1
00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:09,450
I've been thinking about why these mistakes happen on projects and I started out by saying that projects

2
00:00:09,450 --> 00:00:13,610
are difficult but nevertheless you know what why don't people get Project Management right.

3
00:00:13,620 --> 00:00:14,800
Why did mistakes happen.

4
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,070
And I think there are four main reasons and I think the first reason is that people just don't know

5
00:00:20,070 --> 00:00:24,080
how to plan projects they've never been taught and they've never been showed it.

6
00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:26,150
You don't get taught it at school.

7
00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:31,650
I was taught project management as part of my engineering degree but it was quite badly taught tonight.

8
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:36,150
I didn't really pay attention at all I was a student back then and I probably wasn't paying attention

9
00:00:36,150 --> 00:00:36,910
properly.

10
00:00:37,020 --> 00:00:42,540
So I think a lot of project managers are just dumped in the job or devolves into a job perhaps they

11
00:00:42,540 --> 00:00:47,660
don't even call it a project and they're not called a project manager.

12
00:00:47,660 --> 00:00:49,460
And so they don't know how to do it.

13
00:00:49,460 --> 00:00:51,740
And I think it's really hard to reinvent the wheel.

14
00:00:51,740 --> 00:00:56,940
I mean this stuff is quite tricky and it's taken a hundred years of project managers really thinking

15
00:00:56,940 --> 00:00:59,050
about this to perfect the process.

16
00:00:59,190 --> 00:01:03,750
So you'd be amazing if you could reinvent the wheel and do all this out of your own head.

17
00:01:03,900 --> 00:01:07,600
So it's not your fault that you haven't seen this stuff before.

18
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,340
You know things like having to do post-its before a Gantt chart I mean that's quite a tricky idea.

19
00:01:13,410 --> 00:01:18,420
And even most project management books don't tell you that you must do the post-its and then the Gantt

20
00:01:18,420 --> 00:01:21,250
Chart never jumped straight to the Gantt Chart.

21
00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:30,270
And quite often people have software that kind of semi runs the Project for them and they don't realize

22
00:01:30,270 --> 00:01:35,540
that actually software is only a drawing to software can't do everything for you.

23
00:01:35,700 --> 00:01:41,070
So they rely on the software without really understanding the process and then they wonder why the project

24
00:01:41,070 --> 00:01:42,230
hasn't gone very well.

25
00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:48,300
So I would be quite suspicious of software that that claims to do my project management for me.

26
00:01:48,450 --> 00:01:50,600
You know imagine some software that could go.

27
00:01:50,790 --> 00:01:57,450
Or you have missed out two tasks or are you can't possibly do that in three weeks it will take four.

28
00:01:57,450 --> 00:02:01,960
I mean I would love some software that does that but I just don't think it's ever going to exist or

29
00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,880
don't forget before you do this task you must do this task software can't know that.

30
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,800
So you have to feed all the information in.

31
00:02:10,860 --> 00:02:15,700
And in the end the software is only going to be a drawing tool and perhaps a communication tool.

32
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:22,710
So if you're relying on software to do it for you then don't you have to draw that Gantt chart and you

33
00:02:22,710 --> 00:02:24,810
have to do the Post-Its before that.

34
00:02:24,810 --> 00:02:30,180
So I think that's the first reason why projects often go wrong is just that people haven't been told

35
00:02:30,180 --> 00:02:31,540
how to do it.

36
00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:38,280
Now the second reason why these mistakes happen is that projects seduce you in and you think oh yeah

37
00:02:38,410 --> 00:02:42,970
quite a quick job of getting this new machine so I would just clear that space in the factory or get

38
00:02:42,970 --> 00:02:44,840
the right guys in to do the wiring.

39
00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,270
And before you know it you're planning the whole thing in your head and you don't have a proper plan.

40
00:02:49,700 --> 00:02:55,440
And I think it's really it's quite forgivable to be drawn in and you almost don't realize it is a project

41
00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,050
until too late and it's become really complicated.

42
00:02:58,130 --> 00:02:59,750
And at that point you should think right.

43
00:02:59,790 --> 00:03:04,320
Actually I need to get shot for this and it's never too late to plan.

44
00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,490
You know don't think oh I'll start it now.

45
00:03:06,660 --> 00:03:11,880
Even if you're halfway through a project or maybe you inherit it from somebody else you could still

46
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:12,540
think right.

47
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:18,570
Let's just stop and let's just do a list of all the stuff we still need to do and let's get it in order

48
00:03:18,570 --> 00:03:22,080
and let's draw it out as a proper Gantt chart so we all know where we are.

49
00:03:22,110 --> 00:03:29,500
It's never too late to plan I think the third reason why these common mistakes happen is that people

50
00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:34,540
think I haven't got time to plan and I've had people say to me Look you know just get on with it don't

51
00:03:34,540 --> 00:03:40,720
bother with a plan and just just stop buying stuff just start digging holes or whatever and that's crazy

52
00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:41,500
isn't it.

53
00:03:41,500 --> 00:03:45,280
Because how long will it take you to produce a project plan.

54
00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,570
And I reckon you can plan a project in a couple of hours.

55
00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:50,500
Obviously depends on the size of it.

56
00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:54,630
If I was going to put a rocket on Mars I might spend the whole day doing that plan.

57
00:03:54,810 --> 00:04:01,900
But for most projects all you need really is a bit of a brainstorm of tasks put them on post-its remove

58
00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:02,130
them.

59
00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,710
It's going to take probably half an hour to get the post-its in order.

60
00:04:04,780 --> 00:04:10,120
Make that into a Gantt chart that might take another 20 minutes and I reckon in an hour or two you can

61
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:16,210
get a really good plan and that's going to pay back massively throughout the rest of the job over the

62
00:04:16,210 --> 00:04:18,670
coming weeks months even years.

63
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:20,590
It's going to give you less stress.

64
00:04:20,590 --> 00:04:23,330
It's going to save you money it's going to save you time.

65
00:04:23,430 --> 00:04:25,250
It's can avoid mistakes.

66
00:04:25,300 --> 00:04:31,660
So you would be mad not to spend a couple of hours planning upfront but haven't haven't got time to

67
00:04:31,660 --> 00:04:36,320
plan is a common reason why projects go wrong.

68
00:04:36,570 --> 00:04:42,250
And I think a final reason why these mistakes often happen is that sometimes there's nobody in charge

69
00:04:42,250 --> 00:04:49,210
of a project you know hasn't been named as a project as such it's just a job that's happening and everybody's

70
00:04:49,210 --> 00:04:55,820
kind of involved in doing bits of it and there's nobody in charge of making sure it happens.

71
00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:02,290
So you know you might be expanding into a new country and there's probably sales people selling and

72
00:05:02,620 --> 00:05:07,360
you know people redesigning the product to be suitable for the new country and there's probably somebody

73
00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:13,060
in finance working out the costs and maybe there is no overall project manager.

74
00:05:13,630 --> 00:05:16,740
And then you don't have a plan and then everything falls apart.

75
00:05:16,750 --> 00:05:22,540
So every project should really be listed and there should be one person accountable not shared between

76
00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:24,520
several because that's going to be messy.

77
00:05:24,550 --> 00:05:28,610
There should be one project manager that can only be one.

78
00:05:28,660 --> 00:05:34,030
So I would say those are probably the main reasons why these mistakes happen and they're perfectly understandable

79
00:05:34,030 --> 00:05:35,660
that nobody's fault really.

80
00:05:35,770 --> 00:05:38,530
But the main thing is now we know what the top 10 are.

81
00:05:38,530 --> 00:05:40,630
We can make sure we don't fall for any of them.