Question

If a project is not planned well, it may encounter many problems down the road. Mention at least three potential problems which may emerge due to poor project planning. Explain with an example.

You are requested to oversee an existing project from some other Project Manager who left the organization. What are the key documents you should review before accepting this new assignment? If the project charter is missing, what should you do?

Answer 1

It is very much true that if a project is not planned well, it encounters many problems down the road.

Some of the potential problems which may emerge due to poor project planning are detailed below.

• Poor Time Management: Every project is bound by a completion time and without a proper planning project completion will be at stake. Poor planning means that the schedule that the team members are supposed to follow is not set out.The different sections and departments working within the project will have no clear picture of what is expected of them or when to complete the task before hand, resulting in delay and often shoddily done work.
• Unclear and vague Project Objectives: The clear understanding and conveyance of the project objective(s) is the very foundation of any project planning.And if the planning becomes poor then the project objectives are not met which in turn will ruin the quality of the project and therefore the goodwill of the company in the long run.The productivity and output will be very low, leading to the failure of the project.
• Over sized or Deficient Budget: At the planning stage, budget requirement for the project and the means in which the funds will be sort is set out. Poor planning will result in the budget being left out from the project 's main agenda.Without proper budgeting funds will be misused and wasted.Thus the completion of the project will incurs tremendous losses.
• Dissatisfied Customers and Stakeholders: Poor planning results in customer expectations not being met. They will be dissatisfied with the work that has been done and they will not consider the business for any job in the future. Similarly, if the planning is poor, the stakeholders will not support the project, as they may not have clear picture of the project and will have different expectations of the same.

Let us see the example of a project undertaken by a builder(Realtor) to understand the consequences of poor planning.A budding builder takes a contract to build a  housing project for middle class segment of the society. Without proper planning and consultations with experts the project becomes a failure for both the company and the customers and stakeholders involved. Initially it was agreed that the project be completed in 1 year with each house costing around 30 to 40 lacs. But due to poor planning everything went haywire. The company didn't make a proper budget for the purchases and services involved and gave a rough estimate to the customer. The customer believing the estimate to be exact arranged for the money and also took loans from banks as they were not having the required total. Due to the haphazard planning the company were in need for extra money as the materials cost and labor cost increased. This extra amount was forced on the customers and they were not able to pay anything extra and instead backed away from the project.This example illustrates how poor planning resulted in improper budgeting and tremendous losses to the company and the customer alike.

There are many documents which aids the project manager in successful completion of the project.Still when you are assigned to oversee an existing project as the project manager, the key documents you should review before accepting the offer are the project charter, the statement of work and the project contracts. Additionally, reviewing the project management plan, risk management plan and the project progress reports may also be of help when taking up an existing project responsibility.

If the project charter of the undergoing project is missing it may lead to grave problems. As the new project Manager the best thing to do is to prepare a new Charter which is very much important because the Charter is the foundation of the project, a basis for how the project can evolve.After reviewing the other key documents as mentioned in the previous paragraph and by consulting the key people a charter has to be prepared which is to be realistic and should state the purpose, main objectives and vision of the project.Without a proper Project Charter a project is headed for problems like delayed decision making, difficulty in managing expectations, risk of failure and lack of authority and credibility.