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About this lesson
Project managers frequently find themselves with the challenge of adding new scope to a project with an already tight timeline. Typically, the job of the project manager is to work with their team to determine what this new scope will mean and how it will affect the project.
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Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
2013, 2019/365.
Quick reference
Project Negotiations
Very often projects start with a clear statement of scope. Unfortunately, not every stakeholder will share the same definition of project success. This disparity between various parties typically results in changes to the scope of your project.
Project managers frequently find themselves with the challenge of adding new scope to a project with an already tight timeline. Typically, the job of the project manager is to work with their team to determine what this new scope will mean and how it will affect the project.
A common practice among project managers is to fall back to the triple constraint method as shown in the figure. This gives you an opportunity to make a statement like this “If you want this new scope, are you willing to sacrifice time, budget, or resources?”
- 00:04 In this lesson, we will talk about Project Negotiations.
- 00:09 The learning objective for
- 00:11 the course is to learn the elements to consider when negotiating project change.
- 00:16 Very often projects start with a clear statement of scope.
- 00:20 Unfortunately, not every stakeholder will share the same definition of project
- 00:25 success.
- 00:25 That disparity between various parties typically result in
- 00:30 changes to the scope of your project.
- 00:33 Project Managers frequently find themselves with the challenge of
- 00:37 adding new scope to a project with an already tight timeline.
- 00:41 Typically, the job of a Project Manager is to work with the team to determine
- 00:46 what this new scope will mean and how it will affect the project.
- 00:50 A common practice amongst Project Managers is to fall back on the triple
- 00:55 constraint method as you can see in the figure.
- 00:58 This gives the opportunity to make statements like, well, if you want to
- 01:03 change the scope, are you willing to sacrifice time, budget, or resources?
- 01:07 It is easy to point to the triple constraint as a way to negotiate
- 01:12 change in your project.
- 01:14 However, there is much more to a project than these three elements.
- 01:19 In fact, what this negotiation process does not include is questions like,
- 01:25 will adding the new project scope increase our revenue, or
- 01:29 how does it affect the return on investment for the project?
- 01:34 As a project manager, you will look at every new change request and
- 01:39 work with your team to determine how to proceed.
- 01:42 As you can see in the figure,
- 01:44 change requests can affect much more than three elements of a project.
- 01:49 As a project manager, you will use your unique personality,
- 01:54 authority, and influence to negotiate project change.
- 01:58 You will need objective data to back up your change requests.
- 02:02 So Microsoft Project is an invaluable tool to help you.
- 02:06 For example, you can use Microsoft Project to estimate how change will
- 02:11 affect the timeline or resources on your project.
- 02:15 You can even use Microsoft Project to help you determine cost overruns.
- 02:21 If you use Microsoft Project Server or Microsoft Project Online,
- 02:25 which I'll talk about in a later lesson, you can also track the return
- 02:30 on investment, issues, risks, and change management plans.
- 02:35 In conclusion, remember there will always be changes to your project.
- 02:39 When the changes do occur?
- 02:42 Remember to keep them in the context of the relative importance to
- 02:47 the strategy of your project.
- 02:49 For example,
- 02:50 I have seen small projects that will take three months with a budget of just
- 02:55 $200,000 change into 16 month projects with budgets of $2 million or more.
- 03:00 The reason for that change may be an opportunity to greatly increase
- 03:05 the return on investment or to capitalize on a market change.
- 03:10 If you push back on a change request just because it will increase the time,
- 03:15 budget or resources, you may be missing the strategic importance of your project.
- 03:21 Instead, keep an open mind and
- 03:23 work with your team to determine how you can accept that change request.
- 03:29 Then offer up alternatives to your sponsors and
- 03:35 stakeholders if it doesn't make sense.
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