Why do interior design projects fail? 4 mistakes we all make when managing multiple projects

Management
01 October 2019

Managing an interior design project is doable – you are used to coordinating your team members, planning, evaluating, tracking progress and controlling risks. Things get tricky when it comes to managing multiple projects at once. What needs to be designed first to meet all the deadlines? How to make sure no employee is overloaded with work? What to do when one project is getting delayed? The questions are piling up. Projects are failing.

There are reasons behind poor management of multiple projects. Here are mistakes of others to learn from.

#1. Trying to control every little detail & do everything yourself

Are you constantly hovering over your designer’s head making suggestions for improvement? Are you involved in every minor decision? This micromanagement habit is harmful for you, your employees and the company.

You are always worrying about every single task; you have to remember every little thing and control everything – basically you are doing the whole project by yourself. Your employees feel lack of trust, they can’t unravel their creative vision and do their job. The company delays projects and goes overbudget.

Solution: Delegate

Learn to let go and allow your designers do their job while still coordinating the entire process and answering designers’ questions. You will see all flourish.

Moreover, a good software like Binary Management shows you all the projects in one space and gives you control of everything at once.

#2. Bad project planning

Often managers neglect the planning stage and are eager to jump right into the project as soon as possible. Due to poor planning, you have to improvise and make decisions on the spot. This frequently leads to delays and going overbudget. Besides, employees might receive too many or too little tasks and you won’t even know about it.

Solution: Spend time planning

With a good plan, you see your progress at every stage of the project. A good project management software (like Binary Management) allows you to see how busy your employees are, track their deliverables and receive their reports instantly.

#3. Planning projects independently from each other

It’s a common mistake to plan one project with no regard to other ongoing or upcoming projects. This is dangerous as it leads to confusion and disregard of some important moments. One deliverable often conflicts with the other and the same people end up doing two things at the same time in order to meet the deadline. This harms the quality of your work and results in stress for your employees.

Solution: Interconnect the projects when planning

Plan all your projects with regard to each other. You can do that easily with a software like Binary Management as it allows to see the whole picture and assign employees according to their open time slots. Deliverables of different projects never conflict with each other as you know for sure when things are planned and who is involved in doing them.

#4. Constant information exchange & inefficient communication

If you feel you are becoming a secretary who is constantly passing the information from one person to the other, there is a problem. If somebody lacks the information, there is also a problem. Mistake in communication and interaction leads to your time being occupied with the endless exchange and people suffering from not knowing enough to do their job properly. Lack of information is dangerous as it results in misunderstanding with the client and their dissatisfaction with the outcome.

Solution: Make information exchange instant and centralized

With a good project management tool, no one ever lacks the information, and no one has to pass it on all the time. Every employee reports on their tasks in the system, and all the information gets updated immediately. Try Binary Management and feel secured with all the information in one place as you have your time for creativity.

Key Takeaways

  1. Stop overcontrolling and learn to trust and delegate.
  2. Take your time to plan the project carefully before it actually starts.
  3. Plan multiple projects in one software to make them interconnected and see the whole picture.
  4. Centralize your information exchange and do not be a secretary if you are a designer.