From the course: Project Management Foundations

How to get a project back on track

From the course: Project Management Foundations

How to get a project back on track

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- If your project goes off the rails, it's time to figure out how to get it back on track. The approach you choose and how you get permission depend on several factors. If your project is behind schedule, you can look at techniques like fast tracking, crashing, and assigning overtime to pull the finished date earlier. When cost is over budget, you might consider less expensive resources or reducing other types of costs. As a last resort, you might think about reducing scope because it can shorten the schedule and reduce cost. Start with solutions you can authorize, that way you don't have to ask permission to make changes. For example, you might shuffle task assignments to complete work more quickly or at lower cost without affecting anyone outside the project. No need to ask for approval. Go ahead and reassign. If you don't have enough authority to implement a solution, ask your customer or stakeholders for approval. Lengthening the schedule, increasing the budget, and reducing scope usually require an okay from the customer sponsor or management team. When you ask for approval, present your recommendations along with the pros and cons of each one, and be ready to answer questions about the solution you recommend and the ones you ruled out. When your organization runs many projects, you might have to go beyond your project stakeholders. For example, if you need contingency funds or people from other projects, you'll probably have to ask the management team for those. No matter how well you manage your projects, they'll go off track from time to time. Don't panic. Evaluate your options and ask for help effectively. The scheduling project in the exercise files is behind schedule. Based on the background provided, choose an approach to shorten the remaining schedule, and identify who you will ask for permission.

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