You were the project manager for a project that was just completed. There were s

Question

You were the project manager for a project that was just completed. There were schedule issues throughout the project and it ran over by three months. Management is anxious to move the resources on to new projects that are waiting for them. Your manager has directed you to skip the formal close out process because you are needed on a new project and because she feels the schedule issues had already been discussed at length. You do not say anything then but when you think about it later you realize that you disagree with the decision not to conduct a formal project close out and you need to voice your opinion to your supervisor. After considering the scenario, post your response to the following questions: What are the top three reasons that will convince your supervisor of the importance of conducting a formal project close out? Why did you choose those three? After considering your input your supervisor has asked you to propose an abbreviated closing process that includes the most critical steps. What solutions do you suggest? What are some of the pros and cons of conducting only an abbreviated project closeout process?

Explanation / Answer

The top three reasons are:

1. This will create a bad impression on the client that the project manager and resources were changed even before it was properly signed out.

2. Handover to a different team is a difficult process with many loop holes.

3. Morale degradation of the team, because they won't have a successful completion of project in their name.

These three options takes care of almost everything, a second party, the client and the team members and effect on the overall project.

The solution may include the following steps:

1. Formally close the current project.

2. Hand over the documentation process to other extra pulled in resources.

3. Pull in a few more resouces in the current project for non critical activities to hasten the project completion process.

4. Inform the other client about the delay and the truthful reason for the same. This will help in building trust and dependency.

Some pros and cons of an abbreviated project closeout process would be:

Pros:

1. Save on money for current project

2. Attend the next project early, earn from them too.

3. Gain new client's trust, as they won't have to wait for long.

Cons:

1. Current project handover may not be proper.

2. Additional resources don't have the ground knowledge of the project and hence maynot be able to deliver 100%

3. Invest time in new resources to make them understand things. This may slow down your work.

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