Caroline is managing a project at The Forrester Company. In the project charter she helped draft, it’s noted that Systems A and B are assumed to be the only systems impacted; however, it comes to light several weeks later that System C is also impacted. Which statement is correct about this particular situation?
Explanation
Answer: c - In this case though we might want to pick “Start from scratch,” the correct answer is that both the constraints and assumptions will need to be revisited and the project plan amended to fit the new requirements.
Key Take Away: In complex, large-scale projects, highly-effective Project Managers, even if they are strapped for time and begging for more time in a day to get things done, take time out to revisit requirements periodically to be sure nothing has changed or been overlooked. This is key to effectively manage risk. The earlier adjustments are made, the easier changes are.
Jay Forrester at MIT created system dynamics, which deals with the simulation of interactions between objects in dynamic systems. We named the company in this question in tribute to him, and suggest that it would be a worthwhile experience to learn some system dynamics if your busy schedule permits.
