SUMMARY:

When you’re a project manager, sometimes you may be faced with a difficult decision that requires you to make a tradeoff. You can use the triple constraint PM decision making framework to help you weigh your options and determine the best path forward for the project, while still staying realistic and keeping your goals in mind. This framework can be a helpful tool for all types of project management decisions, especially when you have to deal with stakeholders who are not always easy to work with. Here are a few tips for making difficult project management decisions with the triple constraint model in mind.

 

 

If you find yourself in a position of authority in your organization, you will soon find that some project management decisions are difficult to make. Fortunately, there are some steps that you can take to improve your decision making skills and keep the project on track or risks under control.

One of the most effective decision making techniques is to quantify the pros and cons of each option. This simple process can help you quickly make an objective choice and get on with the job.

But sometimes you need more that just a checklist.  Some pros can become cons in the long term.  eg. a quick software fix to please a customer can have long term ramifications.

1. Triple Constraint PM Decision Making Framework

Making difficult project management decisions requires you to be able to recognize competing demands. This helps you make adjustments to keep the project scope, time, and cost in balance.

Using the triple constraint theory is an effective way to make these adjustments and ensure that goals remain realistic and achievable. When you make a change to one of the three constraints, it will impact the other two.

The triple constraint model is useful when negotiating with stakeholders about changes in costs, time, and scope. It allows you to offer them options for increasing Scope in exchange for more Time and Cost, or delivering sooner (less Time) in exchange for a decrease in Scope and increased Cost.

Since RISK affects all three of those options, you may need to make pro/con lists for each of the three scenarios.

Finally, also, compare the values, principles and moral arguments supporting each option. That will expose potential BIASES.

2. Identify the Decision

Are you asking the RIGHT question?  When it comes to making difficult project management decisions, there are a few key factors that should be taken into consideration. These include the decision’s impact on scope, quality, staffing (you don’t want key staff to quit) and buy-in/adoptability.

Identifying the decision is a critical step because it ensures that you and your team have as much of the information you need to make an informed choice. You’ll never have ALL the info you think you need. “You can only make the best decision you can with the facts you have at that moment”.

Sometimes you can have the luxury of waiting, and putting off a critical decision, but that is RARE.

Gathering all relevant and appropriate information, pulling in subject matter experts and / or stakeholders as needed.

After you’ve gathered all the information and discussed options, it is time to evaluate them and select one. You can do this by reviewing available information, potential paths forward, and pros / cons of each option to determine which is the preferred option based on agreed criteria.

3. Gather Information

Making difficult project management decisions can be a daunting task. Often, the right decision can make or break a project.

In order to make the right decision, project managers must gather all relevant information. This can include a mix of data from the project team, other stakeholders, and outside sources such as competitors or market research.

Usually, the best way to collect this information is by using a process such as SIPOC diagrams and problem trees or brainstorming with a group of subject matter experts. Taking the time to do so will lead to a better outcome. Waiting to make a decision costs time and money. Software architects can cost $200/hr. Experienced PM’s even more from a consulting firm.   So the PM is going to push to get a decision quickly.

You can control the risk of delays by being clear about key decision points in the project.  Contingency time may need to be built into the schedule to allow time for key executives to all coordinate their schedules to meet.  As well, if you have a team of stakeholders, at the start of the project make sure they assign someone as the FINAL decision maker, who is senior enough to have the power of VETO.

The next time you have a decision to make, you’ll know what the appropriate steps are to reach a successful outcome.

4. Evaluate and Select Options

How are your conflict and negotiation skills?  How you manage all the stakeholders at the decision meeting, before and after will matter greatly.  Things can get VERY heated when money is on the line. (and egos).

BUT: You need a decision. Now. or x y and z impacts will happen.  Some people may try to derail the conversation by bringing up new ideas or asking for more time.  Be prepared for that, and speak to the ground rules of the meeting at the start so you can deal with it appropriately.  Stay calm 🙂

5. Take Action

Your project or initiative isn’t achieving its milestones, then it’s time to evaluate what’s going on. Evaluations can help you determine whether you’re getting the results you want, identify weaknesses and strengths in your organization or initiative, and suggest new processes or controls.

