5 Ways to Stay Proactive During Project Delays

Project Delays are an inherent part of any project. Project delays occur as a result of poor planning, inadequate communication, diminishing resources, and changes within the scope of project. Furthermore, project delays result in poor employee morale and reduce the vitality of your project management team.

Fortunately, you can reduce the negative effects of project delays through five key actions. Take a look at how your project management team can maintain a positive environment and stay productive when project delays occur.

Hold Meetings With Team Members and Skilled Workers

Team members and skilled workers may be unaware of current project delays. Therefore, maintaining a strong level of communication with team members and skilled workers is critical to ensuring project delays do not result in project failure. Hold daily meetings with all workers and team members throughout project delays. Request feedback from your team members about possible options and ways to reduce the negative effects of the delay. By staying connected with your workers and team, you can maintain a positive relationship with all affected parties.

Reassess the Current State of Your Project For Other Delays

Delays may be an indicator of problems in the future of your project. When delays occur, reassess the current state of your project. How will the initial delay impact other tasks and activities? Is the delay reasonable, or is the delay simply a means of reducing the cost of your project? These questions will identify why the delay occurred and how similar delays can be minimized in the future.

Divert Resources to Non-Delayed Activities and Tasks

If a delay centers of specific tasks and activities, you may be able to move workers and assignments to non-affected tasks. While this detracts from the schedule of activities, it enables your staff to stay productive when your project suffers from delays. Furthermore, you must consider how delays will affect the overall scope of your project.

Review Data Entry in Risk Analysis

Sometimes, delays may be the result of your project management team and workers’ inability to achieve impractical deadlines. If delays seem to occur without input from executive-level management, review the data and factors in your risk analysis. Conduct an additional risk management analysis to define why and how the problems occurred. If the problem rests with a specific team member, consider administrative action to provide additional training and correct the issue.

Conduct Quality Inspections of Completed and In-Progress Work

Certain project delays may undermine the ability of your team to complete a project within a given time frame. However, these delays cannot be avoided, and your team still needs to stay productive throughout the project. Ask your team members and staff to conduct quality inspections and review completed work for errors. Although this step is normally the last part of a project, you can reduce the overall impact of delays by proceeding with quality inspections.

When you ignore the possibility of project delays, you are more likely to exhibit poor leadership qualities and be unwilling to adapt when delays occur. By taking these five actions, your project management team can stay productive during project delays.

Key Takeaway

• Communication is the most important step in staying productive during project delays.
• Reassess project deadlines and conduct a new risk analysis to identify potential delays in the future.
• Start work on other tasks and activities in advance when delays affect specific parts of your project.
• Conduct preliminary quality inspections if your team is incapable of performing other work until delays have passed.