101 Project Management Problems and How to Solve Them

74. How do I survive a late-project work bulge, ensuring both project completion and team cohesion?

We’ve all been here. The deadline looms and an enormous amount of work remains. If your deadline can’t move, it’s best to see problems in advance so you can explore options such as modifying your scope or applying more resources. Regardless of how you proceed, you may bruise some relationships. But by managing well, you can minimize the impact.

Anticipating Problems

As you plan your projects, spend some time reviewing past similar work where the last few weeks were stressful and chaotic. Looking at your past projects, what might you do differently? What recommendations emerged from the lessons learned for projects led by others? How could you run ...