The Relationship Between Project Management and Supply Chain Management

Guest post by Daniel Stanton, Mr. Supply Chain

Main point up front: Project management and supply chain management are both relatively new professions, and they are highly complementary. Supply chain managers have always spent a lot of their time working on projects to reduce costs and increase efficiency. These days, many project managers are learning the hard way about “supply chain issues” and the risks that they can pose to a project. And there is a growing demand for supply chain project managers – professionals who have the skills and experience to lead projects and transform a supply chain. Aligning project management with supply chain management can help companies increase resilience, improve sustainability, and enable digital transformation. 

This newsletter was inspired by a recent conversation with Bonnie Biafore. If you know us, then it won’t be a surprise that Bonnie and I found ourselves talking about the relationship between project management and supply chain management. We agreed that project managers need to learn about supply chain management, and that supply chain managers need to learn about project management. You can listen to our chat here: 

Project managers can’t truly address the risks to their scope, schedule, and budget if they don’t understand the supply chain in which they are working. On the surface, this involves learning about the procurement processes and systems. But supply chain management is really about integrating all of the processes that a company uses for creating value, which goes deeper than just procurement to include operations management, logistics, and more. 

In many cases, project managers have to work with procurement people a lot more closely. (Bonnie Biafore) 

Supply chain managers can’t implement or adapt to changes effectively if they don’t understand the tools, rules, and language of project management. Project management is about delivering value by developing or changing products, systems, and processes. Depending on the situation, today’s project managers can draw on a range of tools such as Waterfall, Agile, and Lean Six Sigma. 

It’s particularly interesting to see the growing demand for supply chain project managers – professionals who have knowledge and experience with supply chain management, and who understand how to lead projects which focus on improving supply chains. (At last count, there were more than 20,000 job postings for Supply Chain Project Managers in the U.S. on LinkedIn.) Given the rapid pace of change that’s being driven by technology, geopolitics, and the pandemic, I think the future is particularly bright for supply chain project managers!

Project Management Tips for Supply Chain Managers 

Projects are how businesses make changes. Project management is about defining and balancing constraints such as scope, schedule, and budgets. There are lots of different techniques for managing projects that can be tailored to the needs of your business. In construction projects, you will typically use the predictive Waterfall technique. For manufacturing and distribution, it will often be a Lean Six Sigma approach. For software development projects, Agile techniques have become common. Regardless of the techniques that are used the project leaders always have six key responsibilities to their project teams, that I describe as the DIRECT framework

  • Define the objective. Be clear about the change that needs to happen.
  • Investigate the options. Research alternatives and benchmark with others.
  • Resolve to a course of action. Build a plan and get buy-in from your stakeholders.
  • Execute the plan. Monitor the progress and address challenges as they emerge.
  • Change over to the new systems and processes. Manage your acceptance and launch.
  • Transition the people. Make sure that your stakeholders are prepared.

Supply Chain Management Tips for Project Managers 

A supply chain is a complex network made up of people, processes, and technologies that is engineered and managed to deliver value to a customer. Supply chain management requires you to view each business as part of a complex system that creates value for customers. In part, that involves integrating the internal functions in a company – especially procurement, operations, and logistics. But it also involves collaborating with customers and suppliers. In simplest terms, the goal of supply chain management is to get the right stuff, in the right quantity, to the right place, at the right time, for the lowest total cost. 

Supply chains are dynamic. How do we make improvements in a supply chain? By making changes. How do we respond to disruptions in a supply chain? By changing what we’re doing, or how we’re doing it. In other words, supply chain management professionals are responsible for launching and managing projects all of the time. 

The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model illustrates the six groups of processes that are key to managing the supply chain in any company. 

  • Plan. Develop your supply chain strategy and forecasts.
  • Source. Build and manage relationships with suppliers.
  • Make. Assemble products and create service capabilities.
  • Deliver. Take and fill orders from customers.
  • Return. Build and manage a reverse supply chain.

