The Reality Behind a Deadline
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Peter Tarhanidis, Conrado Morlan, Jen Skrabak, Mario Trentim, Christian Bisson, Yasmina Khelifi, Sree Rao, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, David Wakeman, Ramiro Rodrigues, Wanda Curlee, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky
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Date
By Christian Bisson, PMP
A deadline is the project objective defined in terms of time. But on some projects (a lot of them, unfortunately) the delivery date is not necessarily realistic.
When projects get delayed, the obvious solution is to push back the deadline. But it’s not so simple for every project.
Here are a few factors to weigh before deciding how to move forward when facing project setbacks:
The Client Relationship
Assuming the agency runs client-facing projects, not internal products, this is typically the most important reason to deliver a project on time. Happy clients bring in more projects—and other clients by word of mouth.
Determining whether or not your client will react negatively to a project delay may depend on the cause of the holdup. Is the delay related to client actions, such as adding new requirements or delivering assets late? Or is it due to internal errors, such as poor estimating or planning?
Keeping clients happy also presents a sort of balancing act for many agencies. You have to keep clients happy because they bring in the money that runs the agency. But, on the other hand, you don’t want your team members so bogged down with additional requests and revisions that they become tired or frustrated to the point they will leave.
The Cost
Projects often have what we call hard deadlines, meaning the date cannot be changed under any circumstances. For example, in e-commerce, there are projects tied to holiday sales and, obviously, those dates cannot move. Missing those opportunities can have a drastic impact on sales. In these cases, it might actually be more cost-efficient to invest in more resources to speed up the project and have it ready on time.
The Big Picture
Delaying a project can have a direct impact on other projects, as well. Team members may be scheduled to move to another project once the first is completed, for example, so delaying that transition date can have a chain reaction on an agency’s planning. Talk to someone with a wide-angle view of the organization’s portfolio to better understand these potential implications.
There’s no magic solution for dealing with a delayed project. All you can do is balance the pros and cons and make a judgment call.
What factors do you typically weigh when deciding whether or not to push back the deadline on a delayed project? What advice do you have for other project managers facing a delay?
Posted
by
Christian Bisson
on: January 28, 2017 10:21 AM |
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Comments (3)
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It has been a general trend amongst Client to put stiff Deadlines for project completion.This is mainly due to the fact that lot of time is taken at the conceptualization and scope finalization stage .Since the Project commissioning date remains unaltered there is no option but to put stiff deadlines which ,invariably,results in the extension of time.These are the realities which unnecessarily pressurizes the contractor on an Industrial project to cut corners in an attempt to gain time which ,in turn, affects qualitative performance and gives birth to conflicts .
Very well articulated, especially i like the picture.
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