Knowing what to do when projects collide
As project managers, often we are juggling multiple projects at one time. You know that overwhelmed somewhat sinking, scary feeling, right? It can be fun and it certainly makes the days go fast, but it can also be a little too much chaos when two of your projects collide and are in the middle of labour-intensive phases at the same time or going through issues in parallel.
Since you can’t be cloned…yet…how do you handle this type of situation without losing your sanity and complete control of one or both projects in question? Do you prioritize one project over the other? What if that isn’t possible – especially without potentially upsetting one of your important project customers? For this, I look at three options. Usually one will work – the third one on the list being the least desirable because of its potential effect on the customer and their confidence level. Let’s consider these three and feel free to comment and discuss them at the end.