Warning Signs

Ever find yourself in the middle of a project wishing for a time machine? You sit at your desk knowing the schedule is weeks out of date, team members are stressed — maybe not even talking to you or each other, deliverables aren’t being approved, and the end users hate the prototype. What went wrong? What warning signs did you miss?

When a project’s progress starts to break down, it often does so slowly with subtle warning signs: a deliverable is missed by few days, a meeting is postponed, and a change request leads to re-work. It is the project manager’s responsibility to monitor these activities, decipher the warning signals early, and provide the leadership to get the project back on track.

There are three important signal detectors in the project management arsenal that can allow a project manager to respond to the warning signs of threats of schedule slippage, looming risks and developing issues. How many are you using?

1. Actual hours worked

Right from the start, the project manager should collect actual hours worked by task and…