• Because I view project management as an exercise in problem solving, I don't waste time anticipating what might go wrong; I just fix problems when they hit me.
• I wouldn't know where to look to anticipate potential project problems.
• I believe it's wiser in the long run to pad my budget and schedule so I can withstand project problems than to spend time anticipating them and developing quickly deployable contingency plans.
• I've never had a project problem that was bad enough to warrant a contingency plan (and, therefore, I've come to assume I never will).
• I think contingency plans encourage people to do less than their best because they conclude that, even if they 'mess up', I've got a project saving solution up my sleeve.

Why You Should

You don't waste time or credibility dithering around (read "looking unprepared and, consequently, un-leader-like") while your project deadline becomes less and less possible.

You show your advancement potential by taking the organization's financial resources VERY seriously.

Your other time commitments aren't compromised as you stop everything to fight the fire.

You avoid trashing key participant time commitments by delaying their involvement in subsequent parts of the project.

 

Some Tips On How To

Decide just how much "significant" is when the word is used to describe higher-than-expected project costs. A chat with your Prime Mover may be instructive on this point.

Begin with a careful examination of the critical path (that series of tasks and outcomes that, if prolonged/delayed, would require a postponement of the project result). In particular, look for (a) rookie participants, (b) unfamiliar work, (c) marginally reliable vendors and/or participants and/or (d) the convergence of two or more tasks in order to produce one milestone.

Either on your own (good) or with involved participants (much better), invest some time discussing the answer to three questions; (a) what could go wrong that would result in a delay?, (b) what would be the earliest warning sign that a delay was going to happen and (c) what would be the quickest, cheapest, best thing to do in the event of the delay? Elaborate the answers into a mutually understood 'Plan B'.

Ask key participants (people who are not easily replaced) who you should go to for help in the event they died or some even worse event threatened your project. (Just kidding). Explain that their contribution to the project and its deadline is so crucial that they are one of a small handful of people you're developing worst-case scenario contingency plans around. Try not to intimate that they could back out of the project because you've already got their replacement identified.