Milestones slip
A week, then two, then "early next month". Each postponement is reasonable; their sum is not.
Project structuring
Turning around a drifting project, and scoping the next ones
A project almost never goes off the rails all at once: it drifts in silence, and the drift is discovered at invoicing, when it can no longer be recovered. We step in to make it visible, deal with it alongside the client, then put in place the governance that will prevent the next one.
The signs
Six signs that a project is already drifting.
Taken one by one, none raises an alarm. Together, they say it is time to act.
The remaining work does not shrink
The team produces every week, and the remaining work stagnates. Scope grows faster than progress.
Requests stay verbal
"The client asked for it in a meeting." Nobody wrote it down, nobody will bill it. PMI reported scope creep on 52% of projects (Pulse of the Profession 2018).
Minutes are not approved
The committee meets, the minutes go out by email, and nobody approves them. Six months later, everyone has their own version of what was decided.
The team holds on through extra hours
Evenings, weekends, and a project manager who no longer answers. The project holds; the team does not.
The client finds out before you
The delay comes up through the client, not through the team. It is a sign that information flows poorly internally, not just that the project is late. The causes, and what changes →
What the studies say
The method is not the cause; governance is.
V-cycle, agile or hybrid, performance is nearly identical from one method to another (PMI, Pulse of the Profession). What separates the projects that succeed from the rest is how they are steered.
31%
of projects are truly successful
The Standish Group, CHAOS 20209 to 11%
of every project euro is wasted
PMI, Pulse of the Profession 2017 to 202128×
less waste in mature organizations
PMI, Pulse of the Profession 2017We devoted an in-depth article to these figures: project management, successes and failures. And to what tools do not see: governance, steering, management: the fatal gap in project management software.
The turnaround
Five steps to put a project back on track.
- A rapid diagnosis. The contractual scope against the real scope, the remaining work, the margin at completion, the open risks, the state of the team. What was promised, and what is achievable.
- A truth shared with the client. What was requested, decided and approved, and by whom. A kept history is not up for debate: it protects the client as much as the supplier, and puts the negotiation back on facts.
- Governance that decides. A steering committee with an agenda, a record of decisions and actions, clear roles. Trade-offs no longer drag on from meeting to meeting.
- Weekly steering of commitments. Milestones, actions and risks reviewed every week, until the trajectory is stable.
- The handover. The project manager and the project director take over the rituals alone. We stay reachable, then we leave.
An example
On a major project, €200,000 of work in progress remained blocked. It was enough to show the client the project's history: within five minutes of a meeting, everyone's responsibilities were established, and the outstanding amount was recovered.
Prevention
Scoping projects before they drift.
Most drifts are decided at launch, sometimes as early as the response to the call for tenders. We structure projects upstream, on four points.
Scoping
A written scope, defined deliverables, explicit assumptions. What is not in the contract is an amendment, not a service rendered.
Governance
Who decides what, in which body, how often. The steering committee and the project committee each have their role.
Tracking contractual commitments
Enforceable milestones, penalties, service levels, what each of the two parties owes the other. See contractual commitment tracking.
Accountability
A single, identifiable owner for each action, and a RACI that says who decides, who does, who is consulted and who is informed.
On the pre-sales side, scoping starts with the response to the call for tenders: a well-sold project is first of all a well-scoped project.
The tool
So that a project no longer drifts in silence: pylotik
Committees, client-approved minutes, decisions, actions, risks and financial follow-up live there on historized data, which the client and the supplier both read. It is our turnaround method, made systematic.
Frequently asked questions
What we are asked about drifting projects.
How can we tell whether a project is drifting?
When milestones slip without a decision, the remaining work does not shrink, requests stay verbal, minutes are not approved, or the client learns of delays before the leadership does. One sign is not enough; two or three together are.
Can a project be turned around without changing the team?
Almost always. A drift rarely comes from the people: it comes from governance that does not decide and commitments that nobody tracks. Restoring clarity is most often enough to re-mobilize the existing team.
How do we renegotiate with a dissatisfied client?
On facts: what was requested, decided, approved, and by whom. A shared history turns a conflict of impressions into a discussion about scope, where everyone sees what falls to them.
Do you work on internal projects?
Yes. An internal project also has a client, the business department, and commitments to keep. The same governance principles apply.
A project that worries you?
30 minutes to talk it over, before the drift shows up at invoicing.
Free strategy interview