Each project comes with its own requirements, specifications and technicalities, which presents a challenge to the managing member/team. But when it comes to managing multiple projects at one time it’s a different ball game altogether. Managing multiple projects presents challenges and opportunities for a manager. It means managing different expectations of multiple stakeholders at a single time. Challenge, isn’t it?
Challenges in managing multiple projects
The project managers managing multiple projects face issues like following:
- Struggles in managing deadlines when delivery dates clash.
- Challenge of managing same resources for multiple projects.
- Prioritizing the tasks which carry the same importance majority of the times.
So, what do we do to ensure teams are successful?
- Clear business case: Understand each project and what it requires with regards to resources it would need, the end product and stakeholders expectations.
- Kick Off Meeting: Ensure a sound and detailed kick off meeting, which should leave everyone with answers and a clear vision of what is expected.
- Executive Sponsorship: The executives of the company must be aligned to the objectives and understand complexities which exist or may come to exist as the project moves along.
- Mindset of success and not accepting failure.
- Clear Documented Communication: Ensure all the communication is documented and adhered to when steering the project towards the delivery.
To conclude, working on multiple projects simultaneously is not magic it’s a practiced art, and the one which requires to be sticking to facts rather than intuition. The teams and the managers need to be able to predict the situations that can arise and take counter steps to ensure the necessary measures are in place to counter those situations.