Taking Over A Troubled Project

A few weeks ago I was asked to take over a project from another project manager. The project was troubled and the key stakeholders were incredibly frustrated. There was no solid plan in place. The execution activities were initiated and there are problems with the product that has frustrations boiling over. I knew the first thing to do was to begin building a relationship with the sponsor, project team and key stakeholders.  I began to interview each one to understand the scope of work from their perspective and understand their frustrations. I would end every conversation with “what are your pain points with this project and what can we do better?”. There is a phycology aspect to this approach. People want to be heard and this is a first step toward developing trust with your team.

After interviewing the team I established the ground work for turning the project around.  These activities would be initiated in parallel due to the urgency in getting the project moving forward:

1. Identify roles and responsibilities

2. Confirm the scope of work and project priorities.

3. Develop a new plan; project schedule

4. Document project issues and create a framework to prioritize issues; assign ownership and establish target dates to complete.

5. Begin to document project risks and establish risk mitigation plans.

6. Improve project communications and meeting structures to create more efficiencies.

This approach has already begun to provide results. The project team has more confidence in the new structure and the project management efforts. A plan is being developed and their concerns are being addressed.

An update to the progress of this effort will be provided soon…..