P3.express
The minimalist project management system
Project Initiation Monthly Initiation Weekly Management DailyManagement Monthly Closure ProjectClosure Post-ProjectManagement Appointthe sponsor A01 Appoint theproject manager A02 Appoint thekey team members A03 Describethe project A04 Identify and planthe deliverables A05 Identify risksand plan responses A06 Have project initiationpeer-reviewed A07 Make ago/no-go decision A08 Kick offthe project A09 Conduct afocused communication A10 Revise and refinethe plans B01 Have the monthlycycle peer-reviewed B02 Make ago/no-go decision B03 Kick off themonthly cycle B04 Conduct afocused communication B05 Measure andreport performance C01 Plan responsesfor deviations C02 Kick off theweekly cycle C03 Conduct afocused communication C04 Manage risks, issues,and change requests D01 Acceptcompleted deliverables D02 Evaluatestakeholder satisfaction E01 Capture lessons andplan for improvements E02 Conduct afocused communication E03 Hand overthe product F01 Evaluatestakeholder satisfaction F02 Have the closing activitygroup peer-reviewed F03 Archive theproject documents F04 Celebrate! F05 Conduct afocused communication F06 Evaluatethe benefits G01 Generatenew ideas G02 Conduct afocused communication G03

C02 - Plan responses for deviations

This management activity belongs to the Weekly Management group, which is a group of activities done at the beginning of each week.

If you have any deviations from your targets based on the performance measurements in C01, you should manage them and try to get back on track.

In complicated cases, you can have a workshop and get help from all or a select group of team members in planning how to recover from the deviation. In critical or sensitive cases, inform the sponsor, ask for their advice, and seek their approval for the recovery plan.

If it’s not possible to recover from the deviations, you should seek approval from the sponsor to set revised targets and goals, and have these approved. Make sure that the new information is recorded in the Project Description.

If there’s an underlying reason for the deviation that may cause similar issues in the future, record it in the Follow-Up Register as a risk, and plan a proper risk response for it.

Project Description template

Follow-Up Register template

Purpose

To achieve the goals of the project, we need to recover from deviations as soon as possible, before they pile up. Even more importantly, if we try to recover from the deviations and don’t succeed, and see an alarming trend in the project, we will know that the project goals cannot be met with the existing targets, and we have to revise those targets. When revised, they may no longer be justifiable, in which case the project may be canceled to avoid bigger losses in the future.

Common pitfalls

Remember that a general, vague, wishful statement such as “We have to work 15% faster from now on” is not a recovery plan. Recovery plans must be realistic and include actionable things that can be implemented and evaluated.

If you must choose between recovering from a deviation and solving the root cause of the deviation, which may cause the same issue in the future, give priority to the latter. Otherwise, you will be continuously firefighting.

Principles

The following principles play a significant role in this management activity:



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It's best to use micro.P3.express instead of the regular P3.express if you have micro-projects with approximately 1 to 7 team members.