Project team members usually do give at least two weeks notice before changing positions to a different job, however, in the case that an emergency occurs or the team member suddenly quits, which does happen, other actions must be taken. In this case, the person was part of a critical task for the project. I believe that in the case of a critical task for a project, the other project team members should know what was going on and the steps needed to complete that critical task. Since it is likely that the other team members have an idea of the critical task, the rest of the team members could all give in a little of their time to the task, as well as the project manager. Although it may be smart to recruit another employee, the time to train that person and familiarize the new member to what has been done and needs to be done may take up a lot of time. Therefore, I think in terms of time efficiency, it may be smart for the rest of the team to each chip in a little of their efforts to complete the critical task. Of course, this is also dependent on how far in the team members are in the completion of the project. If they are almost near completion, then combining a little bit of everyone's effort may be beneficial. However, if the project is in its beginnings, then hiring a new team member may be more practical.
As most have already stated a transition is required to another member. Next to training what is most important is updated actions taken and correct documentation of what was completed and what needs to be done. Protocols and controls eliminate miscellaneous information as much as possible and allows constant and repeatable actions that any capable member can perform.
During my senior design capstone project our sponsor changed the designated project manager multiple times which caused delays throughout our design process. Our team could not sacrifice delays because our project course had very strict deadlines for grading purposes. Unfortunately, there were some weeks where there was no project manager to report to, so my team was forced to improvise and continue our work as if there were still a project manager. When a new project manager was assigned to our team, we would have to quickly fill them in on what they missed and what the next steps were. Our project team was ultimately able to succeed by adapting to the fast paced and unexpected obstacles thrown our way.
Changing staff can be problematic especially when its in the middle of a clinical trial or a project. I believe the best way to handle a member leaving the team is by hiring a replacement at least a month before the member's departure. This X amount of time can be a transitioning period, where the team member trains the newly hired member how to perform their tasks. This way the PM ensures a smooth transition with a change in staff members.
Changing staff can be problematic especially when its in the middle of a clinical trial or a project. I believe the best way to handle a member leaving the team is by hiring a replacement at least a month before the member's departure. This X amount of time can be a transitioning period, where the team member trains the newly hired member how to perform their tasks. This way the PM ensures a smooth transition with a change in staff members.
Changes are made during a project all of the time. People should prepare for changes within the budget, tasks, supplies and team members. When a team member changes positions and are assigned a different task. Some one else must step up and complete their task so that the project gets completed. In order to managed this process, so that the pace does not slow down, team members working on the project should understand each members role, so that they could help or complete each task if they needed to. Project managers should also assign these roles to members who are dedicated and loyal to the company so that team members do not stop there task. Lastly, the project manager should include ramifications for those who quit or do not complete their task.
I agree with many who have posted that this does occur more frequently than not on projects. People shift positions or leave a company within the project timeline (especially if the timeline is expanded past two years). From experience in a matrix based organization, I've usually seen many give two weeks in before their final day with an exit strategy in place already with their functional manager. Their functional manager is usually not the project manager so they coordinate time to start to transition work from the one who is leaving to the member who is filling in temporarily or permanently in the project team. There may be a loss of knowledge and some time necessary to fill in the new member on what the project's timeline, expectations, and deadlines are, but it can be a streamlined transition if the functional manager is proactive in their resourcing. If the project team is based upon two R&D engineers from the same group and one is leaving, the other will pick up the tasks temporarily until a new hire is onboarded with the project manager extending the timeline on R&D deliverables to ensure that the sole engineer is not over capacity in their workload.
Usually in the two weeks that the team member notifies the team that he is leaving, he would be responsible to teach another member from the same function everything about the project and bring that person up to speed in terms of what has been completed, what is still pending and due dates so that everything is clear to him. The project manager should be including the new member to the weekly project meetings in order to follow what is currently going on to avoid any miscommunication, along with the team member that is leaving in order to pick up what are the key areas of discussions. Assuming that the new team member is well aware of the internal processes and how the function handles the assigned tasks in these kind of projects, it should be a smooth transition. The team members along with the project manager should be copying the new member on all their emails for these two weeks to keep him in the loop for future reference. A couple of meetings should be scheduled between the member leaving and the new member to align on the deliverables and to hand over all the history and knowledge gained from this project. Critical tasks should now be scheduled as planned but maybe a week or two should be added as worst case in case something goes wrong. Of course the consequences of a team member leaving depends on what department he is from.
