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Task Accountability is the project management activity associated with ensuring successful completion of project activities.

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Quick reference

Task Accountability

Task Accountability is the project management activity associated with ensuring successful completion of project activities at the task level.

When to use

Task Accountability is required from all project team members.  When a task is completed, it should be checked by another team member, normally a Core Team member, to ensure successful completion.

On some projects, technical reviews will also be used to check on successful completion of the project activities.  These reviews are conducted by an independent team of experts and are covered in more detail in module 10.3, Technical Reviews.

When working with vendors or suppliers on unique project tasks, a work authorization process is often used to direct and control the effort at the supplier.  

Instructions

High risk tasks are often tracked with detailed “mini-deliverables” to monitor the progress.  Low risk tasks are often tracked simply by ensuring the required resources are in place and working on the task.

  1. Task requirements for quality, schedule, and cost are normally set during project planning.  This may occur at the beginning of the project or at the beginning of the phase in which the task will be accomplished.
  2. The start of the task and completion of the task should be reported at the project pulse meeting (see module on Team Meetings).
  3. Following task completion, a Core Team member should meet with the task leader to review the task results and check for completeness.
  4. When required, a Technical Review will be held to check for the completeness of a group of tasks that comprise a technical deliverable on the project.

Hints & tips

  • Establish a standard practice in your project that every task will be reviewed by a Core Team member.  This is not meant to be a personal “performance review,” rather it is a double check of team members to be sure that nothing is accidentally forgotten or overlooked.  
  • Do the Core Team member review as soon as the task is complete because the work is fresh in the task leader’s mind and they can quickly answer questions.
  • If possible, have the Core Team member who will be using the result of the task in their next task conduct the review.
  • When working with suppliers and vendors on unique tasks, the work authorization process will help to keep them in sync with the project.  Otherwise they may get ahead of the project team and do work that will need to be repeated – and they will charge to do it twice.
  • The level of task risk should determine whether to monitor a task with “mini-deliverables” or “level of effort.”  Risk may be because of technical complexity, organizational complexity, skill or experience of individuals conducting the task, time urgency, or resource scarcity. 
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  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I'd like to talk with you now about another aspect to project execution and
  • 00:09 that's task accountability.
  • 00:13 You need to ensure that the task have been completely correctly on your project.
  • 00:18 As a reminder the task completion requirements are set at the time of scope
  • 00:22 planning, as part of the task description.
  • 00:25 When I'm checking for task completion, I want to make sure that I have objective
  • 00:29 evidence, not just trust me on the part of the person doing the work.
  • 00:33 They need to show that the work has been done and
  • 00:35 that the task completion point has been achieved.
  • 00:38 The result of each task completion should be documented in your project management
  • 00:42 files.
  • 00:43 This becomes part of the project knowledge management system.
  • 00:46 To determine success measure the performance against your
  • 00:49 project planning baselines.
  • 00:51 The deliverables and
  • 00:52 task completion definitions are used to make sure that the scope is complete.
  • 00:57 The timing is normally found in either the Gantt chart or the Network Diagram and
  • 01:01 your budget plan is your Budget Baseline.
  • 01:04 So, let's talk for a moment about validating the task completion.
  • 01:07 The quality requirements for
  • 01:09 each task is should only be found in the WBS task planning.
  • 01:13 This is part of the task description for each task.
  • 01:16 When a task is done I usually have an independent review by someone on
  • 01:20 the project team.
  • 01:21 They check the work to make sure that something wasn't accidentally overlooked.
  • 01:25 This practice is a team member watching out for other team members.
  • 01:29 This is normally done as a quick review, and my preferred team member to do this is
  • 01:33 the person who'll be using the results of that task activity next.
  • 01:37 There may also be several times in your project
  • 01:40 where you have major independent reviews by external reviewers.
  • 01:44 These individuals typically are looking at a set of project deliverables,
  • 01:48 things like design reviews, test reviews, code reviews or manufacturing reviews.
  • 01:53 These will be major milestones.
  • 01:55 The reviewers are experts who are not part of the team.
  • 01:59 Their job is to ensure that everything was done correctly and appropriately.
  • 02:03 We'll talk more about these technical reviews in another lesson.
  • 02:08 While the work is in progress, meaning the task has started but not finished.
  • 02:12 It needs to be monitored to ensure that people are completing the work and
  • 02:16 avoid surprises along the way.
  • 02:18 There are two ways that you can monitor this work.
  • 02:21 One approach is to monitor the work as a series of tasks or mini-deliverables.
  • 02:26 Essentially, you take the task and break it up into many little micro tasks.
  • 02:31 Task progress is tracked by checking the completion of each of these micro tasks.
  • 02:36 This creates a very detailed plan, and is normally documented with a task list or
  • 02:40 action item list.
  • 02:41 This gives maximum control to the project leader or
  • 02:44 a core team member who's overseeing this task.
  • 02:46 They're able to check off each of these micro tasks to ensure that the work has
  • 02:50 been done.
  • 02:51 But it is also a lot of work on the part of the project leader.
  • 02:54 The other approach is to delegate responsibility for
  • 02:57 managing the progress of the task to the individual doing that task.
  • 03:01 The only thing monitored by the project leader or overseeing core team member
  • 03:05 is whether or not they are working at their planned level of effort.
  • 03:08 In this case, the person doing the work will handle all the detailed planning for
  • 03:12 the task.
  • 03:13 The project leader only has the top level task description for
  • 03:16 the task activities to be done.
  • 03:18 The project leader ensures that the appropriate resources have been assigned
  • 03:22 and are working on the task.
  • 03:24 The task leader has control over insuring that all the work is done correctly and
  • 03:28 that adequate progress is being made.
  • 03:31 Where appropriate,
  • 03:32 delegation of responsibility to the task leader makes good sense.
  • 03:35 The work load on the project manager is reduced and
  • 03:38 decision making is done by those closest to the work.
  • 03:41 So how do you decide which approach to use?
  • 03:44 The project and task risk should guide your decision.
  • 03:47 High risk tasks should be managed as a series of micro tasks.
  • 03:51 Essentially, micro managing the high risk.
  • 03:53 Low risk tasks just monitor the level of effort.
  • 03:57 The last topic I would like to discuss in this area of task accountability
  • 04:00 is the work authorization process.
  • 04:03 I use this process for suppliers and vendors, and sometimes for
  • 04:06 extended team members who are not part of the normal core team.
  • 04:09 And therefore are a little removed from team decision making.
  • 04:12 This process can be either formal or informal, depending upon whether it is
  • 04:16 used with a supplier or vendor or is being used with internal team members.
  • 04:21 The process gives specific direction and
  • 04:23 describes the level of task accountability.
  • 04:26 The process will specify what activities have been assigned to that supplier,
  • 04:30 vendor, or team member.
  • 04:31 Also, the date for those activities to be completed, the expected quality level for
  • 04:36 each of the task deliverables.
  • 04:38 And how much money or time they're authorized to spend before coming back to
  • 04:42 the project management to ask for additional authority.
  • 04:45 Finally, if there are any interim reporting requirements along the way,
  • 04:49 such as weekly phone calls or monthly reviews, these will be identified.
  • 04:53 The work authorization process helps the project leader
  • 04:56 to keep track of those who are doing work on the project.
  • 04:59 But where the project leader does not have direct oversight.
  • 05:03 The project leader can ensure that they stay in sync
  • 05:06 with the rest of the project team through this approach.
  • 05:11 The project leader tracks the task completion
  • 05:13 to ensure progress is being made.
  • 05:15 Now although team members are accountable for task completion.
  • 05:19 The project leader needs to know the status
  • 05:22 to effectively manage project execution.

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