10 to 15 minutes
Our example in the previous activity didn’t have any deviations, which is rarely the case in a real project. So, let’s assume that we forecast the server to be delivered about a month later, for about 4 Artopools more than expected.
Give them 5 minutes to work in groups and come up with a response for the deviation. They need to use their imagination to replace some of the missing information.
When the time is up, ask the facilitators to present their ideas.
Sample responses:
We couldn’t find a way to reduce costs in future work, and as a result, we have to update our initial budget. The 4 Artopool increase is about a 6% increase in the overall budget of the project, which makes it a significant decision. We have to escalate it to the sponsor and ask for an increase in the budget.
We originally decided to start working on Wave 1 after the infrastructure was done. However, Wave 1 starts with an investigation of the solutions and the selection of an application, which don’t require a server to do. As a result, we can add an overlap between these two main deliverables and start Wave 1 before the infrastructure is finished, and so recover from the existing time deviation.
Explain that the main point is that we don’t want to wait until the project is too deviated; instead, we want to recover from deviations as soon as we discover them, because doing so is easier and gives us more options.