anticipate potential problems

Meaning

This phrase means to identify and prepare for possible difficulties or obstacles before they happen. It is commonly used in project management, operations, and strategic planning to highlight risk mitigation.

Examples

• A good project manager must always anticipate potential problems and have a backup plan ready.

  A good project manager must always anticipate potential problems and have a backup plan ready.

• During the planning phase, we tried to anticipate potential problems with the supply chain.

  During the planning phase, we tried to anticipate potential problems with the supply chain.

• By conducting a risk assessment, we were able to anticipate potential problems with the software launch.

  By conducting a risk assessment, we were able to anticipate potential problems with the software launch.

• It is much cheaper to anticipate potential problems than to fix them after they occur.

  It is much cheaper to anticipate potential problems than to fix them after they occur.

• We need to review the contract carefully to anticipate potential problems with our new partners.

  We need to review the contract carefully to anticipate potential problems with our new partners.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We need to anticipate about potential problems.

  ✓ We need to anticipate potential problems.

  'Anticipate' does not take the preposition 'about.' It directly takes the object.

• ✗ The team failed to anticipate potential problem.

  ✓ The team failed to anticipate potential problems.

  Use the plural 'problems' here to refer to general, unspecified future issues.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Before signing the agreement, we should sit down and ___.

  💡 Look ahead for possible issues.

  Show answer

  anticipate potential problems

• A thorough review of the code helped the developers ___ before the release.

  💡 Foresee future bugs or errors.

  Show answer

  anticipate potential problems