Fix It or Forget It? Dealing With Troubled Projects
Abstract:
All too often, project challenges go unreported until it is too late to change course- which can have negative (and, in the case of U.S. Department of Energy research and development projects, very public) results. At the same time, the PMO (sometimes branded as the PM COP because it polices projects) is held accountable for reporting troubled projects to organization leadership. While some project failure is inevitable, the Project Management Coordination Office works toward a “culture of no surprises” for senior leaders and the public. This PMO minimizes the danger of failure by using an early warning system for risk in the companies and organizations that we fund. This session will demonstrate our tools, known as PRISM and P-Quest, which integrate regular reporting on health indicators with financial information to provide this early warning. The session will highlight our regular engagement and visits with project leads allow us to assist with issues or renegotiate terms. In addition, we’ll illustrate how to develop requirements for regular decision points that result in either increased oversight or the discontinuation of failing projects. Lastly, we will highlight the Independent Project Review, which enables our PMO to provide unbiased reviews that root out and resolve problems with projects. This session provides attendees with the tools to either fix troubled projects—which begins with the right project health information—or cancel them, which requires rigorous policies that direct discontinuation of projects.
Session Handout: IPR Guidelines
