#PMP #PPM #project #Agile #cybersecurity #bitcoin #ai #SAFe #zerotrust #virtual #mindmap #remote #COVID19 #scaledagile #creative
  • Welcome
  • Contact
  • Resume
  • Expertise
  • Blog
  • Books / White Papers
  • Software / Service Reviews
  • Mentoring Contact Form
  • This Week in PM
  • PM Video Series
  • Awards/Recognition
  • Templates & Downloads
  • Clients
  • Professional Services
  • Past Survey Results

Defensive Project Management - Good or Bad?

4/21/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
As project managers, we expect to need to act proactively, aggressively, and yes, reactively on our projects. We make decisions to move forward with. We need to be innovative. Think of our project customers and what they may be needing. How to succeed on that next set of very difficult tasks.


Think defensively? Hmmm...when would that come in to play? That doesn't seem like confident, aggressive, problem solving project management, does it?


The reality of it is, we must manage our projects both offensively and defensively in order to be successful. We must manage offensively as we continually look for ways to cut hours on our project, deliver a phase or complete a task earlier to make up for lost time in the schedule, and look for innovative ways to provide for and serve our customer to keep their satisfaction level high throughout the engagement. But we must also manage defensively because issues always come up on every project and on some of those projects they can be catastrophic. You’ll never be able to predict them, so just be prepared.


Here are four defensive practices that I recommend every project manager incorporate into how they manage their projects…’just in case’…


Always get approval and formal signoff. Always remember, a handshake or a verbal agreement just isn’t enough. If it’s important to the project, then it needs a signature. If it’s important work that you’ve delivered, then it needs formal approval. Because at the end of the day (or at the end of the project), if there’s any dispute over anything – especially a monetary dispute - and the customer is coming back to say you did not deliver satisfactorily on something, having a formal approval from the customer for your deliverables will effectively close the issue. Get signoff when things are delivered and when everyone is happy so you don’t have to fight battles later on if the project and the customer relationship turns sour.


Keep records and document the important stuff. You want everything to go well, but there’s no guarantee. And since more projects fail than succeed, the odds aren’t with you. Plus, there’s no guarantee you’ll see the project through to completion. You may not gel with the customer and they may want a different project manager. That’s the bad scenario. Or you may get pulled off to another project – maybe a more important project. That’s the good scenario. Either way, having all of your project status reports in order, having a history of your project schedule that you’ve been updating through your web-based project management software, and making sure that issues lists, risks lists, and budget forecasting is up-to-date will definitely cast a positive light on you to senior management and the customer in either scenario. You will have made it much easier to onboard the next project manager as you leave the project. Very positive.


Always keep the project schedule up to date and in the proper detail. Just as you need to document everything and keep several iterations of the status reports and hold on to all project deliverables for future reference or handoff, it’s also very important to keep the project schedule up-to-date and in as fine of detail as possible. A well-maintained project schedule is often your best defense when you’re trying to combat unplanned or out of scope work. If you’re shooting from the hip, you won’t be wise to the extra effort that your developers are putting in to some ‘small request’ that the customer slipped to them during some informal design review. But if you’re managing the project tasks and timeframe tightly with a well-documented project schedule from your online project management software, then you’ll quickly recognize that extra work when tasks start taking longer than you originally planned. And by catching it quickly that way, you’ll help keep your project budget on track because the extra work either won’t be charged to it or the project budget will go up when you negotiate change orders for the additional customer requests.


Send your project status reports up the chain of command in your organization. Finally, act defensively by including your senior management on your normal status reporting distribution. And be sure to include your latest up-to-date project schedule from your project management software. If your company leadership has your project information in front of them every week – whether they are looking at it or not – they have no excuse to be surprised if issues arise. If you’re project is up against a wall and needs new technology, more funding, or additional resources, it will be much easier to defend yourself and your need if you can say to the CEO, “I’ve been sending you my status report every week so you can see the issue escalations and you can see the need was become greater.” Try it – you won’t be disappointed.


Summary / call for input


These four practices aren't going to guarantee success on any project. That's not what these practices are for. But they will help you be accountable and show accountability for the areas you are responsible for. And if there is ever any question as to whether you and your team acted responsibly, these practices will help document that you did.


What about our readers? What do you think of this list? What would you add to it? What are your thoughts on defensive project management and do you have any horror stories to share where these practices may have helped?

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author:

    Picture

    Brad Egeland


    Named the "#1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World," Brad Egeland has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, consultant and author.  He has written more than 8,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide.  If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him. Want your content on this blog and promoted? Contact him. Looking for advice/menoring? Contact him.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.