Should Food Poisoning Be Allowed To Ruin The Project

In the case study Food Poisoning Ruined The Project I presented a scenario where a single event disrupted a project.

But was the Project Manager at fault? Let us examine.

In my mind, the PM has only one job - Risk Management. Rest are all supporting activities. A conscientious PM thinks of risks to his/her project all the time. This is precisely why Project Management is a full time job. You cannot say, I also do project management.

There are only two parameters that any project should be evaluated against for success - (a) completion on time and (b) within budget. (Why am I not including quality as a parameter? I will get back to this sometime later. Some other post, perhaps.) Risk management has to ensure that all that which stops the project from achieving the goal is either eliminated or the effect considerably reduced. Not to anticipate your team members' sudden absence should be anticipated, particularly if the team member is critical. What mitigation action has to be taken for a given risk is, of course, context specific. There may or may not be a mitigation plan also. In those cases you accept the risk and its impact.

However, merely planning risks and the mitigation actions is not sufficient. The risks need to be communicated to all stake holders. (Stake Holders = all players who are effected positively or negatively by the project.) And regularly. Why regularly? Not because they care a damn about it - some do, but most don't. It just tells them that you are at the top of your job. You see, Project Management like all other aspects in like if a lot about posturing. When people see or think that you are diligently looking after the project, any unfortunate event will not result in a sharp reaction.

No one in their right mind can anticipate half the team falling ill at the time of delivery. But if you have communicated regularly to your stake holders, have mitigated all risks till now and have been meeting mid-term goals of time and cost, most customers and bosses are quite sympathetic and will even suggest a way out.

But what about this particular case. I would turn to the team. Of course, depends on how you have been handling the team till now. Have you taken the team along with you so far? Have you been fair with them? Do they consider you their leader? Opening up to the team and asking for solution is always a great approach - not too frequently though! The team might want to consider working round the clock. After all only two days are left. Once the team has committed itself, ensure that you are around. If they are working round the clock, you need to be there too. Not just to show (again posturing) that you are one of them, but also to ensure that the team gets adequate breaks, good supply of food and drinks (Not alcohol. That can wait) and generally ensuring that there is no breakdown of procedures (the desire to take short cuts at times of stress is great). Also keep the customer in the loop. Send him an e-mail (with a copy to your boss) telling him/her exactly what the team is doing to ensure successful completion of the project.

Remember! Golden opportunities arise from the darkest of hours