When Best Practices Aren’t Enough
A few weeks ago, I came across a question on LinkedIn: “You’re facing resource conflicts between programs. How can you ensure project timelines stay intact?”
What surprised me wasn’t the question, but the sheer uniformity of the answers:
- Assess the situation to understand the root cause
- Collaborate with program managers to identify bottlenecks and reallocate resources
- Prioritize and reprioritize tasks
- Maintain effective communication with stakeholders and cross-functional teams
- Implement consistent backup and contingency plans
- Use resource leveling techniques to mitigate overload
- …
Dozens of comments followed—virtually all variations on the same themes. Answers that could have been pulled directly from the PMBOK® Guide or any project management playbook. And to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with that. They work. They’re tested. They belong in every project manager’s toolkit. They represent what many of us have learned and successfully applied. I’m not here to question how experienced professionals manage their projects—far from it.
But here’s the nuance. These approaches work best in organizations with mature project cultures—where structured methodologies are in place, where project management is a full-time role, and where support systems for risk, resource, and timeline management are embedded in the organization.
Unfortunately, that’s not the reality everywhere. In many businesses, projects are led by individuals whose core responsibilities lie elsewhere. They’re domain experts, product specialists, or department heads who’ve been asked to “take on the project” alongside their day job. Many projects run in parallel with daily operations. Often, the person managing the project wears multiple hats and juggles competing priorities.
Sometimes, there’s nothing left to prioritize because everything is business-critical. Sometimes, there simply aren’t any more resources to shuffle from one task to the next. And in those situations, relying solely on best practices can be like trying to fix a leaky roof with a manual that assumes the sun is shining.
Best practices are valuable—but they’re not infallible. They are guidelines, not gospel. That’s why I believe in the power of creative problem-solving.
Instead of just shifting priorities or requesting more budget, creative approaches can help your teams:
- Initiate focused “blitz” sessions where team members work only on high-priority blockers. Follow with a short retro and repeat
- Tap into non-traditional resources, like specialists from other departments, skill-exchange, etc.
- Leverage cross-program collaboration, blending goals to reduce overhead—a mindset