People

Not adapting to the changes brought about by new technology

It is all to easy to focus upon the specific improvements which the introduction of a new system or website will bring, without pausing to consider all the implications. 

Designing systems around people and not around what is required

We have found organisations who seem to have adjusted their systems to work around existing staff, failing to consider how this can impact on their ambitions and achievements.  Just as problems can be caused by overly rapid change, so long term problems can be caused by short term thinking. Sometimes it is important to grasp the opportunity of technology or other change and ensure that a really robust, efficient long term solution is achieved.

Not having experienced enough staff managing projects

Delegating the management of a complex project to staff who usually work very tactically can work very well indeed, until something goes wrong.  Sometimes we find that there were pointers in advance of problems arising, which were either not noticed or not identified as serious.  When projects fall behind or start to go slightly off the rails, it requires speedy intervention of someone at a strategic level. 

We can find staff who have worked terribly hard and ensured that an amazing amount is delivered, but still the project did not hit the key targets on time. This is partly because it is very hard to keep focused upon many small specific deliverables at the same time as scanning the horizon for potential problems ahead.