Project planning: how to deal with the unexpected?
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Estelle Barthes
Content manager
October 27, 2022
6 min
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According to Wiki-Teamwork, 70% of projects tend to fail : deadlines not respected, budget exploded, frustrated and demotivated teams... The study Pulse of the Profession 2018 of the Project Management Institute (PMI), points the finger at 3 main managers: the changing business priorities during the project (39%), the change of objectives of the project (37%), as well as a multitude of unsuitable requirements (35%).
Statistics that last a while... but who remain surmountable ! At Napta, we've put together several best practices for you that are worth applying during your project planning. Thanks to our advice, your projects will have a 99% chance of succeeding without a hitch! 😊
Dealing with the unexpected is Get out of denial and Agree to face it during your project. All staffing managers will confirm it to you: no matter how much you work with the best people and talents in the company, no team is immune to a slowdown or a blunder. Sick leave, absent service provider, misunderstanding an order... There are many reasons that can delay a project and put your project planning in difficulty.
The one who wears the hat of Staffing manager therefore has no choice: he must plan, plan, and reschedule.
The first objective of the staffing manager, even before building the devices, is to take stock of the resources allocated to him to carry out project planning. Being well equipped means putting every chance on your side to communicate with all stakeholders and ensure that you can cope in the event of a slippage or unexpected event.
Your Staffing tool, whatever it is, should allow you to:
One Good project planning Ask the staffing manager to deal with the expectations of employees and the needs of managers.
The manager's mission is toBe the eyes and ears of the staffing manager. As soon as he is aware of an unforeseen event, he must alert the manager by, for example, requesting a change of staffing quickly. The manager therefore has an essential role: that ofAlert and limit breakage in case of unforeseen circumstances, so that the manager intervenes quickly on the project planning. It must therefore have more visibility on the resource pool, as well as sSuggest a solution to the staffing manager.
For his part, the staffing manager Must have a spotting scope in your pocket, to always take an informed look at current projects. Thanks to this global visibility, it checks the progress of each stage of the project, the occupancy rate of each collaborator over the coming weeks and months, to avoid an imbalance (over-staffing the same profiles for example). It must be picky as for the distribution of the staffing load on a position, a grade, a BU, a skill... To find the best staffing solution.
The staffing manager must therefore access forecast data updated in real time on the workload and positioning of employees. He thus gains in flexibility, being able to make a quick decision. In addition, access to this data allows limit the risks of a bad decision, made on the basis of erroneous data.
For example, it is not uncommon in the world of staffing that an employee cannot continue his missions on the current project. The staffing manager can, due to a lack of information or errors, involve a new collaborator and include him in his project planning. However, the latter is sometimes not also available... The risk? A conflict situation, a cascading slippage... for a project that is in bad shape. 😔
Successful management of the unexpected is above all An unexpected event that causes little stir ! The role of the staffing manager is to Make it go unnoticed, without storm, with team members and customers. He must adopt a positive attitude during its project planning, in order to To reassure and to galvanize its teams on a daily basis. If the project starts to take an unexpected turn, we recommend that staffing managers:
It is possible to carry out a project from start to finish. But succeeding in a project without having had a single unexpected event is difficult. miracle. The most difficult part of project planning is not managing to meet deadlines, or keeping your teams motivated. The most difficult thing is not necessarily to deal with the unexpected, but toLearn to deal with. It is imperative that the staffing manager above all keep his optimism And a big flexibility In his Staffing management, in order to manage its teams on all projects combined.
Do you want to go deeper into the subject? We have lots of resources at your disposal to help you go further.
In addition to this subject, find our white paper”The keys to an optimal staffing process”.
Also discover our guides, templates and checklists in the Resources tab.
See you soon at Napta!
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