Maintaining Control During Project Execution 181- Add resources. Get additional help. Be sure to consider
the potential increase in project expenditure—and the
possibility of diminishing returns when resources are
added. Having three times the resources on an activity
doesn’t necessarily mean it will be completed in one-
third the time. - Accept substitutions. When something is unavailable or
expected to be delivered late, consider substituting a
comparable item. Be sure to consider any potential
effects on deliverable performance. - Use alternative work methods. Sometimes it’s possible to
find a more expedient way to accomplish the work.
However, changing work methods often has an effect on
cost and/or schedule. - Accept partial deliverables. Delivery of only some of the
items you need may allow you to keep the project mov-
ing forward. - Offer incentives. Offer a bonus or other inducement to
improve performance. This strategy is often directed at
suppliers. Penalty clauses may have the same effect, but
are negative. - Renegotiate cost and schedule targets. Explore the possi-
bility of extending the deadline or increasing the budget, if
it helps. This will probably be easier if you can show that
problems are due to estimating errors rather than per-
formance issues. - Reduce scope. Reduce the quality and/or performance
requirements of the project deliverables so as to reduce
the work required. This should ordinarily be your last
course of action, when maintaining cost or schedule tar-
gets is of paramount importance. It’s imperative that all
stakeholders agree before you take this course of action.
Understand tradeoffs. As mentioned earlier, the dimensions of
schedule, cost, functionality, and quality are interdependent. This
means that taking corrective action may involve “trading off” one
dimension for another. For example, adding resources may allevi-