ZilicusPM Blog | Online Project Management Tool

Are you realizing that your project is on the verge of getting declared as DELAYED; then you should deliberate seriously about following tips to control progress of the project before it falls into the trap of actually getting delayed.

1. Go back to the drawing room & work out potential but necessary arrangements that need to be done before discussing with vital project stakeholders.
2. Discuss & negotiate with stakeholders (project sponsors/ customers, steering committee members) about existing arrangements and possible extension of budget (resource/money) or delivery timelines
3. Internal working: Again, get back to the drawing room & rework the internal budget, perform near-reality/feasibility check for reworked & renegotiated timeline for internal arrangement
4. Project Scope: Think of tweaking/reducing project scope – As discussed earlier ensure if projectstakeholders would agree to
   1. Reduce scope: Non-critical deliverables being removed from scope
   2. Staged delivery: Including part of the project deliverables in next phase/maintenance work
5. Resize Resource Pool: Add more resources to the project. Figure out the cost-benefit analysis of meeting the timeline vs. cost of deploying more resources so as to speed up the delivery.
6. Inspire team members: Every project has Influential-Star team member(s), inspire & entice them to cover up for slippage & offer them incentives (tangible & intangible) and of course, you have to provide incentives to them.
7. Alternatives/ Replacements: If project deliverables depend on sub-contracted work or some other supplies; perform cost-benefit analysis if you have to opt for alternateive – replacement or substitutes
8. Get a buy in from higher management: Before your project gets into a fix, make your higher management aware of the progress, they may assist you with better interest of the organization in mind.
9. Unaffected customer: All of above points independently or collectively should ensure – project objectives are not getting compromised e.g. customer can continue to work without getting significantly affected; neither your organization’s objective should get compromised.
10. Retrospect & Review: Positively, once you come out of the firefighting situation; be sure to retrospect on the situation – reasons for it, remedial actions taken, what are the learning, what should be avoided – were we missing Collaboration, was planing in effective, how we realized the symptoms in later stage, etc. Make sure you carry these learning – how to make project planning effective, practice risk management, ensure team is being updated & uses project management software and collaboration tool.

And finally, it is imperative to mention that bad news will only gets worse if you try to hide it for longer; so be transparent & communicate frequently and clearly and you will no longer have to struggle about such bad news.