Here is my takeaway #31 from one of the most useful practical books in my field, “Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager”:
31) “An expert said, ‘All customers want their jobs finished on time and on budget–or preferably faster and cheaper. But if they can’t have that, and sometimes they can’t, what they really want is to be kept informed along the way.”
“The Overall Project Health checkboxes act like traffic lights, so you need to determine if each deliverable is green (on target), yellow (at risk), or red (in danger)”
Note: This comes from Chapter 6 “Monitoring and Controlling the Project: Keep Your Sanity or Lose Your Mind?” (pages 167, 169)
_______________
STORY TIME:
When independent contracting I always lead with the Scope Triangle. In one of my first projects, I was creating a system for gathering knowledge and building decision trees for multiple processes for a Call Center. We had determined a fixed budget, with intermittent resource availability, and 40 hours’ worth of work. Interestingly, while the employer wanted it done as soon as possible, it was dependent on freeing up the subject experts from other priorities to consult with. The project duration was 1 month, but that worked out for all of us.
I remember diligently keeping track of more project management documentation than was probably necessary, but I didn’t charge for that or for the meetings with the project team and stakeholders, time tracking reports and other business dealings. It was a great opportunity for me to put independent project management into practice and gain invaluable learning. And my hourly rate was sufficient for the excess time spent on the project anyhow.
I made it a point to keep everyone informed of our progress and kept up great conversations with the team and stakeholders in between other work we were all doing. I can attest that keeping people in the loop goes a long way toward keeping everyone satisfied and keeping the project at the top of everyone’s minds.
_______________
I have touched on Responsibility and Accountability frequently in previous article posts. Consulting and Informing can be equally important. The RACI chart is one tool I highly recommend taking full advantage of. It’s also wise to use a Project Status Report with the red, yellow, green light signals to keep a pulse on the health of your project and keep stakeholders aware if help is needed.