholders are on the same page, preventing later complaints of “I didn’t know” from arising.

My book covers these points in detail, along with several other pitfalls to avoid. While PMP certification teaches ideal ways to execute a project, my book demonstrates how to handle practical problems faced by project managers during project execution, based on my real-life experiences.

Theory and practice in project management can often differ. Based on your experience, what do you see as the biggest gap between the two when it comes to developing project management skills? Are there aspects that a book simply can’t teach?

Biren Parekh
Exactly! Theoretical project management often teaches the ideal way to execute projects, but it frequently falls short in addressing the practical scenarios project managers face. These real-world challenges can include:

Infrastructure constraints
Connectivity issues
Recruitment difficulties
Poor management teams
Uninterested stakeholders
Office politics
Lack of team motivation
Continuous attrition
Demanding customers
Poorly drafted contracts

These concepts and scenarios are not well-covered in typical project management certifications. Often, trainers are “organic” instructors who are not active practitioners, so they tend to focus on theory or hypothetical examples given in reference books rather than practical situations. As a result, there’s a significant gap between what certifications teach and the actual scenarios encountered in the corporate world.

Project managers must be prepared to navigate these real-world challenges that go beyond the textbook approach to project management. Practical experience and learning from seasoned professionals can help bridge this gap, enabling project managers to effectively handle the complexities and unpredictability of actual project environments.

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned throughout your career about incorporating the human element into projects while aligning it with project goals? What potential pitfalls pose the greatest threat in this regard?

Biren Parekh
Empathy and emotional intelligence are key contributors to project success. Even if all other conditions are favorable, a project is likely to fail without sympathy and empathy towards the team. My biggest learning (the hard way) has been to ensure that the project team, customers, and key stakeholders are taken into confidence before making important decisions. While a project manager cannot always be dictated to by customers or team members, it’s crucial to maintain transparency and hear their voices before implementing major decisions.

I’ve often noticed that when preparing a project plan, it’s essential to gather input from leads and key team members. It’s vital to hear about genuine, practical problems they face while working on the project, issues that may not be visible from a high-level perspective. Many leaders forget this and plan based solely on their personal experience.

Secondly, while meeting deadlines is extremely important, it’s a leader’s job to consider the human element in planning. Team members falling ill, planned holidays, or personal emergencies are unavoidable. Leaders need to anticipate and buffer for these human factors while planning. If these aren’t considered, the project may fail. Once these factors are accounted for, project managers need not worry excessively about delays. In several of my past projects, due to my personal attention to each team member’s human emotions, I rarely had to worry about delays. The team knew the deadlines and would stretch to whatever extent possible to ensure minimal or no delay.

The third human aspect that many leaders forget to recognize is timely rewards and recognition for team members. Not only that, but acknowledging them in front of management and customers is crucial. Many leaders take credit for good work and blame team members for errors and issues. The best way to ensure project success is to do the opposite.

Failing to give personal attention to team members’ emotions is a significant drawback for many project managers, especially those accustomed to working remotely. Recognizing and addressing the human element in project management is essential for fostering a positive team environment and achieving project success.

What role do tools and technology play in helping project managers avoid the pitfalls mentioned above? How do you see them evolving in the next decade?

Biren Parekh
Managing a project without technology has become extremely challenging. Using the right kind of Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tool helps you understand and analyze data correctly. They say data is the new oil, but not only that, Data is now Soil. It germinates and helps to give you deep insights.

PPM tools enable project managers to assess various aspects of projects, such as following among others:

Efforts spent
Work completed and remaining
Resource loading
Profitability
Revenue to date
Project status
Risk status
Roadblocks
Resource leakage
Revenue leakage

These tools also provide insights into several key parameters at the program or portfolio level. Even with properly inputted data, modern PPM tools can generate status reports for various types of reviews, such as management reviews or working committee reviews.

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the trend in coming years will be that PPM tools will perform several tasks currently handled by project managers. These tools will:

Create periodic project status reports and automatically email them to various stakeholders
Suggest corrective actions like work or resource balancing
Recommend risk mitigation actions
Predict the likelihood of project success or failure
Identify learnings that can be applied from similar projects within the unit, company, or industry
Demonstrate resource productivity
Prepare project estimates
Suggest vendors based on past history
Suggest rewards for team members

The future of project management is poised to be exciting, with technology playing an increasingly significant role in streamlining processes and enhancing decision-making capabilities.

Is there anything that still surprises you about how projects are managed today?

Biren Parekh
Many organizations have numerous projects running concurrently, yet they still rely on Excel spreadsheets for management. The absence of a Project Management Office (PMO) in such companies is one of management’s biggest oversights. They often view project managers and PMOs as overhead expenses. The result is alarming: according to a PMI survey, 70% of projects either fail or struggle to complete within scope, time, and budget constraints.

When companies manage projects without proper data systems, they become susceptible to human errors that often remain undiscovered until the project’s end or the close of the financial year.

Another surprising aspect is the lack of a structured approach to capturing project learnings in a common organizational repository easily accessible to project managers. Furthermore, little effort is made to share these learnings with new project managers at the start of their projects. This oversight leads to several issues:

Repeated mistakes across projects
Inefficient use of resources
Lack of standardization in project management practices
Difficulty in tracking and analyzing project performance trends
Missed opportunities for process improvement and innovation

To address these challenges, organizations should:

Implement a robust PMO structure
Invest in appropriate project management tools and technologies
Develop a centralized knowledge repository for project learnings
Establish mentorship programs for new project managers
Regularly review and apply lessons learned from past projects

By taking these steps, companies can significantly improve their project success rates, enhance efficiency, and foster a culture of continuous improvement in project management practices.

Which guidance would you give to new project managers just starting out, and how would you advise experienced managers to handle project complexities without getting overwhelmed by needs and expectations?

Biren Parekh
I’ve observed multiple issues with new project managers and even seasoned project managers:

1. Role Transition Challenges – New project managers often struggle to let go of their previous roles. For example, a former Tech Lead or Business Analyst who becomes a project manager might continue coding, debugging, or preparing functional specifications themselves instead of delegating these tasks or allowing the current Tech Lead or BA to handle them. This dilutes their focus on core project management responsibilities, shifting their attention from overall project management to micro-management or hands-on task execution. While applying their experience isn’t inherently wrong, they need to find the right balance to ensure they don’t get bogged down in the minutiae of preparing deliverables.
2. Reluctance to Escalate Issues – While diplomacy is a valuable skill for project managers, I’ve noticed that many, both novice and seasoned, are reluctant to escalate issues at the appropriate time. They often fear retaliation from stakeholders. However, project managers should have the courage to escalate without fear of reprisal. They can be diplomatic, but they must ensure the message reaches all stakeholders. When a project is on the verge of failure, everyone will likely blame the project manager, so it’s their duty to raise a red flag when necessary.
3. Failure to Learn from Past Mistakes – New and seasoned project managers should always strive to learn from mistakes made by previous project managers or peers and colleagues in the company. Without understanding these past errors, project managers (both new and experienced) are likely to repeat them, increasing the chances of project failure.

In my book, “Supercharge Your Project Management Skills,” I’ve attempted to cover several such pitfalls and lessons learned from my personal mistakes. The book has received positive reviews from both aspiring and seasoned project managers, offering practical insights to help navigate these common challenges in project management.

By addressing these issues, new project managers can more effectively transition into their roles, maintain project integrity through appropriate escalation, and leverage organizational knowledge to avoid repeating past mistakes. My book is available worldwide on Amazon, kindle and several platforms.

Biren Parekh, Director at CRISIL Limited
Is a recognized Agile Leader with extensive experience managing complex digital transformation and implementation programs in retail and corporate banking. As a Top 25 Thought Leader in Project Management & FinTech, he excels in delivering tangible results, emphasizing outcomes over efforts. Biren’s expertise spans BFSI SDLC lifecycle, IT governance, data analytics, digital transformation, and emerging technologies like Blockchain and Web3.

Biren is the author of Supercharge Your Project Management Skills, a reflection of over a decade of experience. He’s a skilled communicator, effective negotiator, and mentor who actively shares knowledge through keynotes, blogs, and volunteering. With a strong focus on productivity, he has contributed to Dr. Ravindran’s book High Productivity Practices From Successful Leaders.