Introduction
In my previous blog posting "Seven Questions to Ask When Dealing with a Troubled Project" we examined the questions the project manager should ask when handed a troubled project. Let us now take a look at the possible actions one may initiate based on the answers received.
Answer #1 - This Project is Failing Due to a Poor Portfolio Management Decision
Actions you may consider:
- Cancel this project.
- Go back to the drawing board to change the project scope, timeline, budget, resources or timing to better fit company strategy, required project balance or to improve its value.
Answer #2 - We are Failing with the Project Scope
Actions you should probably take:
- Initiate proper requirements elicitation, analysis and documentation procedure. This action should be undertaken by the individuals specifically trained in requirements engineering.
- Ensure that the requirements document is written at a consistent and appropriate level of detail, provides an adequate basis for design and covers all possible alternatives and exceptions.
- Get rid of all the TBDs and ambiguous words in the requirements specifications document.
- Conduct walkthroughs, inspections and peer reviews with customers, technical team and an experienced project manager.
Don't forget to ask the following questions in order to renegotiate the project scope:
- “Can we move some of the desired functionality into the next phase?”
- “Can we deliver the product or service in stages?”
- “Can we cut some scope items altogether?”
- “Can we polish some features less?”
- "Can we initiate a Change Request to modify the scope of the project?
Answer #3 - We are Failing Because of Budget/Timing
Some of the actions you may take:
- Re-estimate the project based on properly documented real requirements.
- The estimation should be done by the qualified project manager (and not by the customer!) with the feedback from her project team.
- Avoid succumbing to the customer and management pressure to decrease the estimates.
- Negotiate to obtain additional degrees of freedom from the project stakeholders.
- Consider sick and vacation days
- Consider "project overhead" like project management, project meetings, user acceptance, etc.
Ask the following questions:
- “Can we set a schedule goal but not an ultimate deadline?”
- “Can we set a project goal of short schedule, and look for ways to reduce time planning and execution stages?”
- “Can we use estimation ranges, and agree to refine them as the project progresses?”
- “Can we share the cost of the project between several departments?”
- “Can we exceed the project budget by X% without getting the approval of the senior management?”
- “Can we capitalize some of the project expenses?”
Answer #4: We are Failing with Quality
Some of the actions you may consider:
- Revisit the requirements steps above, as poor quality is very frequently rooted in poorly documented.
- requirements (i.e. you discover new or overlooked requirements in the middle of the execution stage of the project).
- Obtain the technical expertise to deliver this product.
- Check whether the poor quality is a direct result of short time and budget. If yes, renegotiate timing and budget of the project.
- Check if your team has been loaded with a lot of the technical debt issues from the previous releases.
Ask the following questions:
- “Can we relax the detailed requirements for each scope item?”
- “Do all the scope items have to be of the highest quality possible?”
Answer #5: We are Failing Because of the Effort
Actions you may take:
- Request additional resources.
- Communicate the problem to the stakeholders
- Renegotiate project management triangle (i.e. decrease scope and/or increase time and budget).
Ask the following questions:
- “Can we add more technical resources?”
- “Can we add more experienced resources?”
- “Can we provide our resources with proper training?”
- “Can we add more administrative support?”
- “Can we increase the degree of technical resource support?”
- “Can we eliminate company red-tape?”
- “Can we increase the level of customer involvement?”
- “Can we increase the level of executive involvement?”
About the Author
Jamal Moustafaev, MBA, PMP – president and founder of Thinktank Consulting is an internationally acclaimed expert and speaker in the areas of project/portfolio management, scope definition, process improvement and corporate training. Jamal Moustafaev has done work for private-sector companies and government organizations in Canada, US, Asia, Europe and Middle East. Read Jamal’s Blog @ www.thinktankconsulting.ca
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Jamal is an author of two very popular books: Delivering Exceptional Project Results: A Practical Guide to Project Selection, Scoping, Estimation and Management and Project Scope Management: A Practical Guide to Requirements for Engineering, Product, Construction, IT and Enterprise Projects.