Project Management Plan Success

Review the list of reasons why plans fail as described in Ch. 11 of Project Management. Which of these reasons applies to defining and sequencing activities? As a project manager, what steps may you take to prevent your plan from failing? There are many reasons why plans fail to succeed. In discussing our answers to this question, Team C felt that in the list of reasons on why plans fail, poor planning would be on top of the list. When there are no attempts in pushing forward with already made plans, the project is bound to fail.
Another reason why project plans fail is because the data in which plans are based are insufficient making it difficult for project managers to take control and give out orders. With insufficient data, the project’s scope would seize to exist. Along with not have an identified scope, the team would not know the ultimate objective of the project, and because of this, people will work towards different directions rather than one common goal.
It is important that the reasons on the list are taken care of or prevented. This can be done during the defining and sequencing process. As a project manager, the steps we discussed that are necessary to be taken in order to prevent a plan from failing would be to properly develop a project’s plan. This would include defining each activity’s relevance to the project. By doing so, there is a stated initiative as well as a reason why the project is being done.

In order to have a properly developed plan, we would hold a kick off meeting, which would discuss the expectations of every team member, have the purpose clearly conveyed to the team, as well as build strong and positive team energy. There would be frequent follow-ups in order to assure that each step is being completed to getting the project finished. Lastly, we would offer rewards as incentives for the team to complete their tasks efficiently and on time.