PROJECT MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTAL PROJECT
Scenarios and Situations
Discussing real-life problem scenarios is a very effective learning activity.
There often is no right or wrong answer to situations or scenarios. What is beneficial
though is having insight into how you go about making project management
decisions, remembering that planning for these situations in advance will help you
perform better, and in discussing the consequences of your decisions.
In the daily tumult of project management, our attention is inevitably focused on what
we’re deciding while how we’re making those decisions usually goes without notice or
consideration. Practicing realistic situations and scenarios can significantly improve on-
the-job performance because it helps you build values, philosophies, and good thinking
processes that can help you make good decisions more quickly in the future.
Situation – Unavailable Stakeholder
Penny is a project manager working at a company that does custom software
development. She is working on a software development project where the team has
completed the design specifications for a new application and received approval from
the client to begin development on the project. During the first stages of development,
she discovers that some elements of the design are not compatible with the client’s
existing infrastructure and decides the team must discontinue further development until
she can review the design issues with the customer.
She has attempted to contact the customer numerous times but has been unsuccessful
in scheduling a meeting. The customer has multiple other projects in progress and
travels frequently. To make matters worse, he does not return phone calls until late in
the evening. His last message to her stated that she should be able to figure out a
solution because that is what he is paying her for and he doesn’t have time for these
“trivial matters”.
There is a penalty clause in the contract that provides for a substantial penalty for
missed milestones so this is very concerning situation for the project manager.
What actions can be taken to manage this situation?
Situation – Stakeholders Expectations
On the last couple of projects Sam thought everything was going great, until the end,
when project stakeholders surprised him with negative feedback.
For example, he recently had an 8-month new residential complex design project where
he had monthly stakeholder meetings. All of these meetings went very well, he thought
it was all smooth sailing…until the last meeting, which was the project closure meeting.
Throughout the project, the stakeholders were all very amiable and polite, signing off on
everything that he presented, including project change orders. The meetings usually
ended by the sponsor thanking him for the good work he’d been doing. However, in the
final meeting, when he turned over the final project deliverables and announced that the
project was done, he asked for their final feedback. It was as if he was talking to
different people. They didn’t agree that the project went well and they criticized his
management of the whole project from the start.
This didn’t just happen once, however, it happened in similar ways on his last two
projects as well.
This has shaken his confidence. What is making them change their attitude at the end?
When he asks his peers about this, they say suggest they must have been unhappy the
whole time, but just didn’t communicate it. Why can’t stakeholders be trusted for honest
feedback during the project? Is this a normal problem for other project managers? Why
are stakeholders doing this?
Situation – No Authority
Doaa’s projects span organizational departments. She finds herself relying on people
whom she has no authority over. She often has difficulty enlisting them as accountable,
enthusiastic team members. This is hurting her projects and making her rather
frustrated.
The project manager knows she is not going to be given organizational authority over all
of these people. What can she do to make this work?
Situation – Rushed Decisions
New government regulations in the area of privacy has dictated a new project
addressing privacy of customer records across their support services portfolio. The
project team is overworked and the project decisions they are faced with can be
controversial and difficult. Lately when the team gathers for meetings to make important
decisions they feel rushed for time. Although none of them want to admit it, their project
decisions are often rubber stamped or treated as unimportant just so that they can
move on and get out of the meeting.
Since this has happened repeatedly on this project they are all feeling disgusted with
themselves as well as demoralized. They are the project management “team” and they
will all be held accountable for the success of the project. However, at this rate none of
them truly thinks it will end successfully due to the poor decisions that have been made
and continue to be made.
Situation – Abrasive Team Member
Mary comes into the project manager’s office very upset and insists that one of the
other project team members, Sam, is creating very bad chemistry on the team and must
be taken off this project. Sam knows his stuff and his work quality is very good.
However, the abrasive way he delivers his frequent unsolicited technical input and
feedback to others is creating friction on the team and distracting them from what they
have to do.
“He’s gotta go”, Mary insists, “immediately!” As the project manager listens to Mary’s
complaint, it occurs to him that he has absolutely no other work for Sam to do if he is
taken off this project. However, Sam’s project deliverables have been highly praised by
the project’s sponsor. What should the project manager do?
Situation – Unclear Scope
As the project team is planning the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and work
assignments, there is a lot of disagreement about what work is actually to be included in
this particular project. For example, when issues of software testing, user training, and
documentation came up, some people thought these things should be part of the project
while others thought that since the customer didn’t specifically ask for it that it should
not be included.
Also, as the project team creates the WBS, some deliverables listed in the scope
statement still have a great deal of confusion regarding specifications – which can
greatly affect how much work is involved. Also, in this WBS creation meeting, the team
has some new creative ideas for the project that would add some work but would also
be very valuable.
The schedule deadline and the budget are clearly specified. What should the project
manager do to clarify the scope?
Situation – Deadline Change
Eva is a project manager who has been working on a single large project for a year.
She received a call from her project’s sponsor Jonathan. The two of them have a good
business relationship. They are exactly 2 months away from the project’s hard deadline
and Jonathan wants the deadline bumped up by 3 weeks.
He says it is due to an unforeseen market change and it is critical – so much so that the
project will be worthless if it is not received by the new deadline. Eva knows that
meeting this new deadline will be particularly challenging due to some personal
vacations and training plans that her project team members already have planned
during this timeframe. What should she do in this situation?
