Challenges of Instituting Best Practices of Project Management - Essay Example

The paper “Challenges of Instituting Best Practices of Project Management” is an earnest variant of the essay on management. Information and Communications Technology is becoming important in the manner in which the government manages information and delivers services. As a result, the Victorian Government invested in ICT across various public sectors. It is vital that project managers be in a position for balancing the complex project: time, scope, money, and people. Such factors make it vital to undertake project management training as an essential step to manage the unexpected obstacles experienced in different stages of the project. The key to the efficient management of the project is the people. Budget management is one the greatest challenge for project managers specifically large and long-term engagement (Ding, 2015, 328).

As a result, these factors contribute to unchecked slow scope creep eating through the budget almost without detection. In such cases, the project managers often find themselves several months or years from go-live without money left in the budget. In some cases, budget problems result from a failure by the management to monitor and communicate continually with the stakeholders as such would ensure incorporation of all project requirements. Moreover, failure to communicate the project milestones in real-time, dilution of project accountability and responsibility, and budget performance significantly contribute to budget constraints. For example, an audit on the Digital Dashboard project reflects a failure in the budget. The Yarra Valley Water—Improving Infrastructure Management System Program's initial budget was $17 million. The program has several components and the major component was a replacement asset management system, which had an original cost estimate of $6.8 million (Victorian Auditor-General, 2016). From the procurement process, the project manager underestimated the cost of the AMS component. Initially, the board failed to approve the project; however, it later approved it at $23 million reflecting an addition of $3.17, which is 12 percent than the initial budget.

Other challenges experienced include management of expectations including impractical deadlines, re-allocation of resources, and inadequate stakeholder engagement. It is vital to be realistic; therefore, clients have to accept realistic deadlines. If the project manager needs to build a reputation by getting the project done, then it is important to meet the deadline that is imperative to success. There are several costs of missing deadlines including losing the confidence of the stakeholders, opportunities for business growth, incurring overtime, high stress, and poor engagement that burn the workers (Clements & Gido, 2012, 188). It is vital that the project meets the deadline since it is not only properly planned for each detail and resource but is realistic. Consequently, schedules leave room for uncertainty and unexpected results. Failure to meet the deadlines could arise from the inefficient and ineffective provision of sufficient resources including human, time, and money. Whenever some of the stakeholders lack interest in the project, then they are likely to bring down the project to a standstill leading extension of deadlines. For example, the Victorian Government delayed the commencement of the Fines Reform Act 2014, which introduced changes in the collection, and enforcement of the fines in Victoria. The aim of the new IMES was to support the amendments through the Act by improving debt collection (Victorian Auditor-General, 2016). The government scheduled the Act to commence on 1st July 2016. Due to the problems associated with the building IMES, the government delayed the commencement for future dates.

To some extent, the project managers lack adequate skills to undertake a given project resulting in informed decisions. Some managers usually do not undergo the project management training, which assists in the determination of the required competencies, assessment of the available workers, and issuing a recommendation for training, outsourcing, and hiring the additional team members. Besides the skills, lack of adequate leadership qualities could also present a great challenge. With such skills, the project managers would ensure accountability in some decisions they make. The leadership qualities of a project manager often shine whenever each team member takes responsibility for the achievement of the required objectives. Conversely, without accountability in the decision made, the project could come to a complete halt (Kujala, Brady & Putila, 2014, 46). Flawed project management is featured with the unproductively blames. Failure to direct these challenges and the stakeholders towards a common is a vital aspect of the ineffective management of the project.  For example, the University of Melbourne intended to develop a Student Management System Project; however, due to poor advice and poor project management style, the project experienced greater challenges (Victorian Auditor-General, 2016). The institution allocated a contingency for the project to manage tightly the cost. With the two years of the delay, the cost of the project increased reflecting the extension in the cost of the team and additional expenses associated with remedial work.

Recommendations to overcoming the challenge
It is vital that the project manager considers the budget first in every project. Therefore, they have to stay on top of the budget each time through updating it on a timely basis to forecast the actual charges from weekly performance before and re-forecasting the budget for the remaining segment of the project. Through such activities, it would be easier to combat budget surprises. In most cases, the project fails to meet the outlined deadlines due to poor planning (Kujala, Brady, & Putila, 2014, 45). Moreover, to prevent extensions, it is vital to plan all the details, resources, and setting realistic timeframe through scheduling to eliminate uncertainties and unexpected surprises. Project managers need to assign the team members distinct responsibilities based on their skills and availability; using appropriate project management tools to ensure accuracy and update into the plan. With such tools, it would be easier to identify the tasks on schedule and those running late. Ensuring adequacy in the skills of the project manager and accountability in the decisions made is an important step in ensuring the production of quality project output. Moreover, the project manager should possess adequate leadership skills for managing issues to do with the morale of the stakeholders, manage the differences among the stakeholders, and ensure timely delivery of the project objectives.