Have you ever been assigned to lead a project that was already in trouble? Can troubled projects be recovered, or are they doomed to fail? How do we know whether we can still rescue it or we just have to terminate it? With little time to hone the perfect approach, project managers need to be able to identify and address the major causes of their troubled projects. Then, by understanding the causes, they can effectively deal with the issues, mitigate major risks and manage stakeholder expectations. However, sometimes, the project is simply a 100% outright disaster. In this case, project managers should prepare themselves to come up with choices. They should be able to stand up and escalate to senior management/project owners to gain their decisions on whether to proceed. Whether a troubled project ultimately succeeds or fails depends on the effectiveness of the actions taken to recover the project. Before these actions can be taken, however, project managers need to be able to recognize problems and prepare to take appropriate corrective measures. All of these actions need to be carried out with speed, accuracy and focus. Through this presentation you will learn practical processes and techniques to assess the status of a project, to determine whether you can rescue the project through recovery plans, then finally to turn the project around.

2. • 15+ years of experience in Project Management / Program Management,
particularly in the financial, telecommunication and manufacturing sectors
• Past experiences: Deloitte Consulting South East Asia, Mitra Integrasi
Informatika (Metrodata Group), Danamon Bank, and Mitsubishi Group
• Lecturer of Project Management, Postgraduate Program, Faculty of
Computer Science, University of Indonesia
• PMI Subject Matter Expert (SME), Chapter Volunteer of PMI Japan
Chapter and PMI Indonesia Chapter
• Panelist/speaker at conferences in US, Germany, Japan and others
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3. Terminated
Failed
Recovered
Successful
6%
12%
25%
47%
Significant number of projects
are at risk every year.
Of the 20,821 projects that
were closed in the past 12
months in the firms surveyed,
37% were at risk and were
either recovered or failed
Source: PM Solutions, 2011

4. Requirements: Unclear, lack of
agreement, lack of priority,
contradictory, ambiguous, imprecise
Resources: Lack of resources,
resource conflicts, turnover of
key resources, poor planning
Schedules: Too tight,
unrealistic, overly
optimistic
Planning: Based on insufficient data, missing
items, insufficient details, poor estimates
Risks: Unidentified or
assumed, not managed
Troubled
Project

5. Detection
Assessment
Strategy Plan
Execution

6. Understand the project tolerances first
Verify if the project is really in trouble
If the variance trends have exceeded
acceptable levels of tolerance 
Project is in trouble

7. Tolerances
% Variance between planned & actual
schedule
% Variance between budgeted & actual
Cost
% contractual deliverables completed on
schedule
% Variance between budgeted & used
resources
Number of risks with high probability &
impact
Indicators
No feasible dates on project completion
Key stakeholders are discontent
The morale of the project team has hit
rock bottom
Never-ending scope creep
Missing priorities

8. Source: ESI, 2007

9. Detection
Assessment
Strategy Plan
Execution

10.  Determine the current status of the
project
 Identify major threats, opportunities,
and problems
 Begin to consider recovery overall as
the recovery team
Source: ESI, 2007

11. Is the project still
important to project
sponsor?
Will the project still give
value to
business/organization?
Is the project
technology still viable?
Does the project still
have key stakeholders’
buy-in?
Are there any
contractual or judicial
disputes that make
project unfeasible?
Can the project
continue as planned
and defined ?
Are the resource needs
to produce the desired
recovery available?
Are the vital signs are in
acceptable range
Does PM/new PM have
the interest and
capacity to do what
needs to be done to
recover the project?

12. Detection
Assessment
Strategy Plan
Execution

13. • Set expectations with project sponsors first
• Worst-case scenario simulation
• Two choices:
– Continue
– Terminate

14. A. De-scope
B. Adding Budget
C. Extend the time
D. Redefine

15. Addition : carry the work & resources
to another project
Starvation: terminate work
due to no resource
Extinction: terminate project immediately
and release resourcesAbsorption : carry only the work to
another project

16. Definition
Assessment
Strategy Plan
Execution

18. Improving
communication
, stakeholder
management,
62%
Redefining the
project
(descope,
extend timeline
etc), 60%
Adding and/or
removing
resources, 58%
Resolving
problematic
technical
issues, 49%
Assigning the
recovery
project
manager, 36%
Source: PM Solutions, 2011

19. THANK YOU