What do you do if your engineering management project is falling behind schedule?

If an engineering management project is falling behind schedule, it's crucial to take swift action to address the issue and realign efforts towards meeting project goals. Here's a concise plan: Firstly, assess the root causes of the delay, whether it's resource constraints, technical challenges, or scope changes. Open and transparent communication with stakeholders is vital. Discuss the delay openly, outlining its impact and potential solutions. Next, reallocate resources as needed, prioritizing tasks to focus on critical path activities. Monitor progress closely, identifying bottlenecks and implementing mitigation measures promptly.

When we found that we are losing 72 hours during setup of Microtunneling machines specially after completing lines. After precise study to the situation, we concluded that the problem was wasting some time to di-assemble the site and rotate the thrust frames then re-cast the concrete. We had to reduce this downtime to the minimum. We increased the number of thrust frames to exactly double the number of machines. Cost of operation went up by around 15%, but we reduced the lost time from 72 hours to 16–20 hours only. which led at the end to finish the project earlier.

With the root causes identified, revisit your project's initial goals and objectives. These foundational elements should guide your efforts to realign the project's course. Evaluate whether these goals remain attainable or require modification in light of new realities. Adjusting deliverables or recalibrating milestones might be necessary to create a feasible path forward. This reassessment ensures that the project's objectives remain clear, achievable, and relevant, enabling focused progress within the updated timeframe.

Imprevistos fazem parte de toda gestão de projetos, por isso, primeiro ponto é ter identificado, o caminho crítico na gestão de riscos e ter uma gestão de mudanças que identifique o efeito nos prazos. Assim será mais ágil para evitar ou recuperar os atrasos. Com esta visão na mão, quando do atraso ou risco, reunir a equipe com mais experiência para verificar as ações possíveis como a realocação de recursos, simplificação de atividades com controle dos riscos pelo gestor do projeto, ativar cadeia de ajuda para buscar suporte fora da equipe, quando possível e botar a mão na massa se preciso para recuperar. A agilidade é ponto chave, precisa ter coragem e foco no resultado para atingir a meta.

O my god! It used to be a regular thing for me. Changing priorities, lack of focus and what not used be in the way for getting few of my projects done. Glad I got an opportunity to add on how i used to get it done. 1) Grab your attention 100% to this - I know its easier said than done. But until you are on it 100% dont expect your team to be 2) Grab your manager attention - Yes, you will be need it because he has key role to play in diffusing off other priorities that may come in the way and also it might be that he has to take some of the heat as well 3) Blow the bigul to all stakeholders - You are ON, your manager is ON, get the team's attention along with their managers.. So the army is ready. Now, Go full ON. Enjoy the journey!