{"id":3660,"date":"2010-01-18T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=3660"},"modified":"2010-01-17T10:21:19","modified_gmt":"2010-01-17T17:21:19","slug":"the-bump-in-the-night-1-of-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=3660","title":{"rendered":"The Bump in the Night (1 of 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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via Flickr by James Jordan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are you prepared to cope when things go bump in the night?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As project managers we have become proficient in transforming the project charter (in whatever form we get it) into a project plan (hopefully, including some risk management) and then charging through plan execution to closure.\u00a0 But, what happens when thing go bump in the night during execution?\u00a0 Have you prepared for a discontinuity? I’m talking about the metaphorical equivalent of the plan dropping off the edge of the earthquake damaged bridge.\u00a0 More specifically, something like Apollo 13, an onboard explosion that instantly trashed the entire project’s plan and requiring some heavy-duty problem solving and decision making to create a new plan in short order (if the astronauts are to make it back alive).\u00a0 NASA didn’t have this scenario in their risk management plan, much less having a mitigation plan.\u00a0 Yes, I know this is an extreme example and most of us don’t work on projects where people’s lives hanging in the balance, however, some of us have managed projects were the organization’s future is at risk.\u00a0 It is only when we are prepared for the worst, or at least something worse then you will ever see, does everything else seem easy.<\/p>\n

Now that I have your attention by setting the extreme boundary of the topic, let’s take a look at our project teams and think about a few thing that may be taken for granted or just not considered, at the outset.\u00a0 Things that may help us shine, even in everyday situations, because we are mentally prepared.<\/p>\n

Project Management 101, with the PMI PMBOK\u00ae as its underpinning; have taught us the methodology for putting together a good project plan, executing that plan and bringing in a successful project.\u00a0 No problem, with a good plan and team of SMEs (subject matter experts) we can sleep at night.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Sometimes.<\/p>\n

Even with a solid project plan created through your competent leadership and active participation of an outstanding team of SMEs, have you ever stopped to think about all the problems that get solved and all the decisions that get made in the course of executing the plan, most of which were never considered or documented as part of the planning process, even if you did risk management?\u00a0 Some are at the day-to-day level of individual SMEs, while others may require the involvement of senior executive management, and all points in between.\u00a0 What will the effect of any one of them be on the overall project effort and outcome?\u00a0 Some are constraint changing, other plan stopping, and many go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

In the posts that follow we will consider three items the PM should be concerned with:<\/p>\n