As an IT Risk Manager we are interested in managing time rather than costs. The cost of a project is the length of the project multiplied by the daily run rate.
Everyone understands this…. or do they?
When you need some input from your project manager, do you..
- Have instant access to them?
- Wait an hour or two to catch them between meetings?
- Arrange a meeting in their busy schedule?
If you do not have instant access to them, they may be delaying the project. But what does an hour or two matter? An hour doesn’t but lots of hours do. Those delays waiting for your manager accumulate. It only takes 7 and you’ve lost a day off your schedule. 35 and its a week of delay.
However its worse than that. Often the small delays have knock on effects that cause bigger delays, especially on a project being run in multiple time zones.
Think about catching a bus. You are 30 seconds late for the bus which means you have to wait 15 mins for the next. As a result, you are 30 seconds late to catch your train and have to wait 30 minutes for the next… You are 5 minutes late for your plane… which means you have to wait 3 hours to catch the next. Which means you miss your meeting and have to wait a month for the next.
Delays add up in a non linear way. Make sure you manage them and make yourself instantly available. Do less to help your team achieve more.
The IT Risk Manager 
July 3rd, 2011 at 8:04 pm
It’s the old classic, how does a project get three months late? One day at a time.