Here's how you can confidently conquer project obstacles and setbacks.

Obstacles are opportunities for learning, Reframe setbacks as opportunities to identify flaws in the process, refine your approach, and build resilience. Anticipate setbacks, know that no project proceeds without setbacks. Proactive planning for potential problems reduces immediate stress when they occur. Keep perspective even though obstacles can be frustrating, keep the vision of the overall goal of the project. This avoids getting lost in the weeds of a temporary problem.

A key component to embracing change is understanding that change is inherently part of every project. Project plans will change through risks, issues and decisions and it’s the job of the project manager to ensure that change occurs successfully, not to stop the change altogether. In my experience, project managers often see change as a poor reflection of their ability to manage, but in reality, it’s not the change itself, but rather how the change is managed that defines the skill set of the project manager.

Change is the only constant, this universal truth applies to every thing including Project Management. Due to the rapid change in technology and market scenarios more than often PMs are required to pivot away from the ongoing path but, this movement requires that the whole team understands the reasons and new desired outcomes. It is imperative that a PM is communicating to all the stakeholders, and maintain high level of transparency in the whole eco-system. This approach has worked for me to gather the will of the team to collectively adopt the new path. Also in my experience with transparency of desired outcomes and reasons for change, a supportive team comes out with solutions rather than roadblocks.

I generally see success with risk management when two key aspects are done well. The first being following a robust risk management process and the second being concise and thorough documentation. The risk management process enables the project manager to identify and collect risks with the project team, review the risks on a regular basis, and ensure the team has transparency into and is aware of mitigation actions and tactics. The documentation supports this process by ensuring action items are tracked, tasks are assigned to individuals and historical record keeping occurs.

Best Guru of my professional life is "Failure". It teaches you a lot provided you are receptive and eager to understand what went wrong. Lessons Learned Register is without doubt the most ignored activity but it holds the key to the understand the What, When and How of the realized negative risks. This documentation can provide you a lot of insight into how we can modulate our way of working within the effects of the environmental factors that are influencing the delivery. Use AI, there is a training on PMI's website on how to use Chat GPT for project management

A rare but insightful perspective on conquering project obstacles is this idea called 'antifragility.' It's about flipping the script on how we handle tough times. Instead of just bouncing back, we use each challenge as a chance to get better, kind of like how muscles get stronger after a workout. So, when a project hits a snag, we don't just patch it up-we look for ways to come out even stronger on the other side. We let our team members call the shots when problems pop up & we see every 'oops' moment as a lightbulb moment. It's not just about making it through the storm; it's about learning to dance in the rain. Yet, antifragility might not fit high-risk areas where failure's cost outweighs learning benefits.