Project Management What Are Your Biggest Project Frustrations? Published on 19 September 2012 - Revised on This isn't a survey and isn't really an article. It's more of a call for response and discussion. Over the past nearly 4 years on this blog I've been writing about my opinions and experiences from my project management background. What I would like to know now is this: what are the most frustrating, problematic, and/or annoying things for you about managing projects, teams, and customers? You can give me one item or you can me an entire list. I would very much like to hear from each of you as I'm sure it's bound to stir some nice discussions and help us to remember frustrations we've experienced in our own pasts that we may have forgotten about (and yes, that's a good thing!). So what are your triggers? Is it customers who aren't participating? Is it project clients who can't finalize requirements? Is it – as one project manager just posted to one of my articles – senior managers or account managers who provide a customer with an initial project estimate that is far too low leaving you as the project manager to clean up the mess and reset the project client’s expectations (and deal with their frustrations)? Is it rogue developers on your own team who take off and do project work that they think is critical rather than sticking to the schedule? Is it team members who don't communicate or who don't follow direction? Is it executive management that seems to show no support of ongoing projects or your project or possible the PMO in general? Possibly it’s handling 3rd party vendors on the project who don’t bill you timely, or don’t deliver in a timely manner, or maybe they don’t fulfill their end of the agreement at all leaving you to clean up the mess. Whatever your biggest frustrations are – tell us about them. Rate this article: No rating Print Brad Egeland Brad Egeland is a Business Solution Designer and an Information Technology / Project Management consultant and author with over 25 years of software development, management and project management experience. He has successfully led project initiatives in Manufacturing, Government Contracting, Creative Design, Gaming and Hospitality, Retail Operations, Aviation and Airline, Pharmaceutical, Start-ups, Healthcare, Higher Education, Nonprofit, High-Tech, Engineering and general IT. Full biography Full biography Brad Egeland is a Business Solution Designer and an Information Technology / Project Management consultant and author with over 25 years of software development, management and project management experience. He has successfully led project initiatives in Manufacturing, Government Contracting, Creative Design, Gaming and Hospitality, Retail Operations, Aviation and Airline, Pharmaceutical, Start-ups, Healthcare, Higher Education, Nonprofit, High-Tech, Engineering and general IT. In addition to his accomplishments in IT development, resource and project management, he has also authored more than 6,000 expert advice and strategy articles and more than a dozen eBooks and videos on project management, business strategy, and information technology and best practices for his own website and for clients all around the world. Brad is highly regarded as one of the most prolific go-to authors on project management. x Contact author Google Plus Twitter Linked In
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