What common mistakes do you need to avoid when managing a telecommunications project?
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Managing a telecommunications project can be challenging, especially if you are not familiar with the specific requirements, risks, and best practices of this industry. Telecommunications projects involve complex and interdependent systems, networks, and technologies that require careful planning, coordination, and execution. To avoid some of the common mistakes that can derail your telecommunications project, here are some tips to keep in mind.
One of the most common mistakes in telecommunications project management is scope creep, which occurs when the project's objectives, deliverables, or requirements change or expand without proper control. Scope creep can lead to delays, cost overruns, quality issues, and stakeholder dissatisfaction. To prevent scope creep, you need to define your project scope clearly and document it in a scope statement that outlines the project's purpose, goals, boundaries, assumptions, constraints, and acceptance criteria. You also need to establish a change management process that defines how scope changes will be requested, evaluated, approved, and communicated.
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Andrii Shokotko
Project manager at Harmonic, PMP
In telecommunications projects, one of the first and most important steps is gathering requirements from stakeholders. Sometimes, a project team focuses too much on the technical stuff and forgets about the people who run the systems. This can lead to issues when the new solution is launched. It's also crucial to pay attention to non-technical requirements. We need to understand how our customers have been using their existing solutions and make sure our changes fit with how they work. From my experience, it's often easier to collect technical details using surveys and similar tools for well-defined solutions. But understanding how the people actually work can be a lot harder.
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Cesar JABR
Monty Mobile, Corporate Development, Telecom Services, Comium, Digital Banking, Neo Banks, Fintech.
Telecom is commoditized. New projects have an added challenge for creating value. To define the Scope you will need Design Thinking. Also, the Agile project management method obsoletes the traditional scope concept of immutability. The scoping exercise will have to be integrated with the Design Thinking upstream and with the Agile method downstream. Both Design Thinking and the Agile Method involve continuous iterations and stakeholders’ meetings, not only on products but more on telecom and technology projects. A telecom network becomes a product. The scoping process lifetime is therefore extended beyond the project delivery deadline. The scope becomes the vision of the project initiator. The scope is no more a simple Bill of Quantities.
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Matheus Joaquim Cofferri
Diretor na Cloud DC | Conselheiro Consultivo em Telecomunicações | Redes neutras | 5G | Provedores de Internet | Datacenter | Tecnologia | Top Telecommunications Voice
Establishing a change management process is indeed vital, but another essential element is proactive risk assessment and mitigation. Identifying potential scope changes is crucial, but it's equally important to foresee risks and uncertainties that might arise during the project. Regular risk assessments can help anticipate and address issues before they escalate, contributing to more efficient project management and a higher likelihood of success.
Another common mistake in telecommunications project management is misalignment of stakeholder expectations, interests, and needs. Stakeholders are anyone who has a stake or influence in the project's outcome, such as clients, sponsors, users, vendors, regulators, team members, and managers. Misalignment can cause conflicts, confusion, delays, and rework. To align your stakeholders, you need to identify them, analyze their roles, responsibilities, expectations, and power, and engage them throughout the project lifecycle. You also need to communicate effectively and frequently with your stakeholders, using appropriate channels, formats, and messages.
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Kemal Atik, PMP®
MNO customers are large silo-shaped corporate structures. While each business unit has its own area of responsibility, for systems with a lot of integration and cross-dependency, such as BSS, there is generally no structure that knows the process end-to-end, analyzes the project from all aspects, manages and approves the design. Therefore, in these projects, vendor impact analysis and integration requirements should be evaluated per feature in planning meetings similar to Program Increment in the Scaled Agile Framework, in which all interacting business teams are included. The refinement process should continue until the demands of stakeholders and the action items on them are clearly understood.
