7 signs that your project is veering off course

With a clear objective, proper management, and the right development team, your projects should proceed smoothly. While problems will inevitably arise, generally speaking, they won't cause your project to go off track.

However, things happen that can cause these projects to fly sideways, to the point where they become a struggle to complete or simply fail to complete at all.

To avoid such an eventuality in your projects, you need to be able to identify the indicators that your project is about to derail or has already been derailed. But what are these indicators? Believe it or not, they are almost always obvious . In fact, if you pay attention, it's almost impossible to miss these signs as long as you know what you're looking for.

Let's dive in and take a look at 7 indicators that a project has gone off track.

1. No project vision from leadership

From the beginning of a project, senior management must have a very clear vision of what the project is about. They should have done their research and know what the market is, what the project should accomplish, how the project should best be divided, and where that project sits within the scope of the business.

If senior management does not have a vision for the project, it has gone off the rails from the beginning and the chances of it being saved are very slim. If you suspect that those in charge have no idea what the project is about, why it is needed, or how the project can come to fruition successfully, intervene and let them know that level of failure will doom a project immediately .

2. Too many cooks in the kitchen

You may find that there are a large number of teams working on a single project. This is great because it means there will be plenty of momentum and productivity to keep the project moving forward. However, when a project is led by many leaders, problems can arise.

A project must have a single leader overseeing the big picture . Each team must also have a leader who reports to the project supervisor. If project management is not divided properly, it will be a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation, where egos and ideas will conflict to the point where nothing can get done.

3. Ignoring expert opinions

There are experts for every subject. You may have encountered one of the greatest minds involved with, say, Java. For a Java project, you would think that listening to this expert would be an absolute necessity. But many projects go off the rails simply because they (or rather, project leaders) ignore experts' opinions.

If your company has access to expert opinion on a project, it should voluntarily take that advice and move forward . If you find team and project leaders ignoring the advice of these experts, you can be sure that the project will likely go off the rails at some point.

4. Division between Departments

In many cases, a project is created and built by multiple departments. You can have operations, developers, designers, and administrators working together to make the project a success.

However, when these departments start to split around crucial decisions, this project will fall off the rails. This is where a strong project leader will be needed otherwise no one will be able to bring these departments together to close this ever-widening divide between the grassroots.

5. Skyrocketing costs

Every once in a while, a project works perfectly and, out of nowhere, the cost of the project skyrockets. This could be due to a decision made by superiors to change focus or scale the project well ahead of time.

If during a carefully planned project the cost increases drastically, something may very well be wrong. It could be that upper management has decided that they want more from the project than initially planned. If, however, they don't bring all stakeholders to these meetings (where decisions about costs are made), it could be a clear warning sign.

6. Missed deadlines

Every project is guided by deadlines. This is especially true when a project is for a specific client or software intended for public consumption. These deadlines are often codified and cannot be changed.

But things happen and deadlines are missed. When this happens repeatedly, something is wrong. Either the software development team is struggling with the task at hand, the project leader has built in impossible deadlines, or multiple departments are working well together.

Regardless of the reason, if deadlines continue to be missed, the project is likely headed for disaster. If you notice that deadlines continue to be missed, you should bring this to the attention of the project leader . The leader will likely be aware of missed deadlines, but possibly not how it will affect the project as a whole.

7. Marginalized Business Objectives

Finally, every project must have very clear business objectives. These will follow the lines of how to monetize a project, how each aspect of the development process should serve the project's vision, how the project serves the brand, and how the project should be managed.

If some (or, in the worst case, all) of these objectives are set aside for one reason or another, that project will go off track and fall into oblivion.

Along with a clear vision, a project needs to be aligned with the goals of the business as a whole . When this doesn't happen, things go wrong.

Conclusion

With careful planning and management, all of your projects can run smoothly. But it doesn't always take a disaster to make a project go off the rails. As soon as you see any of these warning signs, take your concerns to the team or project leader and hope they have the skills and ideas needed to get the project back on track.