Enable. Manage all of the additional processes, including project management.

How does this affect supply chain professionals? Supply chains are how businesses create and deliver value. Projects are how we make changes in a business. Project management skills can help supply chain managers be more flexible and adaptable, and supply chain management skills can help project managers mitigate risks and be more resilient. Combining both skill sets can set you up to be a supply chain project manager, leading projects involving process improvement, sustainability, digital transformation, and more. 

What do you think? Have you needed to lead and manage projects in your supply chain? Would learning about supply chains help project managers anticipate and respond to risks? 

To watch the Office Hours session where Bonnie and I talk more about the relationship between project management and supply chain management go to https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6958149360392056833/

Early Indicators of Project Trouble

Photo by Airfocus on Unsplash

A slipping schedule, lack of engagement, and cost overruns are common and easy to spot indicators of project trouble. Here are five other early indicators of trouble that aren’t often recognized.

Team member hours are less than planned. Hours dedicated to project tasks can fall short due to differing business priorities or lack of confidence in the project direction. These shortfalls often start early and get worse as the project continues. Check the actual hours worked by team members. If those hours fall below plan, find out what’s going on to see whether there is a problem.

Stakeholders aren’t arguing (when they should be!) Stakeholders often have different opinions about project requirements, priorities, or the solution approach. If stakeholder response to projects requests is lackluster, hidden dissension may be present. Ask your stakeholders direct questions about their concerns. This helps you avoid problems before it’s too late to change priorities or direction.

Inadequate sponsorship is in place. An effective sponsor must:

  • Have access to funds
  • Control areas where the project will create process change
  • Secure team members for the project
  • Be able to establish project-related business priorities 
  • Have time to be the sponsor

Sponsorship inadequacies can create project delays and arguments. If this happens, encourage management to form a sponsorship committee. This can help cover the authority needed to guide the project.

Requirements address “what to do” and not the business problem. Requirements often convey how something is to occur. An example is “Reconfigure the mail room business processes.” What’s the intended outcome? Is it a desire for fewer people, or is mail processing taking too long? Is automation to support mail processing working as hoped? Requirements that don’t specify the actual business issue are a problem. Projects that satisfy these inappropriate requirements might not fix the underlying business problem. Ensure that every requirement focuses on the real issue. Perform business analysis to figure out the best options to address the problem.

Requirements and deliverables are validated with the customer and NOT the end user. Let’s start with definitions. The customer is the person who supplies requirements and reviews your deliverables. They sometimes provide funding. The end user is the person or group who will use the deliverable regularly. What if the end user and the customer differ? For example, the customer and end user are different when a project is creating a product for the marketplace. In this case, validate requirements more thoroughly. More testing might also be appropriate. Extra validation and testing can be time-consuming and costly, but it is vital to success. 

If you have experienced other situations that cause problems early on, share with us in the comments section.

For more about identifying indicators of trouble early on in the project management process, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up:

Overcoming Obstacles for Global and Remote Project Teams

Working remotely is a reality today: it’s increasingly important to pay attention to the quality of our interactions with our distant colleagues. Language, culture, and distance influence the way we work together with stakeholders on our projects. We can either leave these factors to chance, or we can learn to leverage them to improve our project outcomes.
https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6950852588556722176/

August 9, 2022 11am MT
I’m almost done updating Project Management Foundations. In a few months, you can look for the updated edition, which includes some info on PMBoK7 and other changes.

Is Your Project Ready to be Re-launched?

