Interactive project management

I started off my career as a project manager in digital marketing. I was hired because, at the time, most Internet projects would go south due to lack of organization, time lines, deliverables and a process to get done what needed to get done in the time frame promised to the client. This was ten years ago and, for a lot of projects, not much has improved. What are signs that a project, especially an interactive project is heading in the wrong direction?

Lack of planning- Before a project is ever sold, there should be a time line with deliverables attached. Everyone should be clear about what the project is and what the expectations for delivery are. If someone who benefits more from the sale than from the delivery is driving the delivery date and trying to reduce costs by arbitrarily reducing time to complete tasks, you're in trouble.

Communication breakdown - When I was becoming a "certified" project manager, I learned that 70 - 80% of all projects fail due to lack of communication. Things like status reports, status meetings, interim deliverable reviews, etc. help make sure everyone is on the same page and marching in the same direction. If you haven't talked to people on your team in more than two weeks, look out ahead.

Ignoring the risks - During the project it's really easy to get involved and fool yourself into thinking that everything is going to be all right. Sometimes this is even enforced by management or sales who feel that pointing out potential risks is just breeding negativity. On every interactive project it's a good idea to sit down and think about the risk of a project, the probability and how that risk will be handled. This isn't negativity, it's just good planning.

Knowing when it's done - A project by definition has an end. That end should be defined at the beginning of the project and should be as tangible as possible. Too often projects drag on because of constant changes that are a result of not properly defining what the requirements are at the beginning.

Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If your interactive projects are constantly ending up with problems, then something has to change in order for a different outcome to result. - Paul Herring