Honestly, it depends on how this individual leaves the project. If the person is leaving the project abruptly then there will need to be major changes in work-flow and other individuals working on the project may be required to change their own work schedules and focuses to accommodate for this break. If no one is able to do the work that this individual was doing, then HR may need to be contacted and the project may be delayed until a new individual can be found and trained to take over the position.
If the leave is not abrupt, then a new hire can be hired prior to this person's departure and then trained before the prior team member leaves.
Along with such, other team members can be trained to accommodate for this loss. For example, while each team member may complete a specific tasks they may all be capable of completing each others tasks if need be.
One way to minimize transition time between new personnel is to keep detailed records of the work involved in each position throughout the entire course of a project, rather than waiting until the end. If each position keeps notes and records of things like steps needed to complete specific tasks, lessons learned from previous problems, and tips for avoiding future problems, the time needed to transition new employees can be minimized. With this being done, if any position became suddenly vacant, a previously compiled record of what needs to be done for the position can be beneficial to a new employee so that they do not need to learn the position by making the same mistakes and facing the same delays. This goes back to a common need in PM of keeping strong communication and detailed records of procedures and lessons learned. This information will assist in smooth transitions not only between projects, but also between different people within a project.
Because projects can last for years, it is not surprising that in that time team members may leave/quit or members change positions. Usually, if the employee is making the decision to leave, they should give notice to their managers. This gives managers to find a replacement as well as time for the employee to train their replacement. Effective communication becomes even important cases in cases where there may not be notice of someone's leave. Whether it be through weekly meetings or documentation, it is important that members communicate to each other the progress of their specific tasks and that each step of their tasks/responsibilities are thoroughly documented. From personal experience, I have witnessed how hectic it may be for the whole team if a member leaves. However, because their tasks and progress were well documented and other members of their department were kept up to date of their current tasks, there was not a delay in any important milestones. While it increased individual workload, other members of the department were able to step up and take on the responsibilities of the former team member while management looked for a replacement.
The possibility of an employee changing roles is a factor that should be taken into consideration when adding slack to project schedules. Nonetheless, methods to manage this occurrence include ensuring that the tasks performed by an employee that is leaving can be divided amongst others for the time being. This is an important consideration because having only one individual capable of performing a highly specialized task could add delays to the project in such situations. Other preventative methods to prevent delays is to require employees to keep detailed and updated records of their progress. A detailed record of progress can mitigate project delays by allowing other team members or a new hire to effectively continue completing tasks from where they were left off. Lastly, I believe it is important that a project team member takes the initiative to communicate their decision to leave with the team and provide a sufficient notice prior to leaving. Therefore, they can also train and update other employees on the tasks they were working on to mitigate project delays.
From my short experience in medical device industry it is very rare for a person to switch positions mid project, especially if they are crucial to the project. At the minimum what could happen that allow the project to continue without hindering its overall timeline is that, the person would train or assist the employee taking on his role. Or would help out until he or she is comfortable and confident in finish the the tasks. If there are other individuals doing this task, then this would not be the case as the project team members can take on the task or train a new hire.
Say that someone on your project team changes positions to a different job so that you no longer have said person to perform a critical task for the project. His or her assigned task not being done can greatly slow down the pace of the project so what are ways to manage it so that as little time as possible is added to the project timeline
Even though this scenario is rare to occur, but in my opinion, if that person left the project with no alternate person in the meantime to do the job, as a project manager, I should be carrying this task till hiring someone else to do it. However, when putting a team for a project, we can not assign only one person to do the task by making sure that another team member can do the task in case of emergency.
If someone on the team changes positions to a different job, that could cause problems when it comes time to complete a project. Especially if the part that person is working on is important and critical to the completion. In an ideal world, that person will have completed their portion before leaving but the world doesn't always work like that. Since this is the case, there should be a plan in place just in case something like this should happen. For one thing, everything should be documented so whoever picks up that part of the project can start where the person who changed positions left off. A team should not depend on a single person to make the team functional. In order for this to flow smoothly, everyone on the team should have a general knowledge of ever aspect of the project and this is how this crisis can be averted.
