Comments on: What Not to Do – Project Management Mistakes to Avoid http://www.hanway.co.uk/2008/11/26/what-not-to-do-project-management-mistakes-to-avoid It's a Blog. It's Ciaran. It's for whatever I want it to do. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:30:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: CB http://www.hanway.co.uk/2008/11/26/what-not-to-do-project-management-mistakes-to-avoid/comment-page-1#comment-72221 CB Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:12:12 +0000 http://www.hanway.co.uk/2008/11/26/what-not-to-do-project-management-mistakes-to-avoid/#comment-72221 Ciaran: Interesting points you've made. I've worked on a few projects under a handful of very different project managers and I would say only one has correctly exercised the points you outline above. In my most recent job, the mistakes made by the Operations Director are almost laughable. What's even more surprising is that any comments or suggestions I have for improving the way things work are basically ignored, because they feel they must do things the way they've always done. I'm sure this is not new to you either. Here's a list of the classic mistakes made (not in any particular order): <b> #1 - Not keeping the development team informed of the requirements! </b> The management team keep themselves to themselves on the ground floor of the building. Presumably they discuss with the customer any requirements they have for the simulators, any changes they'd like implemented etc. Amazingly, this information isn't passed on to the developers until the Ops Manager feels like it. Interesting <b> #2 - Not keeping the development team informed of the deadlines! </b> Likewise, for the same reason as for #1 above, deadlines can change according to client requirements. The developers generally do not know when they need to deliver by! <b> #3 - Focusing management effort on less important tasks/costs</b> I overheard a senior manager complaining that the annual water bill had gone up by something like £1000 pa. This is a tangible outlay that can be solved by a tangible solution, i.e. by making people use less water. However, what if you're focusing on solving this problem and at the same time having to neglect making a £40k developer more than 50% efficient? It seems to me that £40k pa paid to the developer is written off, and his workrate is only measured on the time he attends his desk and not his output. These are just some points that currently frustrate me daily. Needless to say I'm trying to move on! Ciaran:
Interesting points you’ve made. I’ve worked on a few projects under a handful of very different project managers and I would say only one has correctly exercised the points you outline above. In my most recent job, the mistakes made by the Operations Director are almost laughable. What’s even more surprising is that any comments or suggestions I have for improving the way things work are basically ignored, because they feel they must do things the way they’ve always done. I’m sure this is not new to you either.

Here’s a list of the classic mistakes made (not in any particular order):

#1 – Not keeping the development team informed of the requirements!
The management team keep themselves to themselves on the ground floor of the building. Presumably they discuss with the customer any requirements they have for the simulators, any changes they’d like implemented etc. Amazingly, this information isn’t passed on to the developers until the Ops Manager feels like it. Interesting

#2 – Not keeping the development team informed of the deadlines!
Likewise, for the same reason as for #1 above, deadlines can change according to client requirements. The developers generally do not know when they need to deliver by!

#3 – Focusing management effort on less important tasks/costs
I overheard a senior manager complaining that the annual water bill had gone up by something like £1000 pa. This is a tangible outlay that can be solved by a tangible solution, i.e. by making people use less water. However, what if you’re focusing on solving this problem and at the same time having to neglect making a £40k developer more than 50% efficient? It seems to me that £40k pa paid to the developer is written off, and his workrate is only measured on the time he attends his desk and not his output.

These are just some points that currently frustrate me daily. Needless to say I’m trying to move on!

]]>