In orienteering, you need to know where you are and where you need to go in order to succeed. The same principles apply when rescuing troubled projects.

First, determine what’s causing the problem on your project. Are there financial issues? Are there unresolved decisions? What are the outstanding tasks? Was an assumption invalidated? Did a risk materialize? Regardless, list all of the issues in as much detail as you can.

Second, confirm if the project objective is still valid. With the passing of time, economic changes and other factors, your project team may still be marching towards a defunct objective while the project sponsors have changed their expectations long ago.

Third, with your Point A and Point B in place, identify what needs to be done to bring you closer to Point B. Adjust your project management plan as appropriate.

Connect with Dr. John A. Estrella via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.