3 experts have described difficult decisions they had to take in one project.
Now think about what was important for them in taking the decision the took. Would they act differently in a different context? Why?
(If you are part of an ongoing PM bootcamp cohort on DEXA, also copy your comment to your group)
When navigating challenging discussions, prioritizing communication with all cross-functional team members is essential. Emphasizing the benefits over the drawbacks while aligning with the project’s overarching goals fosters a constructive approach to problem-solving.
Communication is the key factor here, and in your communication, be transparent with the stakeholders.
I think that having engaged in robust and effective communication with stakeholders, canceling a project might tend to be the very last option. However, having a plan B from the very start of the project seems to be an alternative lifesaver to canceling the project that has been commenced.
Cancelling a project could be a difficult decision to make, taking into consideration the resources already expended on the project. That said, if the goal of the project is not met, the project could be cancelled. As a project manager, you will need to properly engage and communicate clearly with the team members’ reasons behind every decision made. Of course, as with every aspect of human endeavours, there could be vital lessons where the team members can learn and used to improve the processes in future projects.
Proactive engagement and collaboration with stakeholders could be helpful when dealing with difficult decisions during project execution. Such engagements will bring everyone on board so that there will be no surprises when difficult decisions are made.
Listening to the experts, I understand that having a honest and transparent conversation with the stakeholders is the right thing to do.
Communicating effectively and efficiently with your team and stakeholders
Building integrity and having honest relationships with stakeholders
Being receptive and adaptable to change.
Also, don’t let your ego bring you down as humility is vital
The key point that helped them was ability to communicate with stakeholders and Teammates, even when the situation looked daunting and challenging due to the complexity of balancing various factors such as stakeholder interests, resource constraints, timelines, and potential risks.
Listening to this, I can boldly say that making decisions is challenging due to the complexity of balancing various factors such as stakeholder interests, resource constraints, timelines, and potential risks. Each decision carries significant implications for project outcomes, making the process inherently difficult and requiring careful consideration to mitigate potential consequences and ensure project success.
Making tough decisions
It’s difficult to oversee a project manager. Managing people and situations that are challenging is part of this. In a challenging scenario, every project manager has to make important choices. While viewing things from various angles, different actions should be done. Nonetheless, in order to achieve a shared understanding, project team managers ought to work together with project stakeholders.
In a project life cycle, there are times when PMs are faced with the task of dealing with difficult decision making. PM should always collaborate with all stakeholders and teams involved in that project , this can be made possible through effective and concise communication, the decision made together will bring a level of satisfaction to all the parties involved.
Decisions to terminate projectsbare quite good since they were able to properly solutions for those terminations.
Their solutions was also alright with the sponsors that’s why they were able to move on despite the extra costs that was incurred.