It can be as simple as a little blip on the project radar or it can be as large as complete project shutdown and ultimate cancellation and failure. What I am talking about is the act of bringing on a contractor for your technical project, construction project, or other type of project work only to have the contractor bail on the work – sometimes at the worst possible time – leaving you to figure out how best to get the work done, keep the customer satisfied, and keep the project going. Sometimes it’s possible, sometimes it isn’t, and sometimes you may have to take legal action.
I had this come up personally on a construction project recently. Thankfully there is a contractors board to start with who will give a costly citation to the culprit…a second complaint can put the offending party in jail. Outside of that it is going to be up to me to take legal action. In terms of technical projects, however, your options are probably dictated by whatever contract you legally entered into, though everyone and anyone can certainly try to sue. The best thing to do is to document dates, dollars, and conversations. Having that information organized and at the ready is always your best possible situation to be in and can serve you well if legal action is the final recourse.
Aside from (or in order to try to mitigate and avoid) legal action, what can you do?
Continue reading “What if Your Contractor Flakes on You? – Part 1”
As much as we would like to think that we are free and clear to run our project and determine its outcome….the reality is that is not true. Every project – really no matter what the type of project, what industry the project is in, and what level or type of technology is utilized in the solution – has three major constraints. These are always going to be budget, time, and quality. There really is no way to avoid these.
I would like to think that as the project is winding down I know whether my customer is satisfied with the implementation or whether they feel there have been some issues and concerns. I will also be the first to admit that I have been surprised both ways…so it is never a certainty.
Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned on the projects we run as project managers. That easily goes without saying because we’ve all had projects that experienced bumps in the road or redirections at some point during the engagement. If it’s minor, then you can fairly easily redirect the project and activities, reassign things where necessary, make slight adjustments to the plan and budget, and be moving forward very quickly in the right, new direction.
Issues abound on every project ever managed since the beginning of time. No project is executed so perfectly that no issues arise. And even if everything is running smoothly on all cylinders, there will still be issues that come up that are beyond the control of the project manager, team and other stakeholders…. there are just too many variables that come in to play on each engagement for issues not to arise. So basically, no matter what you do, no matter how well you plan, no matter how experienced you are and no matter how hard you try, you will never ever run a project that does not experience some issues along the way that must be documented and managed.
I will be the first to state that I very much like to work independently. And that is the beauty of project management. Much of what we do we do independently. I realize that all depends on the actual makeup of your organization and your project management infrastructure. But I can say from my experience…that most of the organizations I have worked in have given their project managers fairly free rein to succeed or fail. Yes, there has been structure, but in terms of the daily management of our projects, we have been able to engage customers, make decisions, and manage tasks on our own – always knowing we can reach out if necessary, of course. Sound ideal? It is. But it can also alienate some individuals and leave some project managers feeling a bit like an island rather than part of a group. It’s all about personal preference and your ability to manage your own time and thoughts and to make the big boy decisions when they need to be made (and to know when to make them as well).