Project Managers usually have hard times while managing the project as he has to face a lot of challenges during the project development. No matter if you are the one who is going to or already have some experience in the field of Project Management, the post of a Project Manager is not as easy as you think. Before getting into this field, you should have some basic knowledge of Project Management to ensure that you can meet the project constraints such as budget, time, and project scope as well. Even though the Project Managers are equipped with Project Management tools, training, flexible strategies, and more, they have to go through certain challenges at the time of product development. However, an effective Project Manager should know how to tackle the challenges or unexpected obstacles encountered on a daily basis. If you want to know about the challenges faced by Project Managers, you can keep on reading further. 

What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Project Manager? 

The responsibilities of Project Managers are not simple as they are highly responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the accomplishment of certain projects for a company. Also, the Project Managers have to make sure that the projects are completed on budget, within a timeframe, and within scope. Efficient Project Managers have the capacity to carry out the organizational projects as per the demands of an organization, optimize company efficiencies, reduce costs, and boost revenue. If we talk about the roles of a Project Manager, it all relies on the project types but there are several common responsibilities that need to be fulfilled by the Project Manager which are as follows:

• Planning
• Organizing
• Implementing
• Controlling
• Decision Making
• Closing

What Does a Project Manager Do in a Whole Day? 

When it comes to the daily activities of the Project Manager, it indirectly depends on the phases of the project life cycle. However, there are various common tasks that are usually done by the Project Manager on a daily basis. A good Project Manager would definitely include the tasks that are as follows:

• Communication with main stakeholders and team members: 

Communication plays an important no matter if it is via calls, emails, team meetings, regularly updated dashboards, weekly or monthly reports, or daily check-ins. Project Managers should make conversations with the team members as well as key stakeholders regularly to discover the status of different projects, their progress, their obstacles that need to be tackled, and so on. Only with communication, it is possible to align the project with the changing demands of the company.

• Budgeting

It is one of the important tasks of the Project Manager so as to estimate the cost of the small-scale projects and it is done weekly or monthly. When it is about large-scale projects, the Project Manager has to keep different expenses in mind therefore it might take a bit more time for the Project Manager to review budgets of the larger project each day. For the cost estimation of larger projects, the task might comprise processing, reviewing, and approving bills from external vendors if there is an involvement of such partnerships. 

• Identification and resolution of issues:

There is a definite chance of occurring issues of budget, scope, resource allocation, and many others therefore the Project Manager should have the skill to resolve such issues. The Project Manager should make sure that the problems are tackled properly to bring the project again on track. 

• Team-building:

Of course, it is the job of the Project Manager to build a happy and productive team within the organization. A good Project Manager knows how to manage their team effectively with proper team-building exercises to enhance morale. This method will further help the team to overcome the challenges of the project happily. One of the examples of team-building exercises is to have a happy hour or a weekly lunch together. 

• Management of Time: 

Time management is one of the daily activities of the Project Manager to make sure that the project is on track. There are many Project Managers who make use of Project Management software or timesheets to keep a record of precious time spent by their team. Time management tasks help the Project Manager to take the project forward as planned as well as move resources between projects if required. 

What Are the Challenges Encountered by a Project Manager?

There are several Project Manager challenges that need to be tackled to move forward with the project development. Here’s a list of the challenges faced by the Project Manager:

Communication Problems

There should be effective communication in Project Management to take the project towards success. Transparent and timely communication methods should be implemented to make sure that there is proper participation of the stakeholders during the meeting. However, the Project Managers have to go through the risk of miscommunications that affects the teamwork and leads to project failure but this situation can be tackled with the use of collaborative tools to bring accountability within the team and transparency in projects. 

Improper Risk Management

The Project Managers usually have to come across several risks during the project development however the situation should be managed properly and it is, of course, one of the hardest operations to deal with. The Project Managers should supervise the risks and know the ways to tackle them so that the project would not be affected. Effective Project Managers are equipped with essential Project Management skills to overcome the risks of project development. 

Poor Team Skills 

One of the hardest challenges faced by Project Managers is. The project would not be successful if the team lacks skills. No matter if the Project Manager has excellent skills, the team should equally be skillful in all the fields to deal with all the tasks of the project development. Sometimes, the team members are not potent enough to perform and finish the assigned tasks which thereby leads to the risk of project failure. There might be a challenging project for which your team would need a certain level of expertise and knowledge therefore the Project Manager should take care of whether the team is getting extra training or not. 

Issues of Budgeting 

Budgeting is one of the main problems faced by  However, this challenge can be tackled by adopting efficient cost management and avoiding different cost-related issues to get better results. The other way to deal with it is to implement proper planning procedures along with realistic assumptions so that you can get rid of any cost overruns.  

Lack of Stakeholder Engagement

Every stakeholder should be very attentive and interested in projects to get the success further. There should be active participation of vendors, CEO, client, or team members in order to avoid the destruction of the project. A good Project Manager ensures to get the feedback of the stakeholders regarding the project development to encourage engagement of stakeholders. 

Impossible Deadlines 

The Project Managers should not force the team members to complete the project on unreasonable deadlines as it can decline productivity and morale. If the project is completed in a hurry, it would not be productive for the company as well as customers. Therefore, it can be tackled by allowing enough time for the team to work on the project. 

Insufficient Resources

Sometimes, the Project Managers have to encounter resource-associated challenges that are inadequate resources for the development of the project. The resources are none but the availability of competent and expert people who actually brings value to the project. However, the lack of adequate resources can be resolved by looking into the availability and capacity of resources so that you can replace the unavailable team member with a new one. 

Scope Creep 

A common Project Manager challenge is Scope Creep. The situation usually occurs when the scope of the project grows uncontrollably and this challenge comes at the top of their lists. The other reasons for scope creep are pressures from external and internal stakeholders, poorly defined project scope, and lack of a defined change management process. However, the Project Manager should adopt several strategies like effective project scope management to prevent or manage the scope creep from the scratch itself. This will further help you to determine all the project requirements and get more confidence in the scope of your project. 

Final Words:

 Even though you have excellent work experience in Project Management, you might encounter certain problems faced as a Project Managers, during the project development phase. The challenges of the Project Manager are nothing but the ones that are mentioned above and they can affect your project development badly. Therefore, it is very much necessary for the Project Manager to know how to overcome such problems. In fact, this article will help you to know the actual challenges encountered by Project Managers and the ways to tackle them so that you can make a better improvement in the project development as a Project Manager. Above all, the whole article will help you to improve your skills in the field of Project Management.