Q&A: How do I get my project back on track?
How do I get my project back on track?
Despite our best-laid plans, projects often don’t run smoothly. Before we can begin to take steps to bring our project back on track, we need to understand why it went off the rails in the first place.
Assess the Challenges
A simple assessment can help us identify the specific challenges our project has faced. Working with your project team and any key stakeholders, consider:
What is “off track” about our project? Are we behind schedule? Are tasks not being completed? Are we not able to make decisions or reach a consensus?
What internal and external factors may be contributing to the issues we’ve identified? What dynamics within our project, organization, or environment may be causing these issues?
Has anything changed that impacted the project plan? How have these changes negatively impacted the project?
Brainstorm Strategies
Armed with a better understanding of why the project has gone off track, brainstorm strategies to address those challenges. Perhaps a revised timeline or a narrowing of the project scope will help get the project back on schedule. Maybe assigning or reassigning project roles or bringing in additional project team members will help address task accountability. Restructuring your approach to meetings or communication may help with decision-making.
Revise and Communicate
Incorporate these strategies into a revised project plan. Review your original plans, incorporating the insights gained from your assessment and brainstorming, and make the necessary revisions.
A crucial step is communicating these changes clearly to your team and key stakeholders. Consider a project reset meeting: bring everyone together to discuss the identified challenges, the strategies you'll use to address them, and the resulting changes to the project plan. This shared understanding can create buy-in and help ensure everyone is working from the same page moving forward.
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