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Matheus Joaquim Cofferri
Diretor na Cloud DC | Conselheiro Consultivo em Telecomunicações | Redes neutras | 5G | Provedores de Internet | Datacenter | Tecnologia | Top Telecommunications Voice
Absolutely, stakeholder alignment is crucial. Another valuable contribution is to establish a robust feedback loop. Beyond mere communication, creating a structured feedback mechanism involving stakeholders can provide real-time insights, allowing project managers to adapt promptly, address concerns, and refine project objectives for better alignment throughout the project lifecycle.
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April D.
Broadworks (Cisco) Unified Communications Call Flow Design Senior Network Engineer | Focused on finding solutions that are needed, cost effective and supportable | Passionate about Customer Experience
Ensure that these stakeholders all understand that delays in communication can cause delays. This is especially true with the customer. Telecommunications projects these days are not cookie cutter. In many cases, it requires customer feedback and input even after the contract is signed. Customers delays in these configuration conversations can introduce elongation of the timelines.
A third common mistake in telecommunications project management is ignoring or underestimating the risks that can affect the project's performance, quality, and success. Risks are uncertain events or conditions that can have a positive or negative impact on the project's objectives. Telecommunications projects face many risks, such as technical failures, security breaches, regulatory changes, environmental factors, and human errors. To manage your risks proactively, you need to identify, analyze, prioritize, and respond to them. You also need to monitor and control your risks throughout the project, and update your risk register and plan accordingly.
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Cesar JABR
Monty Mobile, Corporate Development, Telecom Services, Comium, Digital Banking, Neo Banks, Fintech.
Some risks can be insured, others can be covered by SLAs, on condition we have better lawyers than the service providers. After mitigating and outsourcing, we are left with managerial errors. Governance science suggests lines of defense to protect the entity from uninsurable risks. Management, procedures, processes and policies are the first line of defense (radio). Senior management is the second (transmission). The GRC unit, plus internal audit under the supervision of an active board is the third (core network). This theoretical governance structure is applicable on telecom project management. Once accountability lines are established, with commensurate authority and responsibility, top-down, the fence and safety nets are networked. Pun.
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Suresh Addepalli
Senior Program Manager @ Carrier | Leading Complex Projects | Ex-Collins | IIMK
Project Managers need to understand the characteristics of a telecommunication project, which is gained through experience and organizational lessons learned. A telecommunication project often involves significant amounts of infrastructure and consumer data, is very time-sensitive to stay competitive in the market, and has the high potential to disrupt existing operations if not planned and executed well. Many activities should be added to the baseline plan rather than mitigation activities.
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Matheus Joaquim Cofferri
Diretor na Cloud DC | Conselheiro Consultivo em Telecomunicações | Redes neutras | 5G | Provedores de Internet | Datacenter | Tecnologia | Top Telecommunications Voice
Certainly, proactively managing risks is essential. An additional contribution is to establish a risk contingency plan. In addition to identifying and responding to risks, having a well-defined contingency plan in place allows project managers to outline specific actions to be taken if high-impact risks materialize. This approach ensures readiness for unforeseen challenges and can minimize their negative effects on the project's overall success.
A fourth common mistake in telecommunications project management is wasting or misusing the resources that are available for the project. Resources are anything that the project needs to complete its activities, such as time, money, people, equipment, materials, and information. Wasting or misusing resources can result in inefficiencies, delays, budget overruns, quality problems, and resource conflicts. To optimize your resources efficiently, you need to estimate, allocate, and schedule them according to the project's scope, schedule, budget, and quality requirements. You also need to track and measure your resource utilization and performance, and adjust them as needed.
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Matheus Joaquim Cofferri
Diretor na Cloud DC | Conselheiro Consultivo em Telecomunicações | Redes neutras | 5G | Provedores de Internet | Datacenter | Tecnologia | Top Telecommunications Voice
Efficiently optimizing resources is crucial for successful telecom project management. Wasting or misusing resources can lead to inefficiencies, delays, budget overruns, and quality issues. Proper estimation, allocation, scheduling, and continuous monitoring are key to resource optimization.
