Delivery of projects affected by 3th party factors

Hi Luis,

I agree with most of the above. Where I have most often felt the challenges of schedule delays due to external factors, have usually been on two topics:

1. Procurement ETAs - It is challenging to baseline a schedule early on projects that involve significant procurement. I manage this by building in assumptions around delivery ETAs, tracking a related risk, requesting exepedited delivery where possible.

2. Contracting with third parties on integration projects, or hiring consultants to own hardware and switch upgrades - For some of the organizations we contract with, we know how long the process to finalize an SoW will take, so we work backward from the desired Initiating start date and begin the SoW process early. If possible adding a deadline in the SoW ensures the organization must hit your targets.

The above approaches can be effective when you're working with vendors with whom you have an existing relationship, as you then become familiar with their typical ETAs. The risk is higher with new external relationships.

In response to your last question, I believe if you manage through the external factors effectively, raising assumptions, constraints, related risks with at least a solid contingency, if no mitigation is possible, and have communicated the impacts to your schedule and plan well to your stakeholders, then you are probably managing it well. There are some things that are outside of our control as PMs.

I'm not certain if my scenarios are similar to what you're encountering, or relevant, but thought I would share.

Hi Luis,

I agree with most of the above. Where I have most often felt the challenges of schedule delays due to external factors, have usually been on two topics:

1. Procurement ETAs - It is challenging to baseline a schedule early on projects that involve significant procurement. I manage this by building in assumptions around delivery ETAs, tracking a related risk, requesting exepedited delivery where possible.

2. Contracting with third parties on integration projects, or hiring consultants to own hardware and switch upgrades - For some of the organizations we contract with, we know how long the process to finalize an SoW will take, so we work backward from the desired Initiating start date and begin the SoW process early. If possible adding a deadline in the SoW ensures the organization must hit your targets.

The above approaches can be effective when you're working with vendors with whom you have an existing relationship, as you then become familiar with their typical ETAs. The risk is higher with new external relationships.

In response to your last question, I believe if you manage through the external factors effectively, raising assumptions, constraints, related risks with at least a solid contingency, if no mitigation is possible, and have communicated the impacts to your schedule and plan well to your stakeholders, then you are probably managing it well. There are some things that are outside of our control as PMs.

I'm not certain if my scenarios are similar to what you're encountering, or relevant, but thought I would share.