In the life cycle of any project, there are almost always unexpected problems and risks. When these issues arise, you must be prepared to deal with them — otherwise they could potentially affect the outcome of the project.
Most problems are by nature unexpected; how do you ensure that they are dealt with quickly and efficiently? Ideally, before you start a project, you need a proper problem-solving process — to make sure you’re on schedule and meeting your goals.
Problem management is the process of identifying and solving problems. Problems with employees or suppliers, technical glitches, material shortages — these are all things that can have a negative impact on your project. If problems aren’t resolved, you risk unnecessary conflict, delays, and even failure to produce your deliverables.
Problems and Risks
Problems and risks are not the same thing. Before you begin, however, the exact nature of both is largely unknown. You usually have a general idea of a risk in advance, but problems are often unpredictable and can appear without warning. For example, the inability to find qualified staff is an identifiable risk. But if one of your employees has a car accident and is hospitalized for three weeks, that becomes a problem.
It is important to identify risks before a project begins. Risk/impact probability diagrams provide a useful framework to help you prioritize risks. You can then develop a plan to actively manage those risks with solutions that you have already considered and pre-arranged. However, when you encounter problems, you must deal with them in a timely manner. Therefore, problem management is a planned process of dealing with unexpected problems — whatever the problem may be — if an unexpected problem occurs.
When you fail to identify and mitigate risks at the beginning of a project, they often become problems later on. Make sure you understand your risks early on. Learn from previous projects and benefit from the team’s past experience. That way, you’ll have fewer problems to manage as you move forward.
Issue log
Problems (also known as problems, gaps, inconsistencies, or conflicts) need to be documented as they occur. When you create a problem log, you have a tool for reporting and communicating what is happening on your project. This ensures that problems are actually raised and then investigated and resolved quickly and efficiently. Without a clear process, you run the risk of ignoring problems or not taking them seriously enough — until it’s too late to deal with them successfully.
The issue log allows you to do the following:
○ There is a safe and reliable way for the team to ask questions. ○ Track and assign responsibility to specific people for each problem. ○ It’s easier to analyze and prioritize problems. ○ Record solutions to problems for future reference and project learning. Monitor the overall project running status and status.
You can manually create a problem log, build your own spreadsheet or database, or purchase project management software that includes problem management software such as 8Manage PM.
You can include the following information in the problem log:
Problem Types – Define the types of problems you are likely to encounter. This can help you track problems and assign the right people to fix them. You might have a broad description like the following: ▪ Technology: Related to technical issues in the project. ▪ Business processes: Related to project design. ▪ Change management: Related to business, customer or environment changes. ▪ Resources: Problems relating to equipment, materials or personnel. ▪ Third Party: Problems with suppliers, suppliers or other external parties.
Examiner – Record the person who found the problem.
Timing – Indicates when the problem is identified.
Description — detailing what happened and the potential impact. If the problem remains unresolved, determine which parts of the project will be affected.
Priority – Assign priority to the problem. ▪ High priority: Critical issues that have a significant impact on the success of the project and have the potential to stop the project altogether. ▪ Medium priority: Problems that have a significant impact but do not prevent the project from proceeding. Low priority: A problem that does not affect activities on the critical path may not have much impact if it is resolved at some point.
Assign/Ownership – Determine who is responsible for solving the problem. This person may or may not implement a solution. However, he or she is responsible for keeping track of it and ensuring that it is handled according to its priority.
Target Resolution Date – Set a deadline for resolving the problem.
Status – Track the progress of the solution with a clear label to determine the overall status of the problem. Here’s an example:
▪ Open: The problem has been identified, but no action has been taken. ▪ Investigating: The problem and possible solutions are being investigated. ▪ Implementation: Solving the problem. ▪ Escalation: The issue has been referred to management or the project sponsor/steering committee and instructions or approval for a solution is pending. ▪ Resolved: The resolution has been implemented and the issue has been closed.
Use “traffic lights” when reporting problems. This provides an easy-to-see indication of whether the problem is under control. Here’s how the “Traffic Light” works: -Red: Can’t continue until problem is resolved. ▪ Yellow: The solution is in progress and you will be able to continue soon. ▪ Green: Solution achieved, problem no longer exists. ▪ Action/Solution Description: Describe the state of the problem and what has been done to find and implement the solution. ▪ Final Solution: Includes a brief description of the solution to the problem.
Problem management framework
Supplement the issue log with the framework or process used to deal with these issues. This framework helps the project team understand how to deal with problems once they have been identified and documented. The development framework can answer the following questions:
○ How will you divide responsibility for solving problems? For example, is there one person responsible for handling all technical issues? Who will deal with suppliers?
○ How do you know when to bring an issue to the management or steering committee? You may want to create a matrix of potential business impacts and problem complexity to help you decide which issues should be managed at a higher level.
○ What criteria will determine the priority status of a problem?
○ Who will set the target resolution date?
○ How to communicate problems in a team? Do you use regular meetings, log checks, status update emails, etc.?
○ If more than one problem arises on a project, how will you identify the different problems? It is helpful to number these questions so that when you discuss them in an ongoing meeting, you can easily identify them.
○ What will you do if you need to change your order?
○ What is the update process when a decision affects a budget or schedule, and who will be responsible?
One of the key challenges of problem management is to resolve the problem quickly and then move on with as little impact as possible to the project. The framework provides a structure for making decisions when problems arise. When developing your framework, remember to consider the needs of your team.
The most convenient way is to manage the project level and activity level problems, track the problems, and systematically resolve them with the help of the many effective mechanisms provided by 8Manage PM project management software:
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It is also important to ensure that all issues are covered in post-implementation reviews. This is where you can learn lessons for future projects. The more you know about the problem, the better prepared you will be for the next project. Some problems may occur again, so by documenting what you learned from previous projects, it will be easier for future project teams to identify problems and solve them successfully. Other issues may be part of a risk pattern that you can proactively identify and manage through early risk assessment.
The last word
The problem management process provides you with a robust way to identify and document problems and issues that arise during a project. The process also makes it easier to assess these problems, assess their impact, and decide on a solution. The issue log helps you capture detailed information about each problem so that the project team can quickly see the status and who is responsible for resolving it.
When you add a problem management framework or use project management software such as 8Manage PM that tracks problems in real time, you have a comprehensive plan to deal with problems quickly and efficiently. This organized approach to managing problems provides many valuable insights that can be used to refine and improve future project results.