I have a junior PM who was aware of underlying issues with the project, but did not communicate this to the customer. She tried to resolve the issues behind the scenes internally with the team, but ultimately failed to resolve the issue and only shared the bad news with the customer at the due date. Unsurprisingly, the customer was extremely angry and demanded to change the PM due to loss of trust in her abilities.
What would be your advice in handling this type of situation? Saving Changes...
Lonnie PacelliAuthor & President| ProjectManagementAdvisor.comBellevue, Wa, United States
Sounds like a typical junior PM action; keep the project issue under wraps and try to save it. Typically on the next project the junior PM swings the pendulum the other way and overcommunicates that there are issues without trying to problem solve to keep things on track.
Assuming the Jr. PM is worth salvaging, help diagnose why things happened, and ensure the Jr. PM owns and accepts what they did wrong, and has a clear understanding of what they will do the next time it happens. You also have to help the pendulum swing on the next project by ensuring the Jr. PM doesn't over-react and over-communicate, thus creating jittery customers. Saving Changes...
