How to Take Over Someone’s Project (And Not Fail) in 4 Steps
Replacing the manager of an existing project can feel overwhelming. You might face missed milestones, frustrated team members, cost overruns, etc.
Even if the project isn’t in trouble, learning about the tasks and blending in with the project team takes time and effort.
Let’s see how you can turn project takeover challenges into opportunities for transformation and success!
1. Meet with the original manager
If possible, arrange a meeting with the original manager of the project you’re taking over. This person can typically provide valuable insights about the project's history, objectives, deliverables, etc.
This is also a great opportunity to hear about project risks and issues, especially since some of them may not be officially documented.
If this meeting can’t happen, don’t worry — you can still gather all the information through formal documents.
2. Study the project documentation
When picking up an ongoing project, read the documents available, especially the project management plan.
It’s best to keep all the relevant data on a centralized platform. If your company doesn’t use one or if you find that the software used could be more helpful, consider Plaky, a simple yet powerful PM tool.
All project information can be transferred to Plaky for clear visualization and monitoring. Pay special attention to the following elements:
Understand the project goals and timeline
Understanding project goals ensures efficient use of time, focus, and resources.
To make goal tracking a breeze, rely on Plaky. Simply create boards with goals covering different activities or periods and use customizable fields to provide details (Text, Numbers, Date, Link, and more).
If not already available, we suggest you make a Gantt chart. This is perfect for visualizing project phases, individual assignments, deadlines, etc.
To enhance data visualization and overall efficiency, also check out the conditional coloring feature. This means that any item or field gets colored automatically based on certain criteria you apply, offering additional clarity and ease of navigation.
Consider the project budget
Every project has a plan describing how much can be spent during each phase. Being aligned with the project budget plan is essential for:
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To have an accurate insight into budget matters upon joining a project, keep all the project expenses — such as equipment purchasing, marketing materials, professional fees, etc. — in one place.
Look at the project risks
Look for a risk log and keep it at hand to prevent oversights and enable prompt risk mitigation.
Although a list of risks can be created in various programs, it’s much more convenient to have it on a centralized platform where relevant users can always access it.
You could create risk probability and severity categories with as many degrees as needed, assign a risk owner, define mitigation measures, and so on.
3. Communicate effectively
You first need to meet with the project team to learn more about everyone’s roles and discuss the project as a whole.
Also, reaching out to the key stakeholders is a must when taking over a project. Your objective is to understand their needs and exhibit your competence.
Since remote work has become so common, it can be challenging to make everyone feel involved, but modern times come with modern solutions — PM tools where everyone can share thoughts and ideas and foster team communication and collaboration.
For instance, every item in Plaky comes with a comment section — perfect for remarks and reminders.
4. Establish a monitoring routine
The way you observe progress varies from project to project, but essentially, you need to closely follow the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), risks, and costs.
Regularly updating the status of each task is crucial here. You want to make sure everyone follows the timeline and marks the progress made, but you don’t want to micromanage.?
This is why features like Plaky’s activity log are so practical. Your team members don’t need to report on every little update — you can always see who changed what and when and how it looked before the change.
Use Plaky for a smooth project takeover
Plaky’s flexible and detailed yet uncluttered workspace ensures precision and transparency, maintaining project quality and stakeholder satisfaction when taking over an existing project.
For streamlined project takeovers and centralized management, sign up for Plaky now.