The final tasks and the final stages ….
On most of the projects (which are overrun), the project team and the project manager realize they are not prepared to complete the project on schedule and then the project manager looks for ways to speed up the process to complete the job on time, which usually means additional hours, nights, and weekends.
As a successful project manager, the secret of controlling the final stage of the project (and nailing it to finish) is to control your emotions, the project team, and any other vendors who are part of the project. If the team looking at you to complete the work see you losing control, getting angry or even compromising on quality, they’ll do the same. Cool heads always prevail.
When you find yourself in a similar situation, here’s what should be done:
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Communicate with the team members, but don’t get in the way of their completing tasks. If you call in frequent meetings, ask them to attend frequent calls, or if they get diverted in any other way, chances are they might loose focus and this may effect the outcome of the project directly
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As a leader, remain cool and collected. Set the example for your team, think clearly and think quickly.
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Get more organized, get things together and make sure minor issues related to team members are taken care of.
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Make sure the team is willing to spend quality time in the last stages. It’s tempting to have the entire team on the final phases of an implementation, but as the entire team wears down, the quality of the work definitely suffers.
As a project manager / team leader, be prepared to work the hardest in the final days of a project’s implementation, if the project is off schedule even by just a few days.
May 21, 2007
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Rahul Desai · 
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Posted in: Project Management, Software Engineering
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