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Muhammad Rameez Arif
Technical Content Writer | SEO Strategist | B2B SaaS & MSP Marketing | Web 3.0 | Cybersecurity | Worked with top Silicon Valley startups | Ex-Network Engineer | AI Literate
Back during my Supernet days, I was tasked with conducting satellite services migration for nearly 500 sites. Our core team was the liaison between field teams and the satellite service provider in the USA. Efficient human resource management was definitely the biggest challenge during that activity. Successfully bridging the language barrier and tackling work fatigue were the key ingredients for success. Correct progress reporting in a timely manner speeds up execution. Field managers would know exactly which of their technicians were causing trouble. We were able to complete it a day before the planned deadline only through optimal resource utilization.
A fifth common mistake in telecommunications project management is neglecting or deviating from the best practices and standards that are relevant for the project. Best practices and standards are proven methods, techniques, tools, and guidelines that help ensure the quality, consistency, and compliance of the project's processes, products, and services. Telecommunications projects have to follow various best practices and standards, such as those related to project management, engineering, design, installation, testing, operation, maintenance, and security. To follow the best practices and standards, you need to research, adopt, and implement them in your project plan, execution, and control. You also need to document and verify your adherence to them, and address any gaps or issues that arise.
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April D.
Broadworks (Cisco) Unified Communications Call Flow Design Senior Network Engineer | Focused on finding solutions that are needed, cost effective and supportable | Passionate about Customer Experience
It is important to remember that short cuts, are just that short "cuts" which means that some steps are being bypassed or missed for the sake of time. The best practices and guidelines have been developed for a reason. Skipping steps almost always ensures failure or less than quality implementation.
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Matheus Joaquim Cofferri
Diretor na Cloud DC | Conselheiro Consultivo em Telecomunicações | Redes neutras | 5G | Provedores de Internet | Datacenter | Tecnologia | Top Telecommunications Voice
Indeed, adhering to best practices and standards is vital. An additional contribution is to conduct regular compliance audits. In addition to integrating best practices and standards into project planning and execution, performing routine compliance audits can ensure ongoing adherence. These audits help identify deviations or non-compliance early, enabling timely corrective actions, and maintaining project integrity and quality throughout its lifecycle.
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Terri Villafaña
Inadequate planning: Failure to properly plan the project can result in delays, budget overruns, and missed objectives. Poor communication: Effective communication is crucial for managing a telecommunications project. Lack of communication or miscommunication can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and rework. Keep all stakeholders informed and ensure regular and transparent communication channels are established. Unrealistic timelines: Setting unrealistic timeframes can put undue pressure on the developers and result in compromised quality. Be realistic when setting deadlines and consider factors like resource availability, complexity, and potential risks.
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Matheus Joaquim Cofferri
Diretor na Cloud DC | Conselheiro Consultivo em Telecomunicações | Redes neutras | 5G | Provedores de Internet | Datacenter | Tecnologia | Top Telecommunications Voice
When managing a telecommunications project, it's essential to be aware of common pitfalls and mistakes to ensure its successful execution. Four common errors to steer clear of are inadequate planning, which can lead to scope creep and missed deadlines; ineffective communication, which can result in misunderstandings and delays; underestimating risks, which may jeopardize the project's outcome; and inefficient resource utilization, which can lead to budget overruns and quality issues. By being mindful of these potential stumbling blocks and proactively addressing them, project managers can significantly increase the chances of a smooth and successful telecom project.
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Tony Ellison
Technical Solutions Specialist at BT
Common mistake is for the high level ask not to be cognisant that if you are improving an existing process then there must be a transition path to the new process. I have seen many new systems be a hurdle to launch because there was no transition plan. So understanding the ‘As is’ process and why it has been done the way it exists is key to moving to the new process effectively. Then ultimately the old process needs to be removed agent team by agent team so support can be arranged during the change over. Obviously monitoring the new process for breaks and defects as you go.