PM on the Rebound - Best practices when you inherit someone else's project.

The Breakfast Roundtable discussion on Thursday March 25, focused on issues regarding inheriting a project. It was a popular topic that drew 17 attendees. The discussion started with identifying reasons why you may find yourself inheriting someone else’s project. Using the title of a famous, Western movie, some of the possible reasons include:

• The good – a good PM was promoted
• The bad – an employee leaves the company
• The ugly – a PM was fired or removed from the project

Regardless of the reason, there was a fairly good consensus among the group that the first step is to establish a baseline for the project and alert management to the health of the project. It was also suggested that one consider it an independent project beginning at the time you are assigned as the PM. One should utilize the PMBOK process to objectively define the extent and status of the project, including scope, budget, and assigned staff. For example, as the new manager, you should ask for the Project Charter, Communications Plan, Risk Plan, etc. Since it is an existing project, there may not be the opportunity to stop the project for this process. It may need to be conducted in parallel with ongoing work.

The group acknowledged that there is a high probability that one will inherit a project that's over budget and behind schedule. Once the project status is identified, there were several suggestions on how to manage a “troubled” project, including:

• Don't take the title of “savior”.
• Set low expectations for internal clients.
• Work within the project team to develop solutions; for example, delegate accountability to individual staff for their tasks, and establish a team contract for conducting meetings, communications, etc.
• Quantify issues for the client (internal or external) as part of risk management.