When to escalate a project

Posted: August 5th, 2008 | Tags: Escalations, Project Management | No Comments »

To add to a discussion that is starting at Crossderry Blog on when to escalate a project, there are two sayings that come to mind.  Both of these I heard while working in the trading rooms for major banks.  These are guys that should know when to get in and out.  Let’s share their wisdom here:

Rule 1: If you are going to panic, panic first!

What they mean by this is he who waits the longest looses most. Make a clear decision whether you should escalate or not.  If the answer is yes, do it sooner later than later.

Rule 2: People always gamble on the downside, never on the upside.

This implies that when things go well, we have the tendency to lock in profit and get out. People always want to exit on a high note! However, when things go bad we are more than willing to take one more gamble!  What if I wait for this, what happens if I try that, etc…

Now the big question, what checks and balances can we put in place to counter these human tendencies?  In trading they call this the compliance officer.  They also have strict rules on “stops” – when the system will force you to get out of a specific trade.  Do we in project management need the same “hard stops”? What should these be and how do we measure them? It comes back to project Monitor & Control.

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