
Tips for successfully joining (or taking over) a project that’s in progress
“My developer left, and I have a critical change that needs to happen ASAP. I can’t make sense of the files. Help!”
“The main Producer left (or never existed!), help us finish this intensely difficult show please?!”
Damage controller. Special forces Producer. Emergency project closer. Whatever you want to call it, I’ve operated in consulting roles like this a few times over the years.
If you are running a project that’s already in progress or was asked to consult and “fix” a show, congrats! It’s a vote of confidence, and you should be proud. It’s also mad dangerous and you may be unintentionally set up to fail so be careful.
Whether you are a developer, artist or producer in a situation like this, here are some tips I’ve found helpful when being dropped into a project.:
Start backward
Does the software compile? If not, work backward from compile to get it running. Does the project have a plan right now? Who cares, just look at the committed deliverables and plan backward from there. Focus on the outcome first, then go back.
Redefine the goal
Projects want to lose focus. If you are coming into a new project, make sure to reclarify what the goal is. Then, restate it to the team. Confirm what success means. Setting the goal helps you figure out where to spend your time more efficiently. Does that feature really help support the goal or is it just a nice tool to have? Should you build an analytics-based report to help this team for the future or was this a one-off project and a report like this would be worthless? The goal definition will answer those questions.
Look at how possible this project is
Don’t assume the project is possible because someone else commissioned it. Ask yourself if the job can be done. I ask myself, “Will we make it? And if so, how?”. In both technical and production sense… is this possible? Is there enough people power? Etc. Do “the work”. Study the process for the project and do your own assessment of feasibility. If it’s not possible, advocate for more time or crunch or whatever else you need. Make it clear early that your findings indicate that the project is not possible if that is looking to be the case.
Tread lightly, change little and listen first (unless you are extremely confident)
Don’t let your ego get in the way make things worse than they already are by disrupting too early. Be humble. Some or most things are probably working already. Unless it’s an emergency and you are 1000% confident in your read on the situation, don’t go in redirecting a bunch of work. Go in more humbly. Chances are if a team is so self-aware that they need outside emergency help, they have some solid contributors already. They may have just gotten too busy and lost focus. Don’t assume they brought you in because you are the best in the world. They could have only needed an extra boost. Don’t judge the crew too early. You don’t know what got them to this point and why they did what they did. Just focus on the outcome everyone wants.
Journal your findings
Keep a journal of the main items you have completed or discovered. Share it daily or weekly with key stakeholders. Just a summary. Show where you are snooping around and investigating next. You may get extra feedback or direction. This will also help when at some point, someone will ask “What are you doing on the project?”. It’s inevitable that someone will question your value at some point.
Do things the manual way to make sure you get the process
Even if a pipeline has fancy tools, consider running through the steps manually or observe the steps individually as you are learning. It can be meditative too! I’ve manually adjusted hundreds of asset schedules till I fully understood the pipeline. It helped my understanding quite a bit.
Decide if you should start over or salvage
Whether it’s the project plan or a set of source files, figure out if you have the time and if it’s more efficient to start over or continue using the existing files.
Make sure the fundamentals are in place
Answer these questions:
• Is everything that was committed to in progress and/or has a path to success?
• Are the roles well defined on the team? Is everyone on the team capable? Is there enough team?
• Is there anything the crew has been advocating for that isn’t in place yet that could improve the process?
• Is there anything the client was promised and not delivered yet? What’s the confidence level on their side?
• Are there enough funds to solve the problem?
• Is the goal clear and signed off on across all parties?
Get to the root issues. Ask ‘why’ a few times per inquiry
Examples: Why are we not hitting our weekly quota? “because it’s not possible.” Why is it not possible? “Because we don’t have enough people.” Why don’t we have enough people? “Because the original plan didn’t include X category of work and now we are behind.” Bingo. Root cause.
Spend minimal time looking at why the project got to this point
It’s only partially helpful. Focus on results now. The past doesn’t matter at this point. Just get your show done, then ponder what really happened. Use all of your bandwidth to move the project along ASAP.
Be nice
Someone is probably secretly upset that you were asked to get involved. That someone is scared it makes themselves look bad. Don’t give individuals feedback in a group setting. It makes you look bad. Be diplomatic and pull people aside and talk to them. If a project is in such an awful spot that they brought in outside help, you can bet the internal team is thinking about covering their ass. Be aware of that perspective.
Pick one thing to focus on and build communication and pathways around it
Pick a weekly target of widgets you need to hit, a % of approvals you need to get or anything else relevant that’s measurable. Use it to show progress and momentum. It gives the team a clear outcome to focus on and orients everyone to what ultimately matters.
Walk through the pipeline with the team then do one-on-ones
Make sure you fully understand how the work can or should flow through. Give everyone a chance to talk about what can be improved in the process. Sometimes just listening to the crew can give a boost to morale. Giving them an outlet to vent can be huge.
Show the business reality to the key team members as quickly as you can
If it’s a volume-based goal, show the quota to hit per week even if it hurts or is currently impossible. The team may rally and expose bottlenecks that weren’t visible before. Management might not be aware of the actual situation so expose it as soon as you are confident in your findings. If it’s a software project, show a simple list of all the features and their current status.
And ultimately, collect your thoughts and submit a new plan
It’s highly unlikely that the team is a bunch of knuckleheads so give them props for the things they did do right then add your findings and suggestions to a revised plan (if necessary).
Good luck!