Management might put a project on hold because other priorities take precedence or it needs recovery. When it’s time to relaunch, you don’t pick up where you left off. Here’s the sequence of steps to take to relaunch a project:

  • Document what changed. Team members must understand that things will be different. Otherwise, they might not dedicate themselves to the project for fear of failure. To restore confidence, share changes, such as changed priorities, new project management approaches, and scope changes with all stakeholders.
  • Meet to review or revise project goals. Revisit project outcomes in case business circumstances have changed. Talk to business stakeholders and technical team members about reprioritizing outcomes or proposing new ones. Make sure that the project is still feasible. Communicate any changes to project goals to all stakeholders.
  • Hold a re-kickoff meeting. A relaunch is like a new project starting. At the meeting have the sponsor reaffirm the organization’s dedication to deliver the project and share the schedule and budget. Communicate any reprioritized project goals. Introduce new team members that are joining the relaunched project.
  • Expand project monitoring and reporting. Focus status reporting on the root cause of the project stoppage. Senior leaders will want assurance that priority or process issues won’t reoccur. Use status metrics that can provide that assurance. Discuss any other concerns senior leaders have with the relaunched project and tailor your status reporting to address those issues.
  • Be positive. People will watch your attitude and behavior as project manager as the relaunched project progresses. Maintain a positive attitude, and you’ll inspire confidence in the relaunched project.

If you have other tips for relaunching a project, share with us in the comments section.

For more about launching projects, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming up:

I’m thrilled to share that my course Project Management Foundations is LinkedIn Learning’s #5 Most Popular Course of the year globally! These skills are important today and into the future because change drives new projects and the pace of change continually increases. The course is free through August 2022.

 

The Hot New Skill for Project Managers: Supply Chain Management

Daniel Stanton and Bonnie Biafore were talking about why project managers need to understand supply chain management as well as why supply chain managers need project management skills. In this Office Hours, we’re going to dive deeper into career opportunities for project managers expanding their expertise into supply chain management. That’s right, supply chain management is the hot new skill for project managers

August 5, 2022 12pm MT

Overcoming Obstacles for Global and Remote Project Teams

Working remotely is a reality today: it’s increasingly important to pay attention to the quality of our interactions with our distant colleagues. Language, culture, and distance influence the way we work together with stakeholders on our projects. We can either leave these factors to chance, or we can learn to leverage them to improve our project outcomes.
https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6950852588556722176/

August 9, 2022 11am MT

How to evaluate a large project change request

Project change requests are a common occurrence. Occasionally, a change request can be extensive, requiring additional analysis. Here are questions to ask to provide the change review board with the information it needs to approve a major change request.

Will the change increase project complexity? Organizations often have a standard set of parameters for assessing a project change. Cost, scope, schedule, and quality are common. Very few organizations assess the impact on complexity. The number of stakeholders, technology required, use of innovative tools and other items contribute to complexity. Increased complexity can increase risk, cost, and necessitate additional resources. 

Could the change increase tension between key stakeholders? Evaluate project changes to determine whether they will increase stakeholder tension. For example, changes that increase tension include: 

  • Prioritization issues – where different areas of the business assign different priorities to the use of project funds and time
  • Process conflicts – where a process change benefits one area of the business and burdens another. For example, streamlining processing of travel reimbursement may make the Human Resources job easier, while creating issues for finance.

Are there schedule and expectation differences? – When new stakeholders are in different time zones or countries, answering questions and reviewing deliverables may take longer. In addition, stakeholders who are already expecting a specific timeframe could be unhappy about the delay. Also, the deliverables may be more complex when other countries’ requirements are integrated into the solution.

Do risks impact hard constraints? Many projects have hard constraints – conditions that can’t be compromised. For example, a project to make changes to meet a new law must finish before the law goes into effect. In another example, you must add certain features to your product to leapfrog your competition. Any change that puts a hard constraint at risk needs to be scrutinized before approval. 

Does the sponsor support the change (in private)? A sponsor may voice support for a change in a public setting due to hierarchical or political realities. They may share concerns with you in private. You change analysis should investigate those private concerns. This conversation with your sponsor can be useful downstream as well; if the change is approved, you know impacts to monitor to keep your sponsor informed. 

