IT Consulting from the Trenches

WHEN YOU TAKE OVER A STALLED PROJECT

Unless a good reason exists, I like to share my lessons learned. There’s no point in repeating mistakes that can be avoided if only someone had told me so. I believe that strongly. If a better way exists, wouldn’t you like to know about it? I would, so the four steps outlined below are a succinct summary of points that I’ve learned work and, even better, work reliably.

A project is stalled if it is drifting along and nobody is working on it. Somebody decided that it needed to be dealt with. Kill it or finish it.

The author is a practicing PMP (Project Management Professional). For more information, visit the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Here are the steps and their order. Following the steps do not guarantee that you will successfully turn it around. The steps, however, are best practices that have been tested and proven to work and work well.

1. Take stock of the project. Determine the current status of the project against the schedule (time) and budget ($). Analyze the results. It will guide you to the items that need attention. Why it it behind schedule? Was the cause a process or resource?

2. Develop a plan. It may be that the original plan just stalled because the sponsors ran out of money. Or perhaps the sponsors changed their mind. Find out. If funding can resume then you may just need to restart the original plan. Start imagining the solutions as you uncover the reasons that stopped the project. Be creative but pragmatic in developing the plan. Your developed plan, when ready, should be presented to the stakeholders or the parties that have a stake in the outcome of the project. The stakeholders are often the same ones of the original stalled project.

3. Reducing the scope of the work or the desired outcome is the easiest way to restart a stalled project. For example, should less work be performed? Can the result or outcome be reduced in quantity (five instead of 10) and/or quality (two instead of three layers)? The sponsors who provide the resources (like money) may be more inclined to resume if they learn that a lesser version of the outcome is possible.

4. New sponsorship must be found. This is critical. The sponsors may be new or of the original group. Do as much as you can to ensure that the new sponsors are committed to the project. You must get this commitment in the form of a Project Charter. It formally creates a project. A true charter will include a section that authorizes the expenditure of resources on the project and explains how it will be done. The charter is signed by the sponsors. It is a legal document.

Congratulations! The charter marks the start of the un-stalling. It marks the start of a new project lifecycle. After your team receive the charter, start the planning in earnest.