There is obviously a risk currently that Project Managers may be suddenly unavailable to continue with their projects, due to illness or to being transferred onto more critical projects. What are the minimum preparations everyone should be making for this eventuality, so that another PM could pick up the project with the minimum of disruption. Any additions to this are welcome:
Ensure the following are up to date and located somewhere accessible:
• PID
• Project Plan
• Issue and Risk logs
• Contact list
• Recent highlight reports
• Timesheet system
• Financial Status report
• List of upcoming meetings
If you have a PM Information System then update that too.
Review the current issues and resolve as many as possible
Brief the Sponsor and other key stakeholders
What have I missed? All thoughts welcomed Saving Changes...
Thanks- good point if you have external suppliers Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
1. Establish a succession plan for the project manager and for key people on the project. Including the process to replace a role.
Look at the existing team, the organization, outside.
Potential successors should agree to this and get an introduction if possible.
2. if onsite, work in two shifts, so they shift teams do not infect each other
3. go back to the portfolio owner and make them establish a risk response if project resources are reduced overall and might need to be re-allocated - which projects to continue, which ones can be stopped - delayed or cancelled
4. besides documentation, make sure you own the deliverables as they are produced - some contracts only shift ownership when the project closes (e.g. do you have access to SW code, even before it is tested and handed over)
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1 reply by Michael Delaney
Apr 03, 2020 12:23 AM
Michael Delaney
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Well organized response and spot on
Saving Changes...
Juan Camilo BarreraProject Manager| GCM ConsultantsLongueuil, Quebec, Canada
Maintaining team engagement in these uncertain times is crucial. Also messages intended for increasing (or in this case, not decreasing) team morale are needed. Saving Changes...
John YorkTechnology Consultant, Pre-sales engineer, Project Manager| Ricoh IT ServicesLeesburg, Va, United States
Have a backup for yourself. A colleague or peer PM who has been read in at least on your open projects who can step in during your absence. Do the same for another PM too. Saving Changes...
I wrote an article on this back in January 2011. Here's the content:
“Estate planning” for your project
I tried hard to come up with a positive title for this article! With the more positive scenario of “winning” the lottery you would hopefully transition your project properly before riding off in the sunset!
However, in the case of your being “out of commission” for a temporary (or permanent) time frame, if limited information is available to your team or to a replacement project manager how successful are they likely to be? Morbid though it might seem, we can draw a parallel to estate planning – without a will that clearly states how one’s property is to be allocated and what one’s desired funeral arrangements are, you are at the mercy of the specific laws of your region.
For those of you that are affiliated with PMI, the code of ethics has a topical clause: “We fulfill the commitments that we undertake – we do what we say we will do.” We need to spend some effort keeping the information on our projects up-to-date so that unplanned transitions can be accommodated with minimal business impact.
This should not be an issue in organizations that have established, consistent methodologies. But in those places that have no such standards, what is the bare minimum that you should strive to maintain?
1. A project charter – while most large projects are likely to have a signed off charter or equivalent document, if there have been drastic changes in the vision or authority granted by this document, it is important to bring it up-to-date.
2. A current stakeholder analysis document – most PMs can figure out who their main customer and team members are, but its the stakeholders they are not keeping an eye on that can cause them the most trouble.
3. The most current approved baselines for scope, schedule, cost & quality – you can only manage what you measure, and if you have no baseline against which to track progress, performance is in the eye of the beholder.
4. An up-to-date project organization structure & contact list – I’m assuming you would not want a replacement PM digging through your e-mail archives to locate the telephone number of a key vendor?
5. Project status reports from the past six reporting periods
6. Updated issue, risk & action logs – these should include a clear description of business impacts, ownership, expected resolution or response dates, and action/response plans
7. Copies of all signed contracts, purchase orders & invoices related to the project
Now you might say that all of these items exist for your project, but how easy is it for someone to locate them? Is there a single master source for these or are there multiple versions? And (more important), are they up-to-date, or a few weeks (or months) stale?
If your executor has no idea where your will is or if it is current, your estate may suffer. The same might be true for your project, missing a current, easy to locate project control book – ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Saving Changes...
I disagree with the "copies of..." strategy. Too easy for files to be out of date and inaccessible.
Your project documents should be in a repository that all team members have access to. You can't be certain that your planned successor will not be taken out by the bug, or some other circumstance. I just read a story about a PM who jumped onto a commuter train and woke up in the hospital minus a limb.
For financial or other documents the entire team is not privy to, a secured repository.
Invite your backup to meetings before you are leaving, so that they can get acquainted with the team and their personalities. Saving Changes...
