Navigating project management challenges: Overly Positive Reporters

Overly Optimistic

I am taking a departure from my usual monthly newsletter to share good writing from another author, Roman Kumar Vyas, published in Entrepreneur on July 5, 2023.?He talks about six types of people that are toxic to your business.?All six personality types can ruin a project, or any business, but I want to focus on the first one, which I find an endemic problem on almost every project:?“Overly Optimistic Reporters.”

Roman describes these individuals as those who “consistently sugarcoat reality, even in the face of glaring metrics indicating otherwise.”?I see this frequently in projects as those who keep bad news to themselves, hoping they can work things out, until it is too late to do anything else.?

You can read what Roman says about all six types at this link:?https://bit.ly/3YkNqOO .

Hiding Bad News

Maybe it is unintentional, but it is hiding bad news.?This often manifests in schedule slippage, where a delay has occurred, but the project manager “hopes” to recover the time before needing to report it at the next major milestone.?The client is left in the dark until there is no hope to correct the problem and the overall project slips.

This lack of transparency creates a schism between the project team and the client or sponsor.?Perhaps worse, it removes the client’s ability to be part of the problem solving, to come up with and execute measure that actually recover time or mitigate the impact.

My experience

We have had two experiences in recent years where our team was brought in solely for commissioning services.?In both cases it became obvious to us rather quickly that the project was behind the schedule being reported.?In one case the client didn’t know it.?In the other case neither the client or the project manager realized how behind they were.

After highlighting and confirming the issue, we assisted in problem solving, and in the end, we were promoted in both projects to a client-advocate position that supervised the entire project.

Conclusion

Hoping a schedule slip will get recovered over time is not the right approach.?Asking “what specific steps will let us recover the time, and when, and how much,” needs to be the way the solution starts.

Don't let unexpected challenges sidetrack your industrial manufacturing projects. Subscribe to the "Sideways" newsletter to stay ahead of potential pitfalls and navigate project management challenges with confidence. Or, if you have a specific project need, feel free to reach out to the author for support.

A quick advert:

We excel in commissioning management.?The biggest difference between us and others is our focus on the entire operational process, not just the startup of the machines.?Call if you’d like to discuss your commissioning challenges.

About the author:

Ned Mitenius is the Founder and Senior Consultant at Periscope Consulting, LLC, in Cape Canaveral, FL. A graduate of the Naval Academy, Ned uses the skills he learned as an officer on nuclear submarines to solve complex problems for his clients in the food processing industry. Ned and his team consult for some of the largest companies in the country, managing the installation of production lines in new manufacturing facilities and the renovation of production lines in existing plants.

If you are facing a complex project management problem (or trying to avoid one), call Ned at 817-825-6343 or email him at [email protected]. You can also get on his calendar at https://calendly.com/ned-15/30min.