Project Management Skill Sharpener Learning Frame One Lo

Skill Sharpener Item #7

I ask all project participants for preliminary commitments to complete their project tasks on schedule and to hand off an acceptable intermediate result.

Outstanding! Here are some of the benefits you've probably received because you make the priority of your project clear by specifically asking for individual commitments to deliver timely results that meet mutually understood standards:

You know with much greater confidence that your project participants will do what's needed when it's needed than if you depended on an impression of willingness that may turn out to be simple politeness or conflict avoidance.

You help your participants manage their time better because they know that time must be set aside to do project work if they intend to honor their commitment.

You avoid the anger and arguments that result from participant attempts to convince you that they didn't really say they'd deliver an intermediate result on a particular date or at all.

Participants are much more likely to complete milestone results that the people who receive hand-offs can use than if you left intermediate result standards unstated/undocumented.