Communication Key to Rescuing Troubled Projects

  Communications Management   Knowledge Shelf  

You  have just been assigned to manage a project that has already been started and is not performing. We will assume (although it is not necessarily a “given”) that your manager has provided you with information on the project status so that you have an idea of what you are up against. The stakeholder, however, does not have a good picture of the current project status and is pressuring you for an update. The previous project manager may or may not be available. One thing is for certain, though: the more you start to investigate to determine the project status, the worse the picture becomes. There is no project team actively working on the project, and the few people who have been assigned to the project do not know what is expected of them. The project scope is not clear; there are project deliveries looming and the team has no chance of meeting them. At this point, you determine that there is no way that your project team can meet the  current stakeholder expectations or delivery milestones. To be successful in delivering the project, you need to begin working immediately to rescue the project and to start communicating the situation to the project stakeholder and the project team.

Assessment First

The first step in building your recovery plan is to assess the current project and team status. Do you have a team? Do your team members even know…

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