On why it is so important to tackle the riskiest topics at the beginning of your projects.
Notes:
- As we near the end of the year, like many of you, I have a lot of project deadlines approaching.
- Q4 in a company tends to a be a very busy time, when we are closing projects while opening planning and budgeting for the following year.
- For one of my projects, some topics that contain risk are not closed yet. That always makes me nervous.
- This week I was discussing with the PM that we need to address those topics now, rather than leaving them to the very end.
- The reason for that is simple: if there is undiscovered additional work required for those risky topics, it is better to discover that while there is still enough time to do anything about it.
- If you leave it to the end, it's too late.
- According to the dictionary, to front-load means: ": to assign costs or benefits to the early stages of (such as a contract, project, or time period)", ref: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/front-load
- Here I am talking about risk, which you can certainly consider to be a form of cost if those risks come through.
- I see this anti-pattern in all aspects of life all of the time: people will often delay the difficult topics, instead choosing to concentrate on "low hanging fruit" or easy topics instead.
- A strong leader will always tackle the hard topics first, as they know that is where the risk is, especially when those topics are on the critical path of a project.
- As a leader, you must train your teams to take the same approach.
- They must not be tempted to avoid such topics, and it is your job to remind them to stay on track.
- Hit the hard topics hard and fast, and see what falls out.
- What I am working this week:
- Adding search suggestions and auto-complete to greppr.org
Notes and subscription links are here: https://techleader.pro/a/665-Always-front-load-your-project-risk-(TLP-2024w43)
