Imagine you are the project manager for a highly visible project at your company. To implement a new expense reporting system the key project team members will be:

• Business analyst
• Development team lead
• Test lead
• Manager
• Subject matter expert from the Expense department
• (More members will be added as the plan identifies the staffing needs)

The sponsor of the project, the CFO, wants you to present a schedule in two weeks - but two of the key members are on vacation next week and will not be available to provide estimates and other inputs to the draft schedule.

For This Discussion

1. Choose which two are on vacation
2. Share with us what role they play in your project and what level of relevance they have
3. Share what your next steps are and how you execute these steps in order to deliver in two weeks
4. How will the delivery of information will be presented? Do you tell the CFO about your lack of accurate information?
5. How did you plan or anticipate overcoming this hurdle?
6. Remember - "time is money" and your estimate has to be as accurate as possible. How do you validate your numbers?