Often, project managers handling multiple projects are simply overloaded or frustrated, and some wish for better days. But how successful are you when you face the juggling act? For starters, success in managing multiple IT projects (i.e., program management) requires that you look at three key strategies:
- Managing time effectively
- Leveraging group skills or dynamics
- Using your individual project management skills to successfully deliver multiple projects
One person who knows how to meet the challenge of managing simultaneous projects is Mike Deutsch, who joined our organisation slightly more than a year ago as a project manager in our western region. He immediately proved that he was capable of deploying almost any project. Name the technical skill, and he knew it. Talk about Gantt charts or scheduling, and he’d lead the way. His name was always at the top of the list when new project assignments were being handed out. But what made Mike really stand out was his ability to manage multiple IT projects. This was evident when one of our clients—a major film studio—needed a project manager to manage three critical projects. “They weren’t the biggest of projects but they were equally complicated,” Mike recalls.
Today, Mike leads the western region when it comes to project delivery. As our client stated, “Mike raised the bar for any new guy coming in. He could juggle 20 things at once.” This article focuses on the tried-and-true recipe Mike uses to keep the balls in the air.
We all know that most project managers are able to evaluate and scope a single project, plan the implementation, communicate with team members, and manage the risks. But the moment you start managing multiple projects simultaneously, the PM's job takes on a new dimension. Problems arise because of an increase in responsibility, coordination, and additional teamwork needed. Here are some of the key challenges you face when managing multiple projects.
Challenges of managing multiple projects
Managing multiple IT projects within the enterprise can be a daunting task. It’s stressful and takes someone special to even begin managing a project portfolio. In fact, many project managers say that they would gladly scale back to only one or two projects vs. managing multiple projects. The reason is simple. Managing multiple projects is not suited for all. Experience counts! When looking at the single-project concept, the roles and responsibilities prove themselves substantially simpler than for larger projects. However, the larger the project, the more coordination and tracking are needed to ensure that project deliverables are met. You’ll undoubtedly have on average three to five team members on each project. If you have five projects going at once, you will have to manage 15–25 team members. This doesn’t even include the interaction between you and the client. The challenges here include:
- Not enough visibility on the detail being performed by project teams (i.e., developers, testers, etc.).
- Not enough time to attend to meetings and still track tasks and milestones (i.e., tight deadlines).
- Managing multiple risks and resolving multiple issues.
- Lack of experience in juggling multiple tasks and meetings (e.g., gets too crazy).
- Limited resources within the resource pool.
- Conflicting priorities among projects.
- Integration of all projects and their target dates not always clear.
- Communications among too many people affecting performance.
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