Project Management

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Sharing is Caring – Combating Unrealistic Demands

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Kimberly Whitby
PMI Team Member
Online Community Specialist| PMI Newtown Square, Pa, United States
We’ve all experienced the call and/or email requesting that you do something immediately or within a short amount of time. Project team members may be asking for something that you simply do not have the resources to be able to deliver. Many times, these requests feel more like orders — people demanding that you do things without giving a thought to what else you have on your plate.

What are your best strategies to combat and/or prevent these unrealistic demands from creeping up on you? We would love to hear a real life scenario from one of our community members to share so others can learn and apply within their project teams!
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
The key is understanding ourselves why we will run a project. Just to create a solution to a problem. With that on hand, put focus on the definition of the term "problem": the difference, the gap, between the perceived reality and the desire reality. With that on hand start working on the perception or in the desire or in the gap. It will determine if there is work to do or not.
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
I usually build flexibility in my personal schedule to allow for unforecasted and urgent activities. Unless the request is more than an activity, I can usually accommodate it with little to no impact on my workload. (A project manager is rarely on a project's critical path.) If not, I present it to my boss with as much information as possible detailing the impact of the new request. She can opt to decide on the spot or escalate the decision.

We have to understand that our domain of responsibility and accountability is often smaller than, and a subset of, the requester's. In other words, our priorities are often low priorities for the requester.
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Denathayalan Ramasamy Chief Technology Officer| Atal Incubation Centre -CIIC Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Yes, it happens in day-to-day life. First, I will apply Pareto analysis
to reorder the priorities with new issues to existing ones
Then it all depends on stakeholders' influence, power, and interest level.
Emotional intelligence should be used to choose alternate methods and execute based on stakeholder analysis & issue analysis
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