What Should You Do When Your Project Goes Wrong?

Helena Lui is a project manager and instructor at ExamsPM.com, a PMP certification training company.

  Communications Management  

Any project manager can tell you war stories about how some of their projects went terribly wrong. In fact, projects rarely go according to plan because it’s impossible to plan out every possibility that may happen in the future. That’s why the Project Management Institute recommends setting aside a contingency budget before the project begins to deal with emergencies when projects don’t go according to plan.

Since projects are more risky by nature than operational work, it is important to know which course of action to take when something does go wrong. In this article, I outlined the seven steps that you should follow:

1. Show leadership and stay calm. When things go wrong, your team may point fingers at each other and you may see morale decrease. Your project sponsor may be worried about his status and reputation in the organization and try to “save face.”

During these difficult times, it is important for you as the project manager to not be drawn into the panic. Your role is to find the best possible solution to deal with the impending situation, and not to play the blame game. Showing leadership, control and composure during a crisis—and handling the situation with grace—will win the respect of your project and leadership team.

2. Avoid temptation to act immediately based on fears. The first thing to do when something …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.