RESCUING A FAILING PROJECT 2

Rescuing a Failing Project

With the project 25% over budget and three months behind schedule, there are a number
of steps that can be taken to bring it back on course. The appropriateness of the steps taken
depends on the cause of the delay and over budget. The first step, therefore, in bringing the
project back on course is to find the cause of the two problems. Once the cause has been found,
the following options can be implemented as solutions.
Swapping of human resources
Under this option, unskilled and inexperienced resources involved in the implementation
of the project are replaced by better skilled and experienced ones (Kliem & Ludin, 2019). If
human resources are the primary cause of the delay, this option has the potential of bringing the
project back to schedule. The only risk with this option is that if the new resources have to be
hired, the process of hiring them may take a long time. Additionally, they may have to be paid
more than previous resources because of their better skills and longer experience.
Reduction of non-labor costs
To solve the problem of over budget, I would recommend reduction of non-labor costs.
These are the costs of items such as project materials, services, and supplies. For instance, I
would recommend use cheaper materials than the ones that were budgeted for originally or
getting persons involved in the implementation of the project to be accommodated in low cost
rather than high end hotels. The risk of this approach is that it has the potential of lowering the
quality of the project thanks to the use of cheaper materials of lower quality (Kloppenborg et al.,
2019). The motivation of people involved in the project’s implementation may also be reduced if
they are forced to use cheaper services such being taken to cheaper hotels for accommodation.

RESCUING A FAILING PROJECT 3
Removing scope changes
Sometimes the project may be delayed or go over budget because of changes in scope
(Kliem & Ludin, 2019). As a result of these changes, persons charged with implementing the
project may start engaging in unplanned work which increases both the cost and duration of the
project. Implementing this option will make sure that all resources are concentrated only on the
core work of the project.

RESCUING A FAILING PROJECT 4

References

Kliem, R. L., & Ludin, I. S. (2019). Reducing project risk. Routledge.
Kloppenborg, T. J., Anantatmula, V. S., & Wells, K. N. (2019). Contemporary Project
Management. Cengage.