Top 3 Project Management Bloopers and How to Avoid Them at Your Business

Historically Cringe-worthy Project Management Failures

When you’re trying to manage day to day business at your organization, it’s crucial to be organized, realistic, but flexible. These three qualities are hard to juggle simultaneously.

But it helps to know even big brands like Sony make mistakes. Unfortunately for them, those big project failures often end up in the headlines. Fortunately for us, these unsuccessful project management examples can be opportunities for us to learn what not to do.

Take a look at our top 3 famous project management bloopers. Through the lens of a project manager, we can learn how to spot issues before they have a chance to set us off course and we can avoid project failures like these in the future. We can also see no matter how successful your brand is, not having the right project management resources can knock you down.

Project Management Failures | Prosymmetry

  1. Sony’s Beta Max | Know When it’s time to Change Your Project Direction

Did you know that you could still purchase Sony’s Betamax Video cassettes up to 2016? Most of their customers didn’t know, and weren’t interested in buying them anyway. In the 1970s, JVC found a way to produce VHS tapes that were cheaper and easier to use, but Sony continued to work on perfecting their original best selling product, convinced that their brand loyalty would outweigh any other costs.

Knowing when it’s time to start analyzing and innovating a project is a crucial skill. The needs of the world are always changing, so it’s important to find a way to be on the watch for new trends, and new ways your product can fit in. If not, knowing when to pull the plug on projects that drain your resources is also another option. Stop and research your market, and make sure to use the right resource forecasting tools and techniques to get real market data.

The Delorean | Project Management Failure Examples

2. The Delorean | Nostalgia Can Bring Projects Back to Life

There’s no argument, the almost space ship like shape, gull-wing doors, and gold-plated models are very cool. But they just weren’t cool enough to save the DeLorean DMC-12, which experienced problems throughout production, giving it a rough start.

On top of the lack of interest, John DeLorean, the company’s founder, was arrested in 1982 on drug trafficking charges he incurred while trying to raise money to save his business. Even though he was found not guilty, his reputation couldn’t recover to hit 88 miles per hour.

One thing we are noticing in 2021, is the return of 80’s nostalgia, and with only 6000 DeLoreans left in the world, their rarity has brought value back to the future. Now the company is planning on producing more of the iconic vehicle, and while recovering from legal issues is never easy, they plan to introduce a re-release very soon.

There’s always opportunities to play up nostalgia and try something that didn’t work before in a new way. With an eye for what ifs, and great scenario planning software, you can make a powerful impact.

3. New Coke | Know the “Why” of your Market Research

After testing a new recipe on 200,000 taste testers, and finding that people preferred it over the original version, Coca-Cola released New Coke in 1985. They put in the time to do the research, so what could possibly go wrong?

Product loyalty and old-fashioned habit got in the way and New Coke didn’t sell as expected, costing the company $4 million in development and a total loss of $30 million in back-stocked product. This Blunder has become one of the most famous failed projects in history.

While Coca-Cola certainly put time into their market research, they missed the mark when it comes to understanding user intent. Customer input is a non-negotiable in developing and managing a successful project, and you need to ensure you have a way to gather comprehensive customer insight that gives accurate and realistic information on how to incorporate your new project with the world.

How Can I Better Manage My Projects?

As a project manager, you have to work with your current resource availability, and make the impossible possible, while catching any curve balls thrown your way.  Know your team, know your customers, and be willing to zig when you originally thought you should zag. Understand your own strengths and weaknesses while meeting deadlines and creating strategies with a combination of faith and facts.

Give yourself an advantage with better resource management tools. Prosymmetry has the best price-value ratio, the simplest integration, and ability to pull more data from more sources instantly. They have simple to understand and use features like bulk editing, an excel-like interface, real-time heat mapping, “what-if” analysis that does not alter live data, and more. Use the best resource management tools, and you’ll be the best project manager. It’s safe to say that you’ll be able to easily avoid project management failures with Prosymmetry.

Ready to learn more about how Prosymmetry can help you? Visit their website today https://www.prosymmetry.com/

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Published On: June 16, 2021Categories: Marketing For Software Companies822 words4.3 min read
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