You’ve discussed everything, gotten buy-in, and gotten a decision from the group. Now take action, and report back the impact as soon as you can to help reassure everyone. (or meet again, and discuss a new difficult decision).

As a project manager, it’s important to know how to manage the budget, schedule and scope of your projects. With these tips in mind, you can make sure your project stays on track and achieves your objectives.

 

SUMMARY:
There are numerous kinds of risks that nonprofits face, and an excellent Risk Management strategy will resolve each one of them. Your risk management procedure includes identifying risks, developing a strategy to handle them, executing the strategy, and routinely evaluating and upgrading the org’s processes. It is essential to understand what risks your nonprofit organization and your finance team deals with in order to avoid them and alleviate the possible damage to the nonprofit’s reputation and objective.

Nonprofit Project Management Finance Risks:

When you’re dealing with a nonprofit project, your finance team needs to understand how to handle risks and threats. This means recognizing risk locations, assessing potential problems, and planning for these dangers. Here are some pointers. Keep in mind that some unplanned contingency is necessary in your project plan. It is necessary to weigh the risks versus the prospective reward, and mitigate them properly.

Recognizing risk:

The primary step is to determine the risks. By listing them, you can make them visible to all stakeholders, so that they can be examined, discussed and mitigated. It is vital to figure out the approximate impact each risk will have in terms of finance, schedule, or even Brand/PR impact. As soon as you have recognized your threat areas, you can figure out which risks are the greatest priority and how to handle them.

Budget threats are those including the loss of money or assets. These threats impact all nonprofits, and they ought to be considered. In addition to funds, nonprofits have physical properties that are at danger. These properties can be harmed by fire, flood, workers, volunteers, and even computer hackers. For instance, some nonprofits have a warehouse filled with products that can be damaged by a fire or theft. Such a loss would have an extreme influence on the mission of the organization.

Examining Risk is an ongoing task for the PM and the Finance team:

Risk evaluation involves identifying the kinds of dangers that a nonprofit organization might deal with and evaluating them. The secret is to make the risks as understandable as possible to all stakeholders to get their buy-in to change or mitigate. A common framework is to ranked from 1 to 10 to determine the risk severity.

Nonprofits face a variety of special dangers, but your concerns will overlap with for-profit companies too. In particular, nonprofits have to deal with cybersecurity threats, which can lead to the direct exposure of sensitive information about donors. They also require to mitigate threats connected with theft, which might take place internally. Internal actors might steal cash or resources from nonprofits, compromising their financial health and preventing them from being able to complete their mission.

Risk Mitigation Approach: Decreasing the Risk:

While a lot of nonprofit project management dangers focus on loss of funds or money, nonprofits likewise deal with threats related to their physical assets. Every organization has office home furnishings, fixtures, devices, and supplies that can be harmed or destroyed by fire, flood, staff member or volunteer negligence.
Often outsourcing expertise by hiring a specific PM or 3rd party consultant can help decrease risk, thanks to their experience or toolset.

To decrease the risk related to the financial management of nonprofit projects, nonprofits should plan Project policies and processes. This consists of accounting and general management controls, including regular monthly reassessment.

Good Risk management methods involve the board, management, and personnel of nonprofits. The board should participate in risk management by working as an oversight committee or appointing a threat manager. These specialists are responsible for evaluating the dangers and recognizing ways to handle them. They can also help avoid or alleviate certain risks that might develop.

While danger management strategies are often perceived as an annoyance, they can prove to be a hero in some scenarios. Staff need to practice fire drills, but also other danger threat response drills. Be sure to have a reward afterward, to have the staff see it as a positive experience.

Risk Mitigation Approach: Accepting a Risk:

Nonprofit Finance teams often deal with a range of risks when planning and executing their jobs. While some risks are major and might bring the organization to a complete dead stop, others are more minor and will only trigger quick responses. BUT, you need a plan, and have everyone agree and understand the mitigation plan, or else you or the PM can’t respond quickly.