Caution: Phase-Shifting!

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Topics: Stakeholder Management, ProjectsAtWork

When project milestones are being met, but related work is being pushed aside, you have a case of phase-shifting. A crash is around the bend. Here’s how it happens and how to avoid it.

Phase-shifting occurs in nearly every information technology project I've observed. Phase-shifting simply means that milestones are being made, but the related work hasn't actually been completed, thereby shifting it to a subsequent phase.

A classic example of phase-shifting is from a development phase into a testing phase. During the development phase, the project is highly motivated to hit published milestones. And if you can show that important milestones are being met, sponsors and other stakeholders will leave you alone. Even better, you don't have to argue about work not being done with the Team Leads or Contractor Leads who are usually more qualified to win the argument.

Early in the project, the project manager's message is "get it done on time, and within budget.” This leaves scope as the only variable the Team Leads and Contractors can manage. And so they manage scope, which means they compromise on scope in favor of reporting "on time, and within budget" to make you happy.

This false-positive reporting creates a bow-wave of work that builds and builds and eventually crests and crashes later in the project, when development …

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