In this week's lecture we learned about different aspects of monitoring and controlling a project and how anything can really be subject to change throughout the life cycle. Assume you are a project manager and you are at about the halfway point of the project. When going over the progress of the project, you notice that the Schedule Variance of the project is negative but not so much that it is irrecoverable, as well as the Cost Variance, meaning that the project is actually behind schedule and you are over the budget for the project. Is it possible to recover this project and finish within expected budgets, and if so, how would you go about it?
I think it would be possible to recover the project if the remaining tasks can be completed by pooling the most experienced individuals able to complete the tasks with greater efficiency and less resources. That sometimes can also require more money as you are paying individuals for their expertise as well. It may also be beneficial to see if there is another project that is under budget to supplement this one or if any remaining tasks can be shortened (a good PM would have accounted for some leeway in the initial planning process to account for such instances).
While it would be possible to recover this project and finish within expected budgets, it will come at a price. This is the concept of balancing the time and effort versus the cost and whether or not it is worth it to spend the extra money and time for a better final product. Being slightly behind or slightly over budget at the halfway point is not too much of a detriment as long as careful planning and considerations are taken moving forward. There might be extra places to cut costs that may have been previously overlooked or there might have been some unnecessary tasks to perform that will not impact the final product which can be cut out of the timeline. It is important that as the project manager, you are analyzing and seeing why there were these extra costs and delayed progress to begin with and to make sure that this is not happening in the remainder of the project. It is understandable that some of these problems that arise may have been inevitable but it is important that certain acts are taken from letting this problem affect the project further. Overall, it is important to make sure that even though the project may not be going exactly according to plan, it does not mean that the end product will be unsuccessful.
I think it is possible to get the project back on track as long as you have been able to identify what went wrong and why to mitigate the budget and time issues. Having a full scope of the project from that point on may allow for some corrections in areas while making sure your critical success factors are where they need to be. Larger errors can be corrected and fixed but if the project is too far off course you will surely not hit the main success factors that are important to your stakeholders.
It could still be possible to finish the project despite the issues with both the schedule and the budget. The fact that we are behind as well as over budget tells me that both time and money are being wasted or the expectations set at the beginning were severely flawed. To fix this the project must be reexamined from the beginning to try and reevaluate the situation and to assess and address the issues that led us to this scenario. Once we can do that we need to refocus the project taking to account what we learned from the first half towards achieving the goal in a more efficient manner.
In this week's lecture we learned about different aspects of monitoring and controlling a project and how anything can really be subject to change throughout the life cycle. Assume you are a project manager and you are at about the halfway point of the project. When going over the progress of the project, you notice that the Schedule Variance of the project is negative but not so much that it is irrecoverable, as well as the Cost Variance, meaning that the project is actually behind schedule and you are over the budget for the project. Is it possible to recover this project and finish within expected budgets, and if so, how would you go about it?
I'm one of those people who believes that anything is possible, it boils down to how much work one wants to put in to achieve possible.
I once heard Dolly Parton describe how she and her 11 siblings took baths in a one room house, and she said her mother taught the children, "wash down as far as possible, wash up as far as possible, and when the boys are gone, wash possible, [and vice versa with the boys]."
The way I would attack recovering the project would be to meet with the team, lay out the concerns, and strategize ways to get the project back on schedule. Then task out the work, and monitor the the work very closely.
I think most things in life are salvageable. In terms of the project management aspect, there are some steps one can take to revamp a failing project.
Refocus the Scope. Begin by going back to the defining documents, including your Charter, Statement of Work, and approved Change Requests, Draw Up the Schedule, Determine the Cost, Review Lessons Learned, Develop Alternatives, Admit Reality and Start Fresh.
Yes, I believe it is possible to recover a project that is behind schedule and over budget. As a project manager the first step to recovering the project would be to find the root cause of the schedule variance and cost variance. A thorough analysis can help pinpoint areas where corrective action is needed. Following the identification of the issues, the next step would be to review both the schedule and the budget to identify areas where the project can be expedited and costs can be reduced. After reviewing the schedule it may be best to prioritize the critical tasks of the project to ensure that the team is working on the most important tasks first. In addition, reassigning resources to the critical tasks will ensure that the right people are working on the right tasks at the right time, overall improving the efficiency of the project. Lastly, communication with the project's stakeholders during all of this is extremely important. Regular communication with stakeholders keeps them informed of the project's progress, risks, and opportunities for improvement. This will help build trust and support for the project, even during a stressful time. Overall these are just a few actions that are necessary to get a project that is behind schedule and over budget back on track, but it is important to remember that recovering a project requires commitment, collaboration, and persistence from the entire project team.
@ac825 made a great point. If the project is over budget and behind schedule there must be a disconnect amongst the team, improper management, or the initial plan was flawed. There are very seldom times where a project is ran successful without any obstacles along the way. Although the project may be able to salvaged another approach would be requesting and extension on the deadline and an increase in the budget.
The team may struggle to convince a customer on both but it is important that quality is a factor when making this decision. If a project is rushed or completed with little resources a medical device could be poorly made and put out in the market with potential risks to patients/consumers.
By preparing a contingency plan you are going to identify the problem and understand where the project stands. Once it is figured out, then we can determine the project status. So that we can understand what was done wrong and look for avenues to fix it, so we can be back on track even though we have overbudgeted the project. We might need to prioritize assignments so that way the main points of the project can be satisfied. And eventually, improve our expectations by achieving our goal successfully.
