180 Project Management
through future action, be sure to keep everyone informed and to
modify the project plan to reflect your actions.
Avoid the micromanagement pitfall. If you’re very action-ori-
ented (as many project managers are), you may be tempted to
jump into any problem as it occurs. You may justify your action
by saying, “I’ll get involved only long enough to get the problem
under control. Then I’ll back off.”
You should avoid this temptation, except possibly in serious
or extreme situations. First, you simply won’t have enough time
to jump into every problem that surfaces. Second—and more
important—you’ll slowly cause your team members to resent
your interventions. By getting personally involved, you’re send-
ing a message that you do not trust team members to resolve
problems on their own.
Your best course of action is to remind them of the need to
correct the problem, suggest a remedy (if appropriate), and
offer yourself as a resource for support. This demonstrates trust
and frees you to spend your time managing issues pertaining to
the overall project.
Choose the best recovery strategy. Typically, there are many
courses of action you can take to recover from difficulties and
try to ensure that the team meets critical project targets.
Among your basic options are those listed below, not in any
particular order except for the first and last options.
- Push for compliance. In most cases, your first course of
action should be to try to maintain the original plan. In
other words, don’t simply assume that potential changes
should automatically be accepted or accommodated.
Sometimes a firm reminder of the commitment and an
offer of support may be enough to stimulate better per-
formance. - Recover in later tasks. As mentioned above, this is often
a better option than attempting to fix the immediate
problem. Be sure that future plans are reflected in the
project schedule.