What additional analysis do you do for large change requests? Do you process them differently? If so, share with us in the comments section.

For more about project changes, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up:

Office Hours– On August 9, Sam Yankelevitch and I will talk about overcoming obstacles for global and remote project teams. Working remotely is a reality today: it’s increasingly important to pay attention to the quality of our interactions with our distant colleagues. Language, culture, and distance influence the way we work together with stakeholders on our projects. We can either leave these factors to chance, or we can learn to leverage them to improve our project outcomes.

Is Your Project Idea Ready for Launch?

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Project ideas pop up all the time, but that doesn’t mean they are all worth pursuing. Companies want to reap enough benefits from the time and money they spend on projects. To make sure a candidate project is worthwhile, someone needs to complete some prerequisites before the project is launched.

Who gets these prerequisites in place when the project idea is so early in initiation? Management might ask a project manager to work on them. And that person might become the project manager if the project is approved — but also might not. If the organization has a project management office, a PMO staff member could take on this work.

Here are the prerequisites that ensure a candidate project is worth pursuing:

An engaged sponsor. For a project to succeed, the sponsor needs to believe in the project’s business value. That’s because the sponsor:

  • supplies time and funding to determine if the project is viable
  • identifies the research the project requires
  • decides the degree of risk the business is willing to accept
  • figures out business priorities
  • works through conflicts if key stakeholders disagree about the project’s focus

A clear goal. There should be a clear definition of the candidate’s project outcomes. The definition can be high-level. The sponsor and key stakeholders need to understand and agree on these outcomes. (Project initiation then focuses on picking the approach to create those outcomes.) The viability of the project also depends on resource availability, the ability to change business processes, and dependence on old systems that may be difficult to alter.

Available business analyst skills. Some projects focus on improving the way the organization does business. Others produce a new product or service. Business analysts and members of the business need to work together to evaluate these opportunities. It’s tempting to sketch out new processes or envision new products without thorough research and engaging business analysts. Skipping this effort adds risk and increases the chance of inaccurate assumptions that lead to project failure.

An understanding of priorities and budget. Organizations have only so much money to spend on projects. And they also prioritize projects based on how they support the organizations’ goals and objectives. Whoever evaluates the candidate must identify the candidate’s budget and priority. Otherwise, people might view the project as a waste of time or out of line with management’s objectives. 

An experienced project manager. The chance of project success increases when an experienced project manager takes the helm. The level of experience depends on factors like the project’s significance, complexity, and size. For instance, someone trained in project management but with little experience could handle a small, lower-priority project (and gain experience at the same time). A critical and complex project will need a senior project manager.

Who has performed these early steps in projects you’ve worked on? Are there other steps you’ve seen performed before launch? If so, share with us in the comments section.

For more about launching a project, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up:

Office Hours– On August 9, Sam Yankelevitch and I will talk about overcoming obstacles for global and remote project teams. Working remotely is a reality today: it’s increasingly important to pay attention to the quality of our interactions with our distant colleagues. Language, culture, and distance influence the way we work together with stakeholders on our projects. We can either leave these factors to chance, or we can learn to leverage them to improve our project outcomes.

Dealing with a Project Budget Cut

The dynamics in business could lead to a project budget cut. While it’s disruptive and triggers emotion, the situation isn’t impossible to manage. Here are tips on dealing with a budget cut. 

