Project Management Myths

Over the years, Project Management has been put into force to transform tools, processes, and people to get the desired results within the given timeframe. In fact, there has been a lot of curiosity and speculation about project management and the role of a project manager as a whole. And there come legends, rumours, project management myths, curiosity, and speculation. As a matter of fact, every corporation and industry works with specific rules based on different beliefs as well as practices. Various falsehood stories come within the workplace along with the foreseeing myths. If it is about the remarkable projects, they pass through the uncertainties and chaos, allowing the teams to make smart decisions as per the reality. This article will cover nine commonly held Project Management myths that must be avoided to achieve high performance and complete productivity.

Myths of Project Management

Check out the myths or beliefs of Project Management that you should avoid for better performance and success of the project, which are as follows:

Myth 1: Clients know everything about their requirements

Of course, clients know very well what they want at the end of the project but do not expect to know about the little details or the solutions that could get them through. Moreover, they might have sturdy ideas about product features they want to prefer but it is not necessary that their every preference would actually deliver tangible business advantages. In fact, they might even be unaware of features they need or benefit them in a huge way. It is true that project teams should consider the customer's views. Still, it should not take their every word as an immovable doctrine as they can even be wrong in their assumptions about markets, processes, and products like every person in the team.

Myth 2: Give first priority to quickness over quality

It is one of the most dangerous myths of Project Management as it can affect the overall stability of the project. It is good to be prompt and on time but quality also matters a lot in any business undertaking. Timing is the ability to make and break a deal. Assuring quality and delivering within the deadline are both crucial therefore, it is a bit trickier to prioritize as it depends. If the time is concerned, then you can set minimum acceptable standards and focus on those so that you can deliver the value at the right time.

Myth 3: Process is everything in Project Management

To move a project from scratch to finish, it is essential to depend solely on the process. However, project management is an area that includes not only processes but also a lot of people who are known as stakeholders. Moreover, decision-makers, customers, and other individuals with different personalities and skills should also participate to render exceptional contributions to the successful completion of a project. It should be taken care that the process should not be “air-tight” and also there should not be loose ends in the people's side of the equation. Hence, a well-coordinated team of motivated and competent professionals is a must to ensure success as it makes a big difference.

Myth 4: Success is impossible without Project Management certification

Obviously, certifications are a plus when it comes to adding significant value to the career of Project Management. When you learn about a particular program, it helps you to make smarter and more intelligent decisions while moving in your career. However, great Project Managers get experience from real-world project scenarios where they practice and learn how to lead teams, handle clients, articulate project goals, assess business requirements, manage deliverables, and address conflicts. Therefore, certifications do not play a huge role but real-world experiences in a particular industry.

Myth 5: Technology is the problem-solver

Collaboration tools like Trello, Microsoft Project, Asana, and Slack can obviously make a lot of difference in Project Management. Still, these tools would only help you to coordinate efforts, perform the heavy lifting, and speed up workflows. In fact, it is the hand behind every tool that generates the actual results in the very end. Using the most basic tools, the person with top talents can render high performance and excellent outcomes without a doubt. Similarly, even the top tools would be inadequate for incompetent practitioners. It is true that technology is important however, its ability relies on team adoption, training, as well as, integration.

Myth 6: Anyone can manage the project effectively

It might sound reasonable in the first hearing when the scope of human potential is considered. However, applying it in real-world scenarios requires several major qualifications and eligibility. Moreover, an individual aiming to be a good Project Manager should at least have the right blend of technical knowledge, discipline, emotional intelligence, business acumen, and personality skills to the right duty. The outcomes of Project Management will result in average or even disastrous when a person actually lacks any of these basic requirements as a Project Manager.

Myth 7: Meetings are enough for communication

If it is to look in a partial sense, it is not a false statement, but meetings are not at all enough to choose as the only medium of communication with the outer world regarding your project. Definitely it is the responsibility of a Project Manager to perceive the actual role of communication in Project Management and plans should be made accordingly for various media to convey the views. In fact, it is just a waste of time to discuss each and every matter about project development in the meeting itself. It is not necessary that every team member should understand everything in a single meeting with respect to the project completion. However, you can hold Scrum meetings as they are precise and short and mostly held in the morning time. After all, a productive meeting actually helps more than just conducting a meeting.

Myth 8: Project Management is all about paperwork

If this is the perception about Project Management, then this misconception should be removed from your mind. As a matter of fact, the role of a Project Manager is to organize project plans, provide countless status updates, coordinate meeting schedules, and arrange meeting notes. Moreover, a good project manager makes the management successful when he or she adds value and negotiates at meetings and is a reliable counselor and mentor to the members of the team. Communicating with team members is more important than just pushing paper in any Project Management.

Myth 9: The Project Manager should be a subject matter expert

A Project Manager who is a subject matter expert is usually equipped with a deep knowledge of the technologies in use and their overall sector. They put these abilities along with their skills of Project Management to make the project run successfully. However, it would not be always helpful as the Project Managers with subject matter knowledge will get bogged down in the details too much and will lack focus toward perfecting the service or product as a whole. Without subject matter knowledge, they would be able to prioritize and ensure that all project tasks are done within the prescribed time frame. A major role of a Project Manager is to communicate things effectively so that the project development will move forward properly and get completed at the right time.

Myth 10: The game is over if you fail

The fear of project failure should neither accept the risks included in moving from one point to another nor freeze the motivation of a Project Manager to tackle. Yes, it is bad to encounter failure but it should never discourage initiative, progress, innovation, or creativity. In addition, there would be a story of failure behind every successful person. Moreover, every failure should turn into a platform for iteration and a learning experience so as to create value for your company. Project Managers can make use of early-stage feedback to the minimum to streamline the process or product development. In fact, one should learn from their failures and take strong action with a perfect contingency plan in place to get on the right track and achieve real success in the project.

Final Words

In today’s era, organizational needs and changing environments demand flexible systems for project management that are becoming more powerful, accessible, and affordable. As a matter of fact, a Project Manager can be successful only if he or she holds better collaborative and communication skills and is adaptive and transparent along with the state of confidence to execute. Also, the support transformation of the project managers can be best demonstrated by the grounding rules, keeping away from misconceptions and their actions, and not blindly believing in myths, as mentioned above. So, to be a good project manager, you should definitely avoid the above-given myths to make your project development successful in all senses. Simpliaxis offers Project Management courses tailored to meet the dynamic needs of modern organizations. These courses are designed to equip Project Managers with essential skills such as effective communication, collaboration, adaptability, transparency, and confidence.