When the Plan and Reality Diverge

Part of Clinical Project Management (PM) Training: Building a Timeline That Holds.

About 1 minutes. Free, in your language, no account needed.

The divergence is information

A plan that no longer matches reality is not a failure of planning. It is the plan doing its job: it is telling you something changed. The failure is continuing to report against it.

Three ways project managers hide a slip

Averaging. Reporting total enrollment across all sites conceals that two sites are carrying the trial and eleven have never randomized anyone.

Re-forecasting silently. Adjusting the projection each month so the gap never appears, until the end date moves by a year in one step.

Reporting activity instead of outcome. Site initiation visits completed is not sites enrolling. Monitoring visits performed is not queries resolved.

Each of these produces a report that is literally true and materially misleading.

Saying it early

A slip reported at the point you suspect it costs a conversation. The same slip reported when it becomes undeniable costs your standing, because the obvious next question is when you knew.

You will rarely be criticized for raising a risk that did not materialize. You will always be criticized for one that did and was not raised.

What a useful escalation contains

The fact, the cause, the effect on the critical path, the options with their costs, and your recommendation. A slip raised without options is a complaint. A slip raised with two costed options and a recommendation is a decision the sponsor can actually take.