Make or Not Make Concessions: The Project Manager's Dilemma

In this podcast, Ricardo talks about the concessions that the project manager often does. He explains that the concession usually is harmful to the project, because when the project manager makes a concession, he ceases to follow the plans, and shows that he is not serious about the plan. Ricardo also explained that once
made the concession, it becomes very difficult to not do more.

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Episode transcript

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Hello everybody. And welcome to the five Minutes BM podcast today. I like to discuss with you a project managers. Dilemma the Concessions. And then what is that? Concessions, it's really interesting to see the dynamics involving all the Concessions concession is to give something that it's outside the project scope to help or two, keep a relationship. Usually when Make Concessions to the contractor's to the team, or maybe any other stakeholder is that you create an exception.

So you have a plan and then one contractor ask you to give more time or to an advanced one payment. So this is a concession and most of the time The Project Manager due and recognize wrongly. The Concessions most of the project manager's that I know think, okay, I need to make concessions because I need to keep relationship good relationship with my contractor or with my team.

I like to address You this in a knot, a perspective first, its extremely dangerous to Make Concessions to maintain or keep a relationship because one of the key assumptions have project management is proper planning. So is to plan well and as acute, this means success'. If you create an a section for that, you were yourself, you or break in your self, your ability to manage the plan you or telling to everybody, okay.

The plan is not as important as You my contractor. So it's extremely dangerous this for the half of the project during the progress. So let me help you with three basic tips regarding the Concessions first avoid strongly to make any kind of concessions at the beginning of the project. Why? Because let's start with the right foot.

Let's start correctly. Because if you make any kind of conception at the beginning, you are opening the precedent. So the people will think, Oh OK. Now the plan is not so important because we have 10 days of product. And I ask for the project manager to do an exception and he did. So lets try to show how important is the plan? The plan is the rule of the game that you are playing with your contractor, you have a contract, you have a project plan, so let's follow or why they didn't ask four this before you signed the contract or before you plan the project.

So this is extremely namely important. The second one it's avoid too, you know, Concessions like tit for tat. So, okay. I give you this and you give me back that Concessions, that are not currency or not a coin that to exchange for everything know because remember the concession that you are doing, Minutes changed approach plan and this drive. And to me too, the third one, I remember always say if you made the concession eat will be extremely hard to refuse to do that.

You do the next one. Let me give you an example. If you make payment before the data that you are supposed to do to help or to drive on requests from a contractor, take note and be sure next month they will ask again. They will ask again, So the, Concessions our very good. When you have a crisis situation or a critical situation and you need to use this, do have something done or two drive the team to the better results, but not the, at the beginning, not as occurrence, I give you this and you give me back that and always remembering that if I do this, I'm opening the precedent.

Think about the kids. My, for example, my daughters, every time that I break the rules and make an exception, I'm opening in a precedent for next day, they asked the same thing. And this doesn't mean that I don't believe that the contract or request is not important, but latched, trike to preserve the project plan. Because as far as I know many, many project managers, they handle this kind of Concessions as part of their budget.

So this is something like a chorus do that. And I pay you this, do that. And I pay you that, and this becomes extremely dangerous for the prototype because after you do one or twice, three times, four times, this nobody will take care of anymore or off your project plan because they know that, okay, I can make an exception exception here, acception there. And your plan we'll be fading out because it will lose. The credibility rules are here to be followed and not to be broken.

And this is one of the key roles of The Project Manager so remember a void to make concessions at the beginning of the project. Second, avoid to use Concessions like a tit for tat to change as occurrence. And a third one, if you do for the first time is to be extremely hard to not do the second time. I hope you enjoyed this. Podcast no Concessions and

Speaker 1 (6m 20s): Let's meet together with another five minutes PM directly from MIT at the corporate strategy program. See you next week.

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