Part IV

Managing the Realities of Projects

In my 20-plus years of running my own project management consulting practice I have encountered two types of projects that deserve special mention. The first is distressed projects. These have largely been ignored in the literature. There is one book on the market, and it was published in 2001. The other is multiple team projects. These projects are often encountered in large organizations or organizations that have independent business units, each with their own project management processes and practices. I am not aware of any books or even chapters in books devoted to the management of multiple team projects.

The final chapter focuses on professional development. Having to effectively manage complex projects means having a cadre of project managers and business analysts who are ready to collaborate on all types of projects each with its own unique set of challenges. To be successful means having an environment that promotes creativity. Both generalists and specialists are needed to make this happen.

Overview of Part IV

Part IV consists of three chapters.

Chapter 16: Prevention and Intervention Strategies for Distressed Projects

This chapter discusses distressed project prevention and intervention strategies. I describe many of my experiences with such situations. You will see that by judiciously applying what has already been presented in this book, you will have taken a big step towards preventing projects from becoming distressed. But even at best, some projects are destined for the distressed pile. Maybe that was built in from the start, and no one noticed or could tell. In any case, what do you do when the project has become distressed, and without some significant intervention, will likely fail? That is the second major topic in this chapter.

Chapter 17: Organizing Multiple Team Projects

This chapter discusses three models that are used in the industry to manage projects where two or more independent teams are involved and each team has its own project management tools, templates, and processes. The question is how to organize and manage such projects. The three alternative structures mentioned in this chapter work better for some projects than others. I examine the alternatives and when to use each one.

Chapter 18: Managing the Professional Development of Project Teams

There are several objectives that a professional development program must meet. Basically they all revolve around balancing the supply of experienced and trained project managers and team members across the demand for such professionals over time. This is a daunting challenge. The situation and a potential solution are described in this closing chapter.