  • Keep calm. You might interpret a budget cut as failure. A budget cut is a business decision, which requires a well-thought out response. Continue to lead your team like the project is still viable…because it is. 
  • Understand the rationale for the cut. You need to understand what triggered the budget cut to figure out how to respond to it. Discuss the cut with your sponsor to understand their thinking. Different responses are required when a cut is due to a business-wide cost reduction, versus something related to your project management approach or a project outcome whose priority has changed.  
  • Review project priorities. The project still has expectations to meet and outcomes to deliver. Affirm those expectations and compare them to what the reduced budget will allow. Review project requirement priorities and change them as needed. Re-examine the project business case to help your prioritization. If you haven’t prioritized your requirements, do that first, and then determine what you can deliver with your reduced budget. 
  • Look for cost-saving approaches. Reducing contractor hours, cutting extra product features, and cutting risky (and therefore costly) requirements are potential ways to reduce overall project cost. Create a comprehensive list of options for management review. When management decides which cost reduction actions to take, edit and refine your project plan accordingly.
  • Communicate! Tell your sponsor and key stakeholders what the project’s new budget can deliver. Negotiate to figure out the best approach and align expectations. Share the new expectations and revised project plan with your project team. Emphasize that the project will continue to move forward. To maintain team morale, discuss the business outcomes the project can deliver. For added motivation,  ask your sponsor to communicate that message as well.

Have you ever faced a budget cut in a project? What emotions did it induce in you and your team? What steps did you take to “shake off” the feelings and think about how to move forward?

For more about project budgets, check out Bob McGannon’s Project Management Foundations: Budgets course.

Coming up:

LinkedIn Office hours-Overcoming Obstacles for Global and Remote Project Teams

August 9th at 1:00pm ET

Working remotely is a reality today: it’s increasingly important to pay attention to the quality of our interactions with our distant colleagues. Language, culture, and distance influence the way we work together with stakeholders on our projects. We can either leave these factors to chance, or we can learn to leverage them to improve our project outcomes.

How to Manage Project Reviews or Audits

A project review is typically run from within an organization, while an external compliance-monitoring organization, such as a consulting firm or government agency, often conducts a project audit. Without the proper perspective, a project review or audit can be like a trip to the dentist. Here are different management approaches you should take with project reviews and audits to make them as constructive as possible.

  • Understand the scope of the exercise. The first step to support a review or audit is to understand its scope and intent. Typically, the primary topics are: 1. compliance with documented processes or accepted practices and 2. the mindful use of money. For a supportive review, share the available documentation concerning the project so the review team can select what they want to review. Government audits (or reviews that are trying to target errors rather than educate or be supportive) are a different story. For these, ask the audit or review team what documentation they require and provide that. This will limit the scope of the audit/review and make the exercise easier to manage. Note: you might be tempted to flood auditors with lots of documentation to show your project control capability. However, that usually backfires, because it gives auditors more targets to investigate.
  • Gather information on your project management processes. Have artifacts ready to show that you’ve conformed with agreed-to project management processes. If you haven’t complied with a documented process, demonstrate that you consciously did that with management’s concurrence so you can provide that to the review or audit team. Documentation that review teams typically request include risk or change logs, your project schedule with notes on the assumptions used to build it (like team member availability of 30 hours per week), and decision logs.
  • If you discover that you overlooked a process, proactively create an action plan to correct that oversight. Say you’re preparing for a review or audit and find an obvious deficiency. Correct it by developing an action plan to implement the overlooked process. If there is time before the review or audit begins, document progress against your action plans. The team may still ask questions about this oversight. However, reviewers and auditors usually react positively to proactive corrective actions.
  • Document important conversations. A project management best practice is to document key conversations, especially when the people involved made decisions. However, you might discover that some conversations slipped through the cracks. If you discover gaps in your documentation, go back and fill them in including signatures from the parties to the agreement. DON’T backdate the documents you create. (Use the current date, even though that highlights belated documentation.) If the reviews or audit team discovers your backdating practice, your integrity will be in question, which results in more scrutiny that will cause interruptions and delay you from returning to the job of delivering your project.
  • Answer questions.– If the review or audit is focused on compliance and not supportive of you and the project team, answer only the questions asked. Based on the approach of a supportive review team, use your judgment and share information you believe is constructive. You should manage auditors differently, because they are searching for compliance items to scrutinize. “The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” should be shared with auditors…but don’t go beyond the scope of the question asked. Doing so will raise more questions and potentially expand the scope of the audit. Coach your project team members to follow this practice and things will be easier to manage. It’s also wise to debrief team members questioned by auditors and log the exchanged questions and answers. That makes it easier to respond to follow up queries from auditors or get clarification when an audit team comes to a conclusion that doesn’t reflect reality.
  • If auditors are on track to discover something, share the issue and ask for advice. Trying to hide something ends badly when auditors discover deception. (We’ve watched enough police procedural TV shows to know that!) Develop an action plan to address the problem and then share the issue and plan with the audit team and ask for their advice. Using the audit as an improvement opportunity is a positive outcome, which is much better than being seen as someone who didn’t pay proper attention to project governance and tried to hide it. Be as open as possible with a supportive review team. You might find they have experience, hints and tips that will help your project and help you in your project management career.

