How to manage unexpected, urgent projects.
Wearne, S, 2006. Managing unexpected urgent projects. Project Management Journal 37(5), 97-102.
Under normal conditions, project management practice should include examination of the proposed project in relation to desired objectives. It should include the assessment of scope, cost, and risk as a basis for an implementation plan and budget. But, what do project managers do when an unexpected project is thrust upon them and is so urgent that they have to implement it without any defined scope, plan or budget?
A recent article in Project Management Journal®, entitled Managing Unexpected Urgent Projects, by Stephen Wearne, PhD, of the University of Manchester, UK (December 2006 issue), summarized the critical methods and lessons learned from his study of six unexpected, urgent projects.
The projects included, among others, building “a deck structure spanning ruptured spans of a major highway bridge over a remote crocodile-infested river in Northern Australia in 7 ½ weeks”; restoring the “tracks, power, and signaling systems over 1 km of the U.K. East Coast main rail line in two weeks”; and seven months of post-disaster work to remove 1.6 million tons of rubble and a large-scale search-and-rescue effort, on the site of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.
Practices found in all of the projects studied showed some of the ways that unexpected, urgent projects were managed successfully.
- Assignment of full-time, temporary teams.Teams from the study included contractors and consultants, who were welcomed for their contribution to decision making and problem solving;
- Use of twinned leadership. Relationships with stakeholders, outside authorities, and the news media were handled by a sponsor executive while a project manager focused on project execution;
- Face-to-face decision making. Traditional, hierarchical procedures were replaced with regular meetings attended by top managers who had the authority to make cost-related decisions and oral commitments.
- Deployment of all available resources. Approved plans and budgets were developed during the work as the needs arose. Suppliers and contractors were employed as partners, which allowed all to focus on meeting needs rather than protecting against risks. Cost-based rather than price-based terms of payment were used in all contracts.
- Proactive communications. Challenges involving stakeholders and the media were anticipated early on by the teams. They established steering committees to agree on priorities, tasks, and roles and responsibilities.
- Support for teambuilding on-site. The value and necessity of building team relationships while the work was underway, was recognized by managers and stakeholders, since there was no time to address this issue in advance.
- Monitor changing perceptions of urgency. Cost, as a factor in up-front decision making, was suspended due to the urgency of the projects. However, as other priorities arose, project managers discovered that perceptions of urgency lessened over time. To avoid later criticism for inappropriate expenditures, project managers should be alert for changing perceptions and manage projects accordingly.
Project managers who consider these approaches and methods, and other findings explained in the article, may increase their success in managing projects under urgent or uniquely challenging conditions.
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