Organizations are frequently involved in implementing corrective actions for the purpose of achieving the objective of a project, department or organization. However, several studies by the Central Planning Bureau have shown that 'prevention is better than cure'. Preventive actions save organizations time and therefore money. I also see in projects that corrective actions are regularly carried out, whereby it turned out afterwards that the problem could easily have been prevented. For example, corrective actions with regard to the order formulation.

With some regularity I see that a solution direction is already given when formulating the assignment. In my opinion, functional specification is often more efficient, because then you use the creativity of the contractor (project manager). However, sometimes you cannot avoid the fact that the client and/or user already has good ideas about the solution and would like to include them in the assignment formulation. When the client intends to provide a solution direction in the assignment, it is important to involve the project manager in good time. In that case, a project manager is often only involved in a project when receiving an order from a client. That's too late in my opinion. After all, the project manager is the person who has experience in carrying out the assignment and can therefore also provide valuable input for the assignment formulation (quality, budgeting and time period). If the project manager is not involved in a timely manner, there may be a delay in the start of the project due to discussion about the assignment formulation and unrealistic deadlines may have already been communicated to relevant stakeholders, requiring corrective actions.

The extent to which the project manager is involved depends on the complexity and size of the project. In relatively simple projects, a number of consultations between the client, the senior user and possible project manager can already be very valuable. In complex projects, it may be necessary for the project manager to also be involved in various feasibility and effectiveness studies for the potential project.

Would you like to know more about involving the project manager in a timely manner in the assignment formulation? Or more about effective project management? Please contact us via office@supplyvalue.nl or 088 – 0555 999.