Rescuing a Failing Project

It is never easy to recover a failing project. There is a lot to consider and a lot of work, but there are 4 basic stepping stones that you can follow to help get the project back on track.

Investigate
Find the problem, if you do not know what is wrong you cannot start to plan how to fix the problem. This could take a lot of digging around, you will have to ask a lot of questions to find the root cause, talking to the project team, sponsors and end users. It could be because of a rigid schedule set by the customer, politics within the IT department, budget is too low. The list of possible reasons is long and it is up to you find which one(s) is(are) responsible.

Talking
With the problem identified it is time to talk to the people involved to develop the plan to recover the project. This could be difficult especially if the people you are talking to are involved at some level with the problem. Be frank, focus on the problem, not the people, and if necessary have a facilitator, who will have all the facts at hand. Remember this is not about finger pointing but finding a solution to the problems and putting life back in the project.

Implementation
After all the discussion and , if necessary, banging of heads together you will have the solution. This solution will be well documented and shared to the members of the project team. The documentation will have the answers to all questions, what the changes are, if there are baseline adjustments, budget alterations, objectives reduced, what it takes. This part of the recovery needs to be well thought out and clearly communicated. Remember you need to have everyone on board, confusion can be counter productive.

Re-baseline
The recovery processes of the project needs to written into the baseline so it is part of the project. The re-baselining should take into account the recovery date and tasks, as the recovery is now part of the project. This is also an excellent time to re-evaluate the whole project, determine if anything needs to be changed or updates to insure the project succeeds.

It is a difficult task to fix a project, a lot of research, discussion and making tough decisions, but this is part of the project manager’s job, and if you want a successful project it is all worthwhile.