Individuals In A Country Are Pulled Away From Work On The Project Due To Local Needs

Many projects are initiated without sufficient communications with the locations that will undertake the work. The work then begins. People are assigned to the project by local management. Then they are pulled off of the project due to emergencies or other high-priority local work.

Impact

The effect of this is that the project suffers from the lack of team members. However, there are other potential impacts. First, the project leader may not be informed that a person has been pulled off. Maybe, it was felt to be temporary. The project leader was not on top of what the team members were working on. Second, the effect can cascade if people in different locations are removed from the project.

Prevention

Local management may not have been aware of the importance of the project. Certainly, it is often the case that local middle management may not know about the project. If they do, it might seem remote. If you are going to mount an international project, you must visit each location to determine local issues and conditions prior to the project. Then you will need to establish communications to get an early warning of a problem.

Action

If this occurs, then you can be assured that it will happen again. Action should be taken in terms of establishing communications with all locations. There should be a weekly review of resources allocated to the project. Local management need to be encouraged to present potential staffing demands.