Delaying a Project

There will come a time in every organization when someone proposes that a project, specifically your project, be cut. Your hands will get sweaty, your gut will develop a sinking feeling, and you won’t sleep well at night. Your poor, poor, project! The one you’ve invested months of your life in, the one you’ve inspired your project team to work so hard for, and the one you’ve sold management on how valuable it will be to the company. Sooner or later, one of your projects may face its demise.

There is, however, a tactic that you can try to save your project from being cut from the company’s plans altogether: convince the company to delay, not cut. Delaying a project is different from cutting a project. A delay is a nod from management that your plan is still active, still worthy, and will be resurrected at some point in the future.

The typical cause of healthy projects being cut is a lack of funds. Is your business experiencing a downturn? Are layoffs imminent? How’s your stock doing? These are all signals that a project cut may be visiting your team in the near future. Management has a responsibility of managing their project portfolio. If your project is low in priority, it’s not difficult for management to give it the axe. Some project managers, when they sense these changes coming, will commit as many funds available to the project immediately to secure the implementation of the technology. For example, a project manager is leading a project to upgrade servers over the next eight months when he senses cuts may be looming. Rather than being stuck with a project without servers, he immediately orders all of the hardware necessary to finish his plan.

If this sounds sneaky to you, that’s because it is. This is not a good project management technique because

It does not follow the project plan or the project budget.
The hardware may be present, but the team may not be available to implement it.
It is a waste of the company’s money as the technology purchased today may drop in prices over the upcoming months.
If management wanted to rescind approval of the plan, they have final say.
It is a reaction to gossip, and not to facts.

You should continue on your project until you are told the project has been halted. There is nothing wrong with talking to your project sponsor about the possibility of your project being cut if you two have a strong working relationship. When the word comes that your project is to be halted, first find out the reason the project must be stopped. If the reason is financial, and usually it is, make a request to change the project status to inactive rather than retired. Make a request to revisit the project in three to six months or after certain conditions are met to reactive the project implementation.

Once the project has been officially delayed, edit the project to formalize the three-to-six month delay. You will then have to break the news to the project team. Share with the project team the same reasons you were given, if you’re allowed, as to why the project has been delayed and when the project will reconvene. Make backup copies of any current work done on the project and store them for safekeeping.

Coping with Vendor Delays

If you have outsourced all or a portion of your project, you may be faced with a vendor that cannot complete tasks according to the original schedule. In these instances, you will have to be stern, diplomatic, and reasonable all at once. Some methods you can use to work with vendors:

Review your contract with the vendor to determine what repercussions you may have.

Review their practices and recommend methods they can implement to improve the lagging schedule.

Clearly identify to vendors the impact of the delay on the project scope and the completion date.

Once a compromise has been reached, share this news with management and the project’s customers.

Rebuilding Management Support

Here you are in front of management. Your project is a month off schedule and your budget is nearly gone. You need more time and you need more money to finish. Gulp. If you’ve blown the opportunity to complete the project, don’t be surprised if you are removed from the project. Sorry. But wait a minute, is this really your fault? Well, there is that whole poor planning results in poor implementation argument, but let’s take the benefit of the doubt. Has the project scope changed? Have crucial members of your team left the project? Did you ever really have enough money to begin with?

If you are not to blame, things can be a little easier. Of course, management doesn’t want to hear the bad news about your late project and the lack of cash to finish it, but someone has to tell them. The best method is to cut to the chase and tell management what the problem is. Prepare this ahead of time and document your needs. You do not want to go before the company board, the partners, or an executive committee without some plan to present to them. Never go to management with a problem unless you also have a solution. Management is looking for value and solutions in their day—not your project problems.

Tell management what the problem is in clear, direct terms. Then, in equally clear terms, explain why the problem has occurred. If it was your fault, say so—honesty is always the best policy. If the problem has presented itself because of the project scope being changed, or other circumstances clearly outside of your control, let management know—with your supporting evidence.

Once you’ve broken the harsh news and presented the honest, direct reason why the problem has arisen, present a plan to resolve the issue. You are now selling management the sizzle of the project once again. Remind management of the value of this project, the investment it means for the organization, and of the time and dollars already committed to progress the project to this point. While the monies that have been invested are sunk costs, it’s hard to ignore the commitment invested into a project.

If these executives agree to continue to support your project, you will now have to rebuild their trust. To rebuild their support, you will have to prove to them that you are capable of leading the project team to the conclusion of the project. You’ll have to prove to them that you are capable of managing their investment. And finally, you’ll have to prove to yourself that you are capable of finishing this project after all you’ve been through thus far.

To begin once more, meet with your project team and discuss why and how things got off track. Look for reasons why you let down the team, or the team members let each other down. Address these issues and then promise they won’t happen again. You’ll need to return to your WBS and the PND to determine what tasks are lagging and how the team can regroup and attack the plan with gusto once again.

Focus and Refocus

Okay, your project has changed either through internal or external forces. You’ve made changes to the project plan, worked out details of the change, and are ready to move forward with the project. Put the frustration of the project change process behind you, rally your troops, and charge ahead into the project plan.

You now have to take on the role of an even more active project manager and ensure that the team is not discouraged with the change of the project plan. You will need to speak with the team members that the change has the most impact on to ensure their commitment and ongoing support.

You will also need to increase your level of communication between the team members and management. You want to keep all parties informed of the process of the project and your continued dedication to it. Some project managers are tempted to keep a low profile after the change process—either out of embarrassment or frustration. Hiding it is not a good decision, as now you need to be seen and heard.

Renewal of Commitment

A change in the project plan, whether your fault or not, requires a change in you as well. After one of the most frustrating aspects of project management, changing the plan, you need to rekindle your excitement for the original project vision. Often, especially on long-term projects, it’s easy to drift away from the excitement that surrounded the first few team meetings, the kickoff meeting, and reaching the first milestone.

The fact is, the business of project management is not always the most exciting business. But, the day-in, day-out tasks and review of work completed and work that needs completing are what gets the project from an elaborate plan on a whiteboard to a living portion of a business. Rekindle the excitement, renew your commitment to the project, and lead your team to victory!