The Art of Project Management

11.8. Summary

• No matter what you do, things will go wrong.

• If you can stay calm and break problems down into pieces, you can handle many difficult situations. (Remember the rough guide.)

• There are some common situations to expect, which include oversights, being forced to do stupid things, resource shortages, low quality, direction changes, personnel issues, and threats of mutiny.

• Difficult times are learning opportunities. Make sure you and your team take the time to examine what happened and how it could have been avoided.

• Taking responsibility for situations, regardless of who caused them, always helps to expedite resolving the problem.

• In extreme situations, go into damage-control mode. Do whatever it takes to get the project to a known and stable state.

• Negotiation is useful not only in a crisis situation, but also in management. Good negotiators work from people's interests, not their positions.

• Have clear lines of authority at all times. People should know who has decision-making power before a crisis occurs.

• People respond to pressure in different ways. Be observant and open in how you help the team deal with the different kinds of pressure.