If you have any tips on how to handle audits and reviews, share with us in the comments section!

Skills Required for Program Management

Photo by Kid Circus on Unsplash

Thinking of making the jump from project to program management? A program manager’s job is more than being a very competent project manager. Let’s examine a few of the critical skills you need to fulfill a program manager’s responsibilities.

  • Refined business sense. Program managers require significant business acumen. Just to initiate the program, you need to be able to position the program from a business strategy perspective, understand its priority compared to other active initiatives, and decide the best approach to work with your sponsor. From that point forward, you need to understand how the product(s) of your program will affect your business’ and your competitor’s market presence. A refined business focus is necessary to support the program’s vitality and maintain its proper priority within your sponsoring business. 
  • Enhanced listening and negotiation skills. A program manager faces the challenge of dealing with multiple business stakeholders who don’t share the same agenda. The ability to listen and understand differing points of view is important because stakeholders in conflict often hold high-level positions. It can be tricky to negotiate and not give up control of the program–without threatening a major stakeholder. Care, listening and being sensitive to stakeholders is essential.
  • Excellent delegation skills. A program manager relies more on delegation than does a project manager. You must rely on individuals to perform technical skills. You must also call upon others to manage projects, coordinate status reporting, detect and resolve project-level issues, and handle customer interactions. Program managers must be sensitive to the abilities and personalities of their project managers to know when to intervene for the sake of the overall program, all without being demeaning.
  • Broad change perspective. Program managers must embrace change with a distinct perspective. Programs are more encompassing than projects, have much longer timeframes, and affect a broader cross-section of the business. In a changing competitive world, significant program change is inevitable, which is more significant than the comparatively short-term change created by most projects. Programs must handle change from the marketplace at large as well as the change the program creates throughout its lifecycle. This can be tricky. For example, you must make assumptions about the change that will occur from project 1 of the program before that project completes, so you can plan for project 5 of the program. You must manage both business and technical change. It’s a non-trivial exercise requiring broad, insightful thinking and embracing many possibilities! 

If you have skills to add to a program manager’s skillset, share with us in the comments section.

For more about program management, check out the Become a Program Manager learning path.

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Optimize Risk Responses

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7) emphasizes how managing risk with appropriate responses helps optimize project outcomes. Here are the five characteristics of optimal risk responses outlined by the Project Management Institute. 

Appropriate for the risk’s significance. The risk responses you choose should align with the impact the risk has on your project. For example, a response is appropriate if a risk could make your time-critical project finish several months late. Conversely, if a risk will cost $10 if it occurs, don’t bother spending time on it. As you consider risk response actions, determine how many people they require, any complexity changes, or changes to the outcome of the project. And ensure your risk response doesn’t create other significant risks for your project. Review your proposed response to ensure stakeholders are comfortable with it. 

Cost effective. The cost or benefit to the project if the risk occurs should be reasonable compared to the cost of risk mitigation. Don’t spend $1,000 to avoid a risk that will cost $300 if it occurs. If the risk impact is hard to quantify, such as the potential of impacting marketplace reputation, ensure your risk responses are in line with senior leaders’ perception of the risk.

Realistic within the project context.  Optimal risk responses should be easily executed, implemented quickly, using a universally understood approach. You should rethink any risk response actions that outside these conditions. Suppose you have a project involving five team members from one department. A risk response action that requires 10 people from four different departments won’t be easy to execute– it adds complexity and expands your project communication and coordination requirements. 

Agreed to by relevant stakeholders. Stakeholders should be comfortable with your response plans and should be able to participate or support your actions if needed. Take care to ensure all relevant stakeholders agree with your risk responses. You don’t want conflicts to arise when it’s time to respond to risks that are becoming issues.

Owned by a responsible person. The “responsible person” is the individual who is most capable of recognizing when a risk is coming to fruition, or has occurred, and can immediately respond. A key to effective risk management is to minimize negative impacts or maximize opportunities. To do that, it’s critical to act swiftly and authoritatively. The responsible person is usually a department manager or senior team member who handles the tasks impacted by the risk—not the project manager.

Do you use other characteristics to choose risk responses? If so, share with us in the comments sections!

For more about risk management, check out Bob McGannon new course Project Management Foundations: Risk

Coming Up

I’m updating my Project Management Foundations course. Look for it in Fall 2022.

My latest course, Microsoft Project 2021 and Project Online Desktop Essential Training, is now available in the LinkedIn Learning library. In this edition, you can not only follow the movie steps in exercise files. I included additional homework you can do on the file after the movie ends. Click the link to watch the course for free (for up to 24 hours after you click.)

How to Handle a Team Member Change

A team member leaving your project can be very disruptive. Fortunately, there are ways to reduce the impact of that person’s departure. Here are some tips for welcoming and integrating your new team member to make the transition flow smoothly.

    • Include orientation time. Regardless of your team member’s abilities, allocate time for reviewing with the new person deliverable status, project methodology, assigned tasks, and identified risks. This review can take considerable time, especially with large, complex projects. Work with your stakeholders to reduce the pressure for your new team member to deliver immediately. That way, they can absorb the knowledge they need to contribute to the project and get up to speed more quickly.
  • Facilitate introductions. A team’s productivity and harmony is thrown for a loop when a personnel change occurs. To reduce this negative impact, set up meetings to introduce your new team member to the team and other relevant stakeholders. Include a personal welcome and allow stakeholders to ask questions to promote rebuilding your team and moving forward with deliverables.
  • Calculate and communicate any schedule impact. Meetings and introductions for your new team member to get up to speed take time. That means your schedule will be affected. Plan accordingly! Update your schedule to accommodate the person’s orientation and tasks. Don’t try to absorb into your existing schedule. If you do so once, stakeholders will expect you to do that at any time, which isn’t practical or wise. 
  • Adjust your cost forecast. A new team member can affect project costs, especially if you’re dealing with contractors. Costs will also change if your new team member is an employee and you track internal resource costs. Also, if you end up with a less-skilled employee, it may take longer for them to accomplish tasks, which can add cost to your project.
  • Monitor for changes or issues. A new team member can improve performance, generate personality issues, produce technical inaccuracies, or come up with a better way to deliver their tasks. A “plug and play” approach to change team members isn’t a good idea. Instead, pay attention to what happens with your new team member. Check in with them and watch the timing and quality of the deliverables they produce.

If you have other tips for bringing a new team member on board, share with us in the comments section.

For more about navigating team member change, check out Daniel Station’s Project Management Foundations: Teams course. 

Coming Up

I’m updating my Project Management Foundations course. Look for it in Fall 2022.

My latest course, Microsoft Project 2021 and Project Online Desktop Essential Training, is now available in the LinkedIn Learning library. In this edition, you can not only follow the movie steps in exercise files. I included additional homework you can do on the file after the movie ends. Click the link to watch the course for free (for up to 24 hours after you click.)