Project Management Challenges: What’s Wrong? How to Fix It

These challenges shouldn’t be a deterrent to your project team. Get involved now!

Sometimes all it takes to make a mistake is one. Even though it seems small, the negative effects of a setback can have a huge impact on the entire project. Before you know it, a run-of-the-millproject managementchallenge has come to define the entire initiative.
This is a story that you, as a project leader, are familiar with. If left unchecked, small problems can quickly escalate into major issues that can wreak havoc on your team’s productivity, and cost you time and money.
Let’s take a look at three of the most common problems that project teams face, and give you some tips on how to overcome them.
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Top 3 Project Management Challenges for Project Teams
We conducted a survey to find out what the biggest challenges are when leading or working on projects as part of ourproject management software user research reports.
Here’s what they said:

We asked respondents to elaborate on these challenges and explain why they find them so difficult. Below are a few of the responses.
You can find the complete methodology for the PM Software User Report here.

Challenge #1: Inadequate/poor communication
“There is always a problem when information is scarce, but there’s also a problem if there’s too much information and things can’t get prioritized.” – Claims adjuster
“Our greatest challenges are in addressing complex problems with vague guidance. “Director of strategy. Communication and collaboration are crucial under these conditions, but they are often lacking.”
“The priorities seem shift depending on the manager you speak to.” It leaves the team unsure which way to put our energies.”-Technician
It’s a challenge
Gallup revealed that only 13% of employees believe that leadership communicates well with the rest of their organization.
Gartner says that employeechange fatigue is directly related to ineffective communication and inconsistent messaging.
As project leader, your job is to communicate organizational goals, project requirements, or changes in priorities to your team. Your team is responsible to complete the tasks given to them. If they have to stop work to search for information or ask for guidance, it can reduce the time they have to actually do the work.
How to overcome it
These three steps will help you improve communication about your projects.
Software can help
Project management (PM) software can be used to centralize documentation and store all communication. This software provides transparency around task prioritization and ensures that there is an audit trail for any changes.

Challenge #2: Inaccurate task time estimates
“Time estimates for tasks are optimistic at best, which puts pressure on my team to complete work that realistically should be budgeted an additional 25-50% more time to complete adequately.”-Consultant manager
“It’s difficult to complete projects within the timeframe set by people who aren’t actively involved in the work required to complete them.” They have unrealistic expectations about how quickly a project will be completed.” -Research associate
“I believe this is a fairly common problem with humans in general.” The planning fallacy states that people underestimate the time and cost of projects, regardless how they have been done in the past.
It’s a challenge
The last quote is spot on. People underestimate the cost and time required to achieve their goals, while overestimating the benefits. This is despite having had experience to the contrary. Leaders and teams that fail to account for the time required are often called “failing to account”.