Have you worked on project teams with a sense of urgency? Or did your teams act as if everything was an emergency? There is a difference.
I’m working as a consultant for a medical device company where the client acts as though every task and activity associated with the project is an emergency.
- “We need those test results yesterday!”
- “Let’s go ahead and build those OQ parts at the same time we route the OQ protocol.”
- “I think we can build five pilot parts from the same raw material lot to define the process parameters.”
- “We don’t have time to find the root cause. Let’s go ahead and fix this step–it may just do the trick.”
No, these aren’t exaggerations. Statements like these have been made quite often during the past few weeks of this current project. But the project has no real plan–at least not one that the project team members are aware of. There is a timeline (due date: yesterday) that the team did not help develop. The timeline was crafted by management and has not been fully communicated to the actual team members who will be responsible for completing.
It may seem obvious, but in my opinion, this is not the way to run a project. I’m all in favor of operating with a sense of urgency. This can only happen if the team members are actively engaged in defining the work breakdown structure (WBS) and project plan. The team members have to take ownership and buy in before a sense of urgency can take hold.
Sure, there will be times when some tasks become emergencies. But it can’t be every single task for the project.