A project manager is working on a single large project for a year. She received a call from her project’s sponsor. The two of them have a good business relationship. The project manager is exactly 2 months away from the project’s hard deadline and her project’s sponsor wants the deadline bumped up by 3 weeks.
He says it is due to an unforeseen market change and it is critical – so much so that the project will be worthless if it is not received by the new deadline. The project manager knows that meeting this new deadline will be particularly challenging due to some personal vacations and training plans that her project team members already have planned during this timeframe. What does the project manager do in this situation?

This has shaken her confidence. What is making them change their attitude at the end? When she asks them this, they say they must have been unhappy the whole time, but just didn’t communicate it. Why can’t stakeholders be trusted for honest feedback during the project?

a. Identify the problem(s) that you can see in that scenario and describe each one of them in detail (if there is more than one).

b. For each of the identified problems try to identify the main reason(s) the problem has occurred.

c. Propose solutions for these problem(s).

d. Choose one solution to implement.

e. Justify your choice by giving valid reasons