I recently ran into a situation in the current field project that really set back my promoting of the event. Almost two and a half weeks ago, I reached out to the human resource department of my company to first confirm that I am allowed to advertise and promote the event and the charity. Secondly I wanted to see if I could generate donations by hosting a jeans day for those that donated. And lastly, I wanted to see if the organization would help sponsor and contribute or match the funds raised from the jeans day to help out the cause. At first a week went by so I decided to follow up with the HR person that I forwarded the request to, she confirmed that she had passed along the email to two different parties in the company, one to the HR personnel that helps to facilitate social events such as this, and the other to the secretary department of the company executives to gain approval. By the second week, I followed with my contact and was simply given the number to the HR personnel and I could sense that something was wrong. I contact the person in charge of social events and was told that the company would not be able to help support the cause due to potential liability reasons.
This was highly disappointing, but even worse was the all the time wasted in waiting for the organizations response. In order to pick up the pace and get back on track, I reached out to the internet to search for the best ways to recover the lost time and progress forward. I found many articles to have some really interesting tips, but also realized that not all strategies were feasible or applicable. I have listed a few that were on almost every list and that I consider to be the most helpful:
- WORK OVERTIME: It’s not the most ideal suggestion, but it is the most logical one, especially in a time crunch. If you work more hours, you can get more done. Just like any work detail or school assignment, when you are hard pressed for time, you typically work long hours non-stop to reach your mark.
- REDEFINE PRIORITIES: A strong project manager has to be aware and on top of everything that is going on. It is even better to be able to anticipate setbacks and mitigate risk. Once the project manager identifies that an output is not proceeding in a timely fashion, he/she should be able to go back to the drawing board and start considering what changes the can make to the scope or the critical path and still receive the end result originally desired.
- REALLOCATE RESOURCES: Once the project manager is aware of the deficiency in time, he/she must take a step back and re-prioritize the schedule. When done, the project manager can see if there are any available resources they can pool from the activities that are not on the critical path to help resolve the issue. These resources can be either tangible tools, software, funds, or human capital.
- REQUEST ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: If at all possible, it would be great if you can get more money or more time. One way to do so is to evaluate your budget and see if there is any wiggle room. If not, it could be worth a shot to bring your issues to the stakeholders, with properly detailed results, appropriate the problem, and devise a well-defined solution that can be solved with the resources you are requesting. The request has to be reasonable, and the problem should be dyer enough to gain the attention it deserves.
- COUNT YOUR LOSES: If all else fails, the project manager needs to be able to take the hit and count its losses. In certain situations, what’s done is done and there is no way you can extend the deadline. In those cases you just have to accept the time wasted, restructure the time you have left and make the most with what you have. If you are proactive and productive enough, you can make due and possibly get to s result without anyone even knowing about your hiccup.
I hope these suggestions are helpful. Please feel free to weigh in on your thoughts, techniques that have worked well for you, and even share the ones that have not.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-ways-to-get-a-slipping-project-back-on-track/
http://cobaltpm.com/5-ways-to-recover-from-a-project-setback/