Imagine the situation whereby you are placed in the middle of a running project, and once you take over you found out that the project is running in crisis. What would you do in this situation? Don't be panic, you are not alone. Almost all seasoned project managers would have faced this situation.
The first thing you need to do is to find out from your project sponsor(s) on what is the desired state of the project today and the final state when the project can be considered as successful. Have a one-on-one session with your project sponsors and main stakeholders to assess the situation and to learn their expectation to the project.
Secondly, you might also want to have one-on-one sessions with your project team to understand their view on the situation and the difficulties they faced before in running the project. The sessions can be followed by a team meeting to get everyone on the same page. It is very important to hear from both sides (your sponsors and your team) as they might share different understanding on the situation.
Once you are on top of the situation, the next thing to do is to revisit the plan and negotiate with your project sponsors on re-baselining the plan (schedule, budget, scope, quality). You will also need to bravely negotiate with your sponsors on the additional resources you need to successfully deliver the project.
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| Picture credit: Peggy_Marco |
I know that putting this on paper is much easier than actually doing it. Trust me, I was in the situation for several occassions and as long as you show confident that you are going through the right path, there is no doubt you will lead the project out of crisis.
Edwin
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