A plan for
implementation of a performance management system had been placed on hold by administration
for two years. Then, just two months
prior to the beginning of the performance appraisal cycle, the administration
felt as though they wanted to move from a paper form to an online system. The typical implementation time was three
months. In addition to the compressed
timeline, the administration added another two business units to the
implementation plan. Scope creep is the
nicest way to describe how the project team’s responsibilities expanded.
To address
the challenges, the project team decided to divide the work by business units
to address the specific system requirements of that unit. This also allowed team members to be
dedicated to the needs of their particular stakeholder group. In retrospect, I would have created detailed
plans for the project even though it was placed on hold. This would have allowed me to meet the
challenge of a last-minute decision of the administration.
Jason
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ReplyDeleteJason, I fully sympathize with your frustration in being told it is on hold and then without advance notice it is reinstated. As project managers, we try to be as proactive in pre-planning as possible. It is a challenge to manage multiple projects, and when one is put on hold, we move on. There is no way you could have foreseen it in my opinion. If you had gotten the opportunity in the beginning before it went on hold, you could have drafted a project plan, but I am sure at the time other priorities were pressing.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar situation with a learning management system project. However, the difference was the number of upper-level hands involved tied my hands. Scope creep came into play even before it had a chance to materialize into a concept. This was largely due to personal agendas, i.e. upper-level managers wanting to have their say in what was developed or purchased without any collaboration from the subject matter experts (ISDs in this case). The challenge for me in this project was finding an expeditions way to get the numerous classroom-led courses into the learning management systems at an IMI Level 2 or higher.
It was so confusing and such a power struggle that the project was put on hold. Then after about four months, it was back on, but I had moved on to other priorities and was in full development of one. Like yours, we had no plan, just a mandate to make it happen. I ended up having to drop everything and begin testing of a LMS that was hand-picked by one upper-level manage who got his way. This just shows that we can’t always plan ahead; however, knowing that we should plan ahead is significant and puts you way above some project managers in expertise.
I will be following your blog
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