Audumbar DhuriSenior Project Manager| Bentley Systems Dombivali, Maharashtra, India
Recently I faced a confusing situation in the project I am handling. The project is running short of manpower than planned due to various issues as they are being diverted to manage dire situations on other projects of same project sponsor.
I raised the issue in writing to Project sponsor to speak with the client at sponsor level to seek understanding that the schedule activities will be delayed for some time ahead till the management tides over the situation else to give me suitable directives on going ahead with the project.
The Project sponsor called me and directed me to put up a proposal to client recommending stopping of project for 1 month and then crashing the activity when resources will be available at later date. (which I have no gurantee that the resources will be made available at that point of time too)
I denied on submitting such a proposal saying that this is beyond my mandate as PM and it is his responsibility to be originator of such a proposal.
Pl guide if I was correct or wrong and if there is any other way out?
Saving Changes...
Mark DyslinHR Project Leader| Xerox Business Services LLCDallas, Tx, United States
I would have written my memo to the Project Sponsor in such a fashion that s/he could have forwarded it to the client. I think the impact, coming from the PM, is much more pronounced when it is originated by those closest to the problem.
The Project Sponsor could have added whatever analysis s/he wanted, but I truly believe (and this is for my style) it should come from the PM as a statement of facts with accompanying solutions.
Or, I could have run around the client's office without any clothing while screaming "I see ghosts" and that would have gotten me out of any responsibility. But again, that's just my style. Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
I would agree with Mark that status reporting and estimation of project completion should come from PM first hand since the PM is the person responsible for all these and closer to the situation. As a PM, you have to give a proposal to the sponsor/client on the estimated completion due to the delay, but you need to give your truthful estimation and not necessary give it as what the sponsor has told you. You should even advise the sponsor against giving unrealistic estimation to avoid disappointment and conflict with the client later. Nevertheless, bear in mind that each new proposal to the project plan should be reviewed and approved by the steering committee and not just the sponsor alone. Saving Changes...
Is this coming out of the blue? Do your stakeholders know about this issue? Is it documented as a project risk and now an issue?
Have you flagged this in your status reports?
There are standard project management tools for handling this situation, I recommend that you use them.
Factually document the issue and then follow your issue management process, escalating it to the steering committee.
Your issue should have some options for resolution, I suggest putting at least two in there, hire more resources immediately or put the project on hold until the resources are available, you could also consider slowing the project until resources are available.
Then let the steering committee make the decisions.
Yes, I agree with Julie. You have a PM toolkit to use for this process. Once your project is underway your role is to be managing and controlling the performance of the project. Did you have a discussion with the sponsor regarding the triple contraint? Also, consider the scope of the effort and if this is an issue or a risk. Will your resources be available in a month? Are there other project dependencies? Make sure your sponsor is aware of all issues that will be relayed to the Steering Committee since your sponsor should support the alternatives offered in your proposal.
Good luck!
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Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Interesting question and reactions.
In all the decision is with the steering committee. As a pm you are obligied to inform the steerco. In the steerco the discussion will be between the senior supplier (resource provider) senior user, and the project sponsor. This will result in a decision
You as pm provides the input to this discussion writing a report with the options, see my article titled "facilitating fast decision making". If you recommend to postpone for a month is what you believe is the right course of action and what the perceived impact shows.
Hopes this helps Saving Changes...
Audumbar DhuriSenior Project Manager| Bentley Systems Dombivali, Maharashtra, India
Thank you all for your sugeestions.
This is a typical case in India where no one in top mgmt (there is not a structured steering committee) wants to come up in writing though everybody is fully aware of the situation.I could have based my recommendations as PM if the Project sponsor could have come up in writing that resources would be hard to comeby.
I later on dont want the top mgmt to lay blame on me for suggesting options to delay the project. Saving Changes...
Hi Audumbar,
I believe your thinking is flawed. If your company has a culture of blame then I think you are going to be blamed for the project running late any way, if you keep trying to deliver with inadequate resources.
As PM it is your responsbility to document and manage the issues that are impacting on your project. You need to document the issues and escalate them to your project sponsor. You do not have to make any recommendations, but you would be well advised to document the issue and the date it was raised and keep an audit trail of meetings with your project sponsor so you can explain the reasons the project was running late and show that you did to address the problem. If you sponsor does nothting then you cannot be held responsible.
Good luck! Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Just to add on to what Julie said. By providing suggestions, it does not mean that you are making the decision. It is bad to lay blame on people who are just providing options, and you should not be worried about it. Furthermore, this is a decision that has to be made not by just the PM alone. Saving Changes...
Mary Grace LazoProject Manager| SMITS, Inc.Mandaluyong, Philippines
I agree with Julie. Proper document management and audit trail will save you from difficult times such as this. You can give recommendation based on what happened and not quoted as blaming someone for it because your relying on facts. Saving Changes...
"If you sponsor does nothting then you cannot be held responsible." --> I certainly wouldn't wager any significant amount of money on that. Sure, I wish we lived in a world where one cannot be blamed for someone else's failure, but seriously, we've all seen it before. The bottom liine is that it's both bad press and more expensive to get rid of a bad executive than it is to fire a good PM, so you -will- take the fall for incompetent sponsors. That's just the sort of job we've all signed up for. Saving Changes...
