How to Navigate the Top 3 Project Management Challenges and Achieve Better Project Success

Project management is all about planning the work and then working the plan. While in theory this sounds simple, teams still struggle to deliver projects successfully. The truth is, if the quality of your plan isn’t sound, the faulty plan will guide you toward an unsuccessful outcome.

To help businesses of all sizes, Deltek's industry-leading Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions provide effective cost management, scalable scheduling and reliable risk evaluation, enabling organizations to drive peak performance and profitability.  

By implementing integrated PPM solutions, teams can achieve consistent, sustainable results with more projects completing on time and on budget. This in turn gives them a competitive advantage by providing visibility into the data as well as a vision into how the business should be run, allowing them to seize opportunities when other organizations are falling short.

Want to achieve project success, but not quite sure where to start? With more than 50 different presentations dedicated to PPM at Deltek Insight 2019 and a kick-off session with a panel of industry experts, members of Deltek Project Nation not only learned about the newest tools but also the biggest project management obstacles and how to navigate them, and so can you.

In case you missed it here are some of the key issues project management challenges according to the 2019 Deltek Clarity Government Contracting Industry Study.

2019 Clarity Government Contracting Industry Report - Top Product Management Challenges

Top Challenges Facing Project Managers

Accurate Forecasting ranks as the biggest obstacle project managers face today as they move to diversify their customer bases by expanding into other government agencies. The need to manage to both cost and schedule forecasts is critical to successful project execution. In addition, being able to control final contract estimates and delivery dates as precisely as possible, is a top priority for many project stakeholders. 

Not surprisingly, Collaboration and Communication was a close second when it came to project management challenges. Knowing how to properly handle project communication is often a debated topic, especially with so many new employees entering the project management field. With a new generation of aspiring project managers, many of them Millennials, the old way of collaborating is enviably changing. For instance, many project managers now rely on text messaging as a form of communication to their team, which was unheard of 10 years ago. Identifying collaboration tools and communication methods that are efficient as well as effective, will positively position project teams to overcome this challenge.

Managing a project’s scope is one of the most important aspects of successful execution. As a result, projects with a Poorly Defined Scope, will be nearly impossible to manage to plan as it relates to costs and schedule. Defining a project’s scope should be a project managers top priority in order to deliver a project on time and within budget.

The Clarity report also identified that organizations with a formal Program Management Office (PMO) reported a higher percentage of projects delivered on/or under budget and on/or ahead of schedule. Making it one of the top solutions to help project management team address challenges. Understanding the value of a PMO that is responsible for defining processes, training project managers and establishing consistent behavior is vital to successful project delivery. Whether it is a formal, centralized PMO, or an informal team that assists project managers, having a go-to team is advantageous.

Get to Know Acumen Touchstone

As a project team, managing the growing number of subcontractor and internal schedules is monumental task. Deltek’s newest PPM solution, Acumen Touchstone, solves the burdensome manual analysis of each schedule submission for quality and reliability by fully automating the submittal and review process.

To learn more about the newest product in the PPM suite, request an Acumen Touchstone demo and see for yourself how it will free up time to instead focus on the strategic aspects of your projects.

If you weren’t able to make it to Deltek Insight this year, make sure to pre-register for Insight 2020 and join us in Denver, Colorado November 16-19.