As a Project Manager how do handle a Project where there so changes to the original plan ,and Your Supervisor is the one who is even spearheading those changes?
How do handle the above mentioned situation. Saving Changes...
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Bala S DuvvuriProject Manager| ShellBangalore, Karnataka, India
Supervisor is nothing but another stakeholder who has more influence so in addition to using hard skills ,soft skills will play a major role here.
Hard Skills - Change management process(Analyzing the impact,informing it to stakeholders,CCB etc),setting the baselines,monitoring and reporting the status
soft skills needed - Negotiation,Assertive,expectation management,decision making,influencing,communication at the right time,relationship building,setting ground rules etc Saving Changes...
Get the buy-in on changes and define guidelines. If you supervisor is forcing you to make changes make him accountable for delays. He must take the responsibility of any delay caused by these changes. Raise to senior management. Saving Changes...
Obviously, the situation requires tact, but not really much more so that any other stakeholder as Bala noted. Do you have a formal change control process? If not, you need one ASAP. If the changes are approved by the approving authority then you simply make the changes to the scope, budget, and schedule within your project management plan. Please keep in mind that a simple 2 day change may take longer than 2 days if the development is advanced, as there may be retrofitting that is required. It's one thing to make an estimate for a piece of work. However, when that work is combined with other work, the estimate may go up or down. There could be synergies of effort resulting in savings, or there could be obstacles that require additional work or schedule delays. Saving Changes...
Michael AdamsSolutions Architect| LANLLos Alamos, Nm, United States
Agree with everyone here. Make sure the supervisor and board know what the change is, and what the impact will be on scope, schedule and budget. Then get a sign-off on the change, and the necessary adjustment to any of the triple constraints. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
The only thing I would add to all the previous worthy comments is: document it all.
You may find yourself unable to put the changes through the correct process. For example, the change might be approved before it has been properly assessed.
At the very least, make sure that all changes are correctly captured. Even without the baseline updates that should have resulted, you will at least be able to explain deviations and variances. Saving Changes...
