You have heard the comments from others, especially senior management. “Project management (PM) is simple blocking and tackling.” “All a PM has to do is work the plan.” Wow!! If it was that simple, the failure rate would not be over 80%, would it? What we PMs have to understand is that senior management sees PMs in the spectrum of their world. EVERYBODY reports to them. For a PM, the resources report to the project, not the PM. That is a major difference and one that has to be explained to senior management. However, I do believe that if a PM develops a plan that includes budget, scope, resource needs, and the risks, along with the schedule, then that should be part of the explanation. The major part of the explanation is communicating the plan to management and then working the plan.
The major communication device to the project sponsor and senior management is the status report. Basically, all of the completed tasks, the risks and issues, as well as the upcoming tasks must be communicated in two pages. Whether the status report is called the RAG (Red, Amber, and Green) report or the RYG (Red, Yellow, and Green) report, a picture of the project is worth a thousand words. The PM must remember the audience for this report. Yes, we like the project schedule, the budget, and especially the risks and issues lists. But the sponsor and senior management want one or, at the most, two reports. I strongly suggest that the two most important reports during the execution and monitoring phases of the project are the status report and the risk and issues list. These two reports are what the sponsor and senior management understand. The status report is direct and short. The initial portion of the status report should have a short status of the project, for example “the report is on schedule.”
On the risks and issues list, there should be mitigation to a risk if the risk becomes an issue. During the building of the schedule by the team, the PM should have led the team to identify the risks and the probability that the risks would happen and what the impact would be. Along with that calculation there should be the resolution to the risk if it becomes an issue. That solution must be identified and communicated to the team, especially to the project sponsor, and the sponsor must have buy-in to that solution.
Failure is not an option
We have all heard that over 80% of projects “fail” to meet the project’s original goal. What PMs fail to do is effectively communicate the risks and then the solutions. PMs also fail to communicate the change request effectively. Once a solution is communicated to the sponsor, senior management, and the team, the PM must guide them through how the solutions may change the project’s end date and possibly add to the budget. Once the PM communicates the change to the team, the PM must document it in a change request and present it to the change review board (CRB) and senior management. Once this is done, the project is no longer a “failure” or going RED. The project is re-scoped and re-balanced to include this necessary change with a change in the end date and resources.
I am open to discussion at any time on these blogs or anything else related to project management you would like to explore. If you would like to comment about this blog, please do so by posting on this blog or by responding in an email at Benny A. Recine. You may inspire a blog article. I look forward to your comments.
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