One of the basic tenets of project management is to have at all times a reliable view of the current situation – a reliable project cost model and schedule update. Alas, we realize in our consulting work that it is not so easy to do in particular for large, complex projects – and this makes any subsequent decision-making process highly unreliable. What are the basic health recommendations that need to be followed for getting a truthful picture of the project condition? Our new White Paper “Listen to the People! The Real Health Check of Updating Cost Models and Schedules of Large, Complex Projects” [2012-27] addresses this important issue for project organizations.
How reliable is your schedule update?
Updating a project schedule and cost forecast is not a solitary exercise; it requires to mobilize the knowledge of the project, which is spread among its members. Because large, complex projects involve large teams that can be spread over several locations it is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Still the underlying process is one of the rare processes that aims at collecting information spread in the organization, structure it in a consistent way and roll it up to give a clear information about the project status.
The main stumbling block for large, complex projects is the information collection process. It comes down to the challenge of formalizing the team’s informal knowledge.
It is not sustainable to drive a project with an inaccurate schedule and cost model. Project managers need to be particularly watchful to avoid this to happen. Read our new White Paper “Listen to the People! The Real Health Check of Updating Cost Models and Schedules of Large, Complex Projects” [2012-27] to know how.
