Project Issue Control Cycle
A control cycle for project issues can be modelled after ITIL processes called root cause analysis, and problem management. An issue lifecycle starts with identification, and a quick understanding of what happened. It is appropriate to begin initial historical reporting to communicate to affected end-users that the issue is known and is being managed in accordance with effective practices. The intent of issue management is to apply corrective action to help ensure that the issue will not recur. To do that, project professionals must identify a root cause to be sure that mitigation efforts are focused on the actual cause, and not issue symptoms. Detailed analysis is required to understand what happened. It is useful to ask the same types of questions that are part of assessment in pre-hospital emergency medicine:
- what happened?
- when did it happen?
- Where did it happen?
- When did you first notice it?
- when and where does it not happen?
- How long has it occurred?
- What efforts have been undertaken to mitigate the issue?
- What corrective actions worked? And what didn’t work?
- Is this the first time this has happened?
- What else was going on when the issue arose?
- Were there coincidental environmental changes?
As details are developed, it is appropriate to use ad hoc or periodic reporting to keep stakeholders apprised of analysis progress. Root cause analysis includes developing data and evidence including statistical analysis to support responses to the above questions. It can be essential to ask “why” several times for each symptom to help ensure that conclusions represent true root causes. Drilling-down to either validate or rule-out potential causes will normally yield logical conclusions about the base cause, without which the issue would not have occurred.
Once a root cause, (or several root causes) is identified, project teams should develop corrective action recommendations, obtain approval for implementation, and then implement corrective actions in a problem management approach. Recommendations include cost and schedule impact analysis. Problem management consists of implementing corrective actions, communicating cross-functionally to ensure that corrective actions do not adversely impact other aspects of the project, reporting to ensure that project participants are aware of improvements, and process improvement designed to prevent recurrence.
Throughout root cause analysis and problem management, project management practices should be employed. Be sure to communicate in an issues log to document when the issue was tracked, who the issue owner is, a target date for resolution, issue priority, and detailed progress. As issues are communicated in functional organizations, informed parties may assist with expediting or steering resolution.