• Project delays can be frustrating and costly, especially in a small business with a tight budget. Even a single cost overrun can be financially devastating to a small operation.
• Projects get off track and behind schedule for a variety of different reasons, many of which are preventable with a bit of advanced planning.

Poor Project Scheduling

• An ill-planned project sets itself up for problems and delays right from the start. An effective project plan details every aspect of implementation, from staffing and budget to key processes and deadlines.

• Write out a comprehensive project plan before you undertake an endeavor to ensure it is cost-effective, has appropriate manpower and can be achieved within the parameters you set.

• If you're undertaking a lengthy project, build in periodic checks and balances to ensure everything is on track as anticipated.

Lack of Cooperation

• Project team members who are unable to collaborate effectively through cooperative efforts can experience delays, especially when it comes to deadlines.

• If one team member misses a deadline, it sets up a scenario in which subsequent deadlines are also behind schedule.

• Be firm in outlining specific roles and responsibilities for your team members, and make meeting deadlines a non-negotiable aspect of every project.

Changing Cost Structure

• If you get into a project and find that you underestimated budgetary needs or see that the price of materials and supplies have increased during the course of the project, it can cause delays.

• You may be faced with cutting the parameters of the project to meet your original budget or coming up with additional financing to accommodate changes.

• For best results, overestimate expenses when initially planning your project to account for unanticipated costs.

Client Changes

• Requested changes from a client or customer during the course of a project can throw timing off track.
• For example, if a customer decides to alter the scope of a project by making additions or deletions or otherwise changing parameters, your project plan and timeline will have to be reworked.
• To avoid this potential scenario, require customers to sign off on a detailed contractual description of the project prior to its start.
• Build in protections for yourself, such as price increases and monetary time delay penalties to accommodate client changes.

Outside Influences

• Sometimes, projects will be delayed due to outside influences beyond your control. For example, inclement weather can delay a construction project, while a slow supply shipment can delay a retailer’s planned roll-out of a new product.
• Get into the habit of having contingency plans built into your project wherever possible. If delays occur, you can go to your backup agenda as a way to keep things as focused, on track and on budget as possible.
• Project approvals - waiting for projects to get approved with developers sitting around thus leading to waste of time and money.
• Waiting for a proper prioritized list of requirements - so that work can get started.
• Waiting for resources to become available – this is usually a sign to introspect if the organization is taking too much work.
• Change approval processes – this is a wasteful process itself. If this happens too often then it might be easier to reduce the sprint length.
• Increases in work-in-progress - the more work-in-process, the more developers have to wait before they can deploy their code to production.
• Delays getting client to sign-off on acceptance tests – this is true not only for sign-off but also getting client time for resolving requirement issues, give feedback on demos etc.
• Neglecting quality control - time pressure can sometimes cause programmers or project teams to be tempted to skip testing. This frequently causes more delays than it prevents.
• Working on too many projects at the same time – Task switching leads to more problems than solutions.
• The ‘one-solution-fits-all’ syndrome – trying to fit an existing solution to any new problem.
• Mediocre personnel – technical or process insufficiency causes delays at multiple levels.
• Customers fail to fulfill agreements - when customers do not react in a timely manner to areas in which they must be involved, projects can come to a standstill.
• Tension between customers and developers - If the project is not proceeding well enough, the tension can cause additional delays. It disturbs the feeling of trust and the working atmosphere.