There are countless risks, hurdles, and obstacles that can derail a project. As a project manager, arming yourself with the right knowledge can often mean the difference between failure or success.

Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons projects fail, and what you can do to avoid them.

Pitfall #1 – Scope Creep

This problem shows up sooner or later on every project. Scope creep is uncontrolled changes to your project’s scope due to interference from stakeholders or from misunderstandings on your part as the project manager.

Getting clarity on project priorities from the very beginning will help you avoid scope creep, as will putting a change control process in place to deal with requests for change that come your way as PM.

You can’t keep team members, executives, and other stakeholders from asking for changes, but when you’re clear on project priorities and you have a system for handling requests, you can keep scope creep from negatively impacting the scope, time, and budget of your project.

4 More Project Pitfalls

There are four more project predicaments I’d like to help you avoid, and I cover them in detail in my latest video. It explains:

• How to set yourself up to avoid constant project firefighting
• A simple approach guaranteed to minimize confusion for the entire project team
• What to do before your kick off meeting to ensure you have the right senior support
• The one critical project element you want to keep well-organized

Follow me over to YouTube to watch the full video and learn all about how to avoid project failure!

If you want to ensure you not only steer clear of project failure, but also have highly successful projects, make sure you check out my SLAY Project Management course where I give you all the templates, tips, and techniques you need to excel as a project manager.

Adriana Girdler, PMP | Creator of Slay Project Management™

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