It happens all too often. Projects get reassigned. A project manager decides to leave the company. A P.M. on another project is leaving, so you get pulled off your project to go manage theirs. Does this sound familiar? While common in the industry, the project “hand off” is one of the most significant and impactful events on the project’s outcome, and a bad handoff can take a big bite out of the results. At this stage, there’s a logical question to ask: How do you transition a project to a new project manager?
Like most things, a good project hand-off is in fact, a transition. This should not be done last minute, or done in haste. Those are the very things that make a project manager transition such a mess.
We’ll break down this process into two phases:
- Before the new project manager starts and what to prepare for
- After the new project manager starts and how to coordinate
Preparing For Transition To A New Project Manager Before They’re On Board
Ideally, there will be a couple of weeks to prepare for the handoff, before the new P.M. is even brought on board. This is valuable time that can make or break a project during these transition periods. Here are a few critical ways to get a head start:
Summarizing The Finances: Bills, Costs And Profitability
Everyone cares about the money. I worked with a Senior PM who said “no matter what, watch the money”. It’s the reality of this business. While this was in the construction industry, it applies to any kind of project:
- A copy of the complete project budget is paramount!
- Make sure there’s clear financial records of all bills sent to the client, along with how much revenue has actually been collected. This should include any payments that are overdue.
- Likewise, the costs to date should be summarized, too. Ideally this is broken down into as much detail as possible.
- A major part of the project’s cost are payments made to subcontractors and to major vendors. This information should be called out clearly.
- Theoretically, a project manager who knows the cost and revenue situation will be able to determine profitability. While this is true, it’s fair to the new P.M. to advise them on forward-facing profitability. Have production rates been better or worse than expected? A lot of times, the ultimate profitability comes down to…
The Status Of The Contract, Change Orders, Back Charges & Claims
Ah, change orders. If only everything was crystal clear at the beginning, they wouldn’t be needed, right? Unfortunately, this never happens. Mitigating changes to scope of work, getting compensated for unknowns or even delays by the client, they’re a necessary evil in the business. Change orders are only one aspect of the legal-side of project management. Here’s how to prepare during a transition:
- Update the change order log, showing the status of all upcoming, pending and disputed change orders, including dollar value and time of each.
- Similarly, update logs that summarize any change orders that subcontractors or vendors are looking for, along with their status.
- An often overlooked but critical factor are any back charges or disputes. It’s important to organize information related to payments your firm is withholding or plan to withhold, plus any back charges or damages related to the client.
- Change orders, back charges, claims and disputes can derail a project, particularly if a subcontractor/vendor defaults on their work, files a lawsuit or anything similar.
Pending Approvals And Open Items
Lastly, any new project manager must know what is not yet approved, information that’s pending and any other items that are still open. Not only can open items impact the schedule if they’re open for too long, but working on items that aren’t yet approved can be even worse if they’re rejected later. Here are a few things you can do to prepare:
- Make a list of highly critical items that are not resolved, along with their latest status.
- Organize a list of formally-submitted questions and their responses. In construction, for example, Requests For Information (RFI’s) are written to formally ask a question, as well as to formalize the answer.
- Summarize all documents that have been submitted, and whether or not they’re approved, rejected or pending. In construction, this is known as a submittal log. Similarly, what still needs to be submitted?
Transition To The New Project Manager Once They’ve Started
At this stage, finances, contracts, disputes and approvals have been organized. That’s a great start. Now, the new project manager is on board, and it’s time to transition the project to them.
Ideally, there should be 1-2 weeks’ time to perform this transition, too. Regardless of the amount of time available, here are the key things to tackle:
Review Key Project Staff, Vendors & Contacts
There’s a somewhat corny expression that is annoyingly true: “managing projects is managing people”. This is why it’s particularly important to have the new project manager get to know the players:
- A brief organizational chart can help here, listing all of the key project staff, who reports to who and what they’re generally responsible for.
- The organizational chart can be more macroscopic by also listing the client’s decision makers, their consultants (in construction, Architects, Engineers, Design Professionals), and their points of contact.
- Lastly, create a table of all vendors, what you’ve been buying from them, their main contacts and any other pertinent information.
- Ideally you’ll be there to introduce the new P.M. to the key players and give a brief verbal handoff, too.
Go Through The Schedule And Related Information
Ask a project manager what question they’re asked most often, and it very well could be “when will the project be done?”. This is why scheduling is such an important part of project management. Here are a few key details related to scheduling you should convey:
- The schedule itself – review the latest version, what’s behind or (hopefully) ahead, where the float is and any key milestones.
- Per the contract, what is written in regards to delays? Are there penalties (damages) if the project goes beyond a certain date? Are there any legitimate causes of delay that aren’t penalized, such as weather, design information, product testing, etc.?
- It seems basic, but how is the schedule put together? Is the P.M. in charge of it, or is a project scheduler the one doing the legwork? How often does it need to be updated?
Explain The Day To Day Routine
Now that we’ve covered all of the formal, technical stuff, it’s time to discuss the intangibles with the new project manager. On a human level, what’s a typical day like?
- How frequent are project meetings?
- Are certain team members morning people? Night owls? Do they have certain unique personalities?
- Who are the high performers? Who are the mean ones? Which people might need to switch roles or go?
- Are there things the team is used to, such as leave early on Fridays, eat lunch together, etc?
- What are the pain in the a** parts of the project? Does the printer suck? Is the phone or internet connection in the office bad?
These things are secondary in comparison to the contract, finances and procedures, but they’re still important and shouldn’t be forgotten.
In Summary
I hope this article has been helpful. As far as ‘how do you transition a project to a new project manager’, you now have a few ideas that cover all of the most pertinent information. If you’re transitioning off a project to another one, best of luck! Hopefully it’s a better project and not a disaster – in which case, feel free to send this article to the P.M. you’ll be replacing ;).
