A project manager often holds a position of great importance within an organisation. Often the projects and programs entrusted to them, together with the large project budget which can be ill afforded will determine the future of an organisation. In return,

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Guest post by Susan de Sousa

The reality is that good project management resources are hard to come by. If you are fortunate enough to have more than one good resource on your project, then count yourself lucky. However this shouldn’t be a surprise.

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Guest post from Susan de Sousa

When you first start off in project management, spending time writing a contingency plan can seem like a complete waste of time. After all there are so many other things which appear to have a much higher priority, that planning contingency for risks which might never happen doesn’t seem like a good use of time.

I have to admit that I certainly fell into this category when I first started off, and in fact even having a risk log appeared to be an alien concept. Certainly when confronted by a sub-section of project managers who are process bound and spend an inordinate amount of time raising risks whilst developing ever more convoluted contingency plans, this can seem like a smart shortcut. However I have learned over 13 years of interim project management that project managers who avoid this completely are simply storing up problems for the future.

The key thing to remember is that simply doing this work will not give you any tangible additional benefit, in much the same way that simply having a risk log won’t help much either by itself. What is important is knowing how to raise the potential problems which really matter and then understand which of these could benefit from being mitigated. This is much harder than it sounds. Get it wrong and your whole delivery could be in jeopardy over something minor, which you overlooked.

Therefore the top 2 reasons for contingency planning are:

1. Successful Project Manager’s know that without this work, the delivery effort is essentially running on a wing and a prayer with the PM desperately hoping that nothing unforeseen occurs to derail it. Of course in these cases the worst always does tend to happen.

2. Top notch Project Manager’s know that by being smart and understanding what to concentrate on and prioritize, it is possible to ensure no matter what happens, you as the Project Manager look “good” and in total control of the delivery. This of course means that you as the Project Manager are in the ideal “win win” situation

Of course it is one thing to know that you should do contingency planning, it is a whole different ball game to be able to do it successfully. It is after all, something which is usually extremely time intensive; something which no Project Manager ever has the luxury of.

Therefore you need to really understand how to balance this work and make sure your efforts are effective enough, whilst not jeopardizing the future of the project, because you weren’t spending enough time controlling it.

Check out my-project-management-expert which provides you with all the information you must know in order to effectively project contingency plan, as well as explaining what is contingency planning

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When you come to initiating a project, determining the project scope can at the outset seem like an easy thing to do. After all everyone must be clear on what the project is delivering because otherwise there wouldn’t be project, right?

Sadly no. Accurately determining the scope of a project is one of the hardest tasks in initiating a Project. It may not seem so at the time. In fact at first glance it appears to be simplicity itself. However beware. Get this wrong or leave any possibility for “interpretation” and you will be well on the way to a flood of Change Requests and then the dreaded Project Failure.

Now many Project Managers think that the more vague they detail the project scope as, the better. Firstly it stops all the arguments with project stakeholders over scope and allows the project to actually get started. After all, at the initiation stage it is usually still unclear what the project is able to deliver, because requirements haven’t been documented yet. But the problem is that by doing this you are simply storing up numerous problems for the future.

For example, well meaning business stakeholders have a knack for changing their minds once the project initiates. By that I mean they keep demanding you deliver more functionality, but of course for the same budget and to the same timeframe. Unfortunately since the scope of the Project is vague, it’s virtually impossible for the Project Manager to insist that deliverables for the project have changed. It then becomes an uphill battle to fight against the constant scope creep.

To stop you getting into that position there are 5 steps you should follow. These are:

1. Insist on proper Business Stakeholder input from Day 1. Yes they will kick and scream but if the project doesn’t deliver, it’s your reputation on the line.

2. Ask the Business Stakeholders to tell you what they think the Project is delivering. Do this individually as it will make it clear where the differences of opinion are.

3. Once you have the high level information, move down into the detail of the deliverables. At this stage get the input of the Business Analysts and Development Teams so you can quickly clarify what is achievable in the timeframe.

4. Remember that what is Out of Scope for the project is possibly even more important than what is In Scope. So don’t overlook it.

5. When you have completed detailing the project scope, remember to pass it by the Business Stakeholders first, for their comments and feedback. Once you have their buy in, your project stands a good chance of delivering.

Of course there is much, much more, but at a high level following these steps will give you a chance of not falling at the first obstacle.

my-project-management-expert.com provides additional tips on how to complete the vital Project Scope Statement and deliver this by writing a Project Scope Statement in a Project Initiation Document. You will also find much more useful information there on how to deal with the whole complex area of Project Scope and ensure it doesn’t overwhelm your project or cause it to fail.

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