Project Crashing and How to Overcome Them

An organization or company still has the potential for failure when executing a project. Regardless of planning before the project starts, project crashing can occur due to various factors such as funding or changes in priorities.

The running of a project remains a responsibility that must be completed. For this reason, there are stages that need to be considered even just to end the project. If not done well, managers can have difficulty managing resources.

What Is a Stalled Project?

A stalled project is a bottleneck situation experienced by an organization that causes significant change. In these situations, planning is needed to shorten the project completion time significantly.

In a stalled project condition, the required resources may be different. However, it is likely that there will be additional people and result in increased costs. Instead of doing so, implementing project crashing is only done when it's urgent.

A project manager is usually assigned to be able to achieve the results or all the goals expected at the start of the project in a faster time. The main idea that needs to be fulfilled in a stuck project is not to reduce its scope.

How to Do Strategic Management in a Jammed Project

Basically, the strategy that needs to be done when a project is stuck is to speed up its completion. This means that there are several major steps that must be changed while ensuring the integrity of the project is well maintained.

1. Defining the Essential Path

Every project has triple constraints that need to be met, namely scope, cost, and time. The initial process that a manager must carry out in a stalled project is a scope check. This refers to identifying the components or tasks to complete the project.

After knowing the clear scope of task identification, the manager must be able to speed up the completion time. This is known as the critical path method (CPM) which can be used to chart new directions such as adding team members.

2. Determine Shortenable Tasks

Ending a project is not always associated with more resource allocation. In some conditions, there may be tasks that are reduced so that the task completion time is shorter.

For example, suppose an IT manager is given the responsibility of updating the software for 25 employees' computers. Through identification, there are five computers that don't really need updating for their work needs. So, project execution can be changed by only updating software on 20 employees' computers.

3. Calculate Financing Opportunities

A manager should also examine the reduction in time that can be achieved when implementing a new strategy compared to the negative effects of projects that miss deadlines. This is what can affect financing if more resources are needed.

4. Choose the Cheapest Approach

When determining a strategy for dealing with a stalled project, there may be more than one alternative. In this case, a manager also needs to choose the least expensive approach so that the project is completed on time.

For example, in the similar case example mentioned above, the IT manager wants to accelerate the project with additional manpower. If two professional workers are added, it can speed up the project by two days, but an additional five people can speed up the project by four days. In this condition, with the same number of working hours it would be better to add resources so that the project can be completed more quickly.

5. Update Budget and Schedule Accordingly

With all decisions made, managers must update budgets and timelines to reflect new resource allocations. Information on these changes must also be conveyed to stakeholders (stakeholders).

Managers may require authorization from stakeholders to approve additional human resources or new financing. In this case, the project managers must be able to clearly explain the benefits of the proposed alternative.

For example, managers determine a new budget and timeline that outlines what time and resources are needed, and what efficiency savings the company will realize. Stakeholders will give approval quickly if they can see that the savings are in line with expectations.

Decision making in a stalled project or it can be said as a failed project is a tentative condition. There are several conditions that allow completion as planned. However, in order for the project's ultimate goal to be achieved, a manager must still be able to determine a strategy when a project is declared stalled or failed.