Issue Resolution

Quick reference

• 00:00 Hi I'm Ray Sheen, I'd like to talk now about another aspect
• 00:05 of project control and that's Issue Resolution.
• 00:10 The project management body of knowledge the PMBOK Guide defines an issue as
• 00:15 a current condition or situation that may have an impact on the project objectives.
• 00:20 Sometimes things don't go as expected on a project, issues come up.
• 00:23 They create headaches and issues for the project team and they can't be ignored.
• 00:29 Issues that need resolution are often caused by unplanned work.
• 00:32 There is now need to do something or
• 00:34 redo something that wasn't in the original plan.
• 00:37 Let's be clear this is not scope creep, there is no change in the project goals,
• 00:42 objectives or deliverables.
• 00:44 If there was a change in those we wouldn't be talking issue resolution,
• 00:48 we'd be talking about change management.
• 00:50 Issues are often raised by stakeholder questions,
• 00:53 the stakeholder asks about something the project team has not considered.
• 00:58 The stakeholder wants more information about an aspect of the project,
• 01:02 work must be done to obtain that information.
• 01:05 Answering them is an issue that must be resolved,
• 01:08 many issues are caused by miscommunication problems.
• 01:11 An extended team member does not complete a task in the desired manner because
• 01:16 of a misunderstanding of that task requirements.
• 01:20 So a portion of the task must be redone or
• 01:22 due to breaking communication a task or activity is not started on time.
• 01:27 The delay in that activity cascades into multiple other delays,
• 01:31 there is now an issue to resolve to restore the schedule.
• 01:36 Regardless of the source,
• 01:37 these issues need a work around to keep the project on track.
• 01:41 Someone must do something differently than the original plan.
• 01:44 So let's discuss these workarounds and what we must do to resolve the issue.
• 01:50 Workarounds are not the same as project changes,
• 01:53 I'll talk more about Project Change Management in a later session.
• 01:57 However, workarounds are a minor replan of the day to day activity.
• 02:01 It's not new scope or a new deliverables for the project,
• 02:04 rather it's meeting the project requirements in a different manner.
• 02:08 When an issue arises the core team should be in charge of resolving the issue.
• 02:13 The core team plans and tracks the day to day activity, as such,
• 02:16 they will normally be the ones to identify issues.
• 02:19 And they are in the best position to plan how to respond to those issues,
• 02:24 the core team develops the workaround plan.
• 02:27 The core team then integrates the workaround plan into the rest of
• 02:31 the project plan.
• 02:32 Since this is not a project change,
• 02:35 I normally do not issue an entirely new project plan.
• 02:38 Instead I redline or markup the existing plan with the other core team members.
• 02:42 And then we all set about implementing this marked up plan,
• 02:46 how is this different from change management?
• 02:48 Well, normally change management gets involved when we have a change to
• 02:52 the goals, objectives or boundary conditions of the project.
• 02:56 In this case, there is no change, so
• 02:58 we don't need to go through the change management process.
• 03:03 Each core team member is responsible for
• 03:04 keeping their extended team members informed of any workarounds.
• 03:07 And the impact that those could have on the extended team member.
• 03:12 Meanwhile, I usually look to the project leader to inform appropriate stakeholders
• 03:17 of the issue and the workaround being used to address the issue.
• 03:20 If the issue is an area which a stakeholder was clearly interested,
• 03:24 be sure to keep them informed.
• 03:26 Just because issues and workarounds are not part of a formal
• 03:29 Project Change Management System does not mean that they aren't attracted all.
• 03:34 Issues and workarounds are usually tracked on an issue log or action item log.
• 03:40 The project leader normally maintains this log, and
• 03:43 all the project core team members work together to resolve the issue.
• 03:46 The log normally tracks who is assigned to lead the workaround and
• 03:50 the current status.
• 03:52 An Issue log creates focus on issue resolution,
• 03:55 the issue log is often reviewed at each project team pulsing meeting.
• 03:59 Progress is tracked to ensure the workaround is implemented and
• 04:02 that the issue is resolved.
• 04:04 The project leader may also use the issue log to communicate with
• 04:07 stakeholders about an aspect of the project status.
• 04:10 Some of the stakeholders will be concerned about some of the issues,
• 04:13 the log is a source of information for them.
• 04:16 Also that the workaround is ineffective and the issue is not resolved.
• 04:20 It may grow into the status of a risk requiring
• 04:22 a more significant risk response, resulting in a need for a project change.
• 04:28 Issues occur frequently on most projects, project teams should be expecting them.
• 04:32 And therefore they should proactively manage them with workarounds and
• 04:36 track the resolution on an issue log.

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