Comment Some ideas on what should be done (Score 4, Informative) 465
After reading the story above, there are a few things that come to mind that we do where I am currently working:
1. Maintain a Risk Register. Any project manager worth there salt would want to know what the risks, how to mitigate those risks and what they are going to cost. If you are being asked to cut corners, inform the PM to add your concerns to the register. The project is doomed to failure if the risks arn't known or mitigated.
2. Most consultants would have a formal reporting mechanism to the client, a client progress meeting for example. If you have concerns a very powerful way of communicating those concerns is to formally report it via the client progress meeting. If the Project / Programme manager is not taking your risk on board, the project sponsor and business should be in a position to bring pressure to bear and deal with the issue. I myself have been in several situations where problems have come to light, that we highlighted on the client progress report many months earlier and effectively covered ourselves by highlighting the risk.
3. If you are consulting, there is an air of professionalism to highlighting issues as you see them. Ultimately in the end you will get a good reputation and be offered more work. I have seen this happen in many places. Before anyone chips in with scope creep and people going out of business, if you are silly enough to bid for work without including sufficient contingency both in time and price to cover unforseen issues and not fully understanding the problem, then you deserve to lose money.
4. Microsoft, yep I know most of you hate them, but they have a very effective programme management framework called MSF. One of the features of it is a process called War Room. In this, All functional and technical leads, Business Analysts, Management and sometimes developers come together and quickly discuss what they are doing and the issues they are having. This is an excellent way for a consultant, or anybody in fact, to highlight issues that may not be making up to management and in many cases come up with a solution.
I could go on for hours but my fingers are starting to hurt :)
1. Maintain a Risk Register. Any project manager worth there salt would want to know what the risks, how to mitigate those risks and what they are going to cost. If you are being asked to cut corners, inform the PM to add your concerns to the register. The project is doomed to failure if the risks arn't known or mitigated.
2. Most consultants would have a formal reporting mechanism to the client, a client progress meeting for example. If you have concerns a very powerful way of communicating those concerns is to formally report it via the client progress meeting. If the Project / Programme manager is not taking your risk on board, the project sponsor and business should be in a position to bring pressure to bear and deal with the issue. I myself have been in several situations where problems have come to light, that we highlighted on the client progress report many months earlier and effectively covered ourselves by highlighting the risk.
3. If you are consulting, there is an air of professionalism to highlighting issues as you see them. Ultimately in the end you will get a good reputation and be offered more work. I have seen this happen in many places. Before anyone chips in with scope creep and people going out of business, if you are silly enough to bid for work without including sufficient contingency both in time and price to cover unforseen issues and not fully understanding the problem, then you deserve to lose money.
4. Microsoft, yep I know most of you hate them, but they have a very effective programme management framework called MSF. One of the features of it is a process called War Room. In this, All functional and technical leads, Business Analysts, Management and sometimes developers come together and quickly discuss what they are doing and the issues they are having. This is an excellent way for a consultant, or anybody in fact, to highlight issues that may not be making up to management and in many cases come up with a solution.
I could go on for hours but my fingers are starting to hurt
