Q&A with Anoj Kumar

Project Manager

What is the hardest part of any web or print project, in your opinion? 

First, understanding and documenting business requirements in detail to a level that work can be assigned to an individual and monitored efficiently. Document the success criteria for each requirement in the beginning to avoid last minute surprises.

Secondly, dealing with Scope Creep (adding of new requirements once the design and architecture for the project has been confirmed.) This could have great impact on budget, schedule and resources. One should have a proper change management process in pace to handle scope creep.

Lastly, which technology should we use? With so many tools out there to get the job done, teams need to understand their resource strength and at same time technology should be aligned with the organization’s goals.

How do you handle it when you notice a project is going off track?

When you see the project is off track, you should do a root cause analysis on why the project went off track in the first place. Was it because new requirements were added or was the resource not able to complete the task due to technical challenges etc. 

Once you know the why, you should find out what should be done to get the project back on track. In a simple situation it could be to hire a new resource who is an expert in that field, reduce the scope of the project (not suggested) only if you can get approval from the business, or perhaps work overtime to catch up.

The third question to answer is when do you need to take these steps. If you delay in making the decision, your other tasks on the project may go off track due to dependency. Decide on your action’s timeline ASAP.

Now, once you have gathered the required information above, communicate the issue with all of the stakeholders along with the solution you are proposing to bring the project back on track. Note: If you do not have the solution yet still go ahead and inform the stakeholders about the delay in your daily or weekly status report. 

Whose fault is it when you have to go back and perform work again because what you did wasn’t what ultimately was needed?

This means one of the two things. First – The requirements were not documented in detail or broken-down to a level that it could be easily understood by the tech team. Also, the pass / success criteria for the web project functionality might be missing against which the work could have been verified. In this case the Business Analyst should be accountable.

Second –  The business team is not happy with what has been developed and asks the team to make changes. If the work was performed as per the requirement that was initially signed-off by the business team then this should be considered as a change request. In this case Business Partners will be accountable. Project managers should work with Business to get a new schedule and budget for the work being requested.

Who is the ultimate decision maker in any project you work on?

The Sponsor of the project (the Owner) is the ultimate decision maker.

What would make your job or role on any project easier?

Access to resources that could remove roadblocks on the project. This could be access to stakeholders, technology, software and most importantly a leader to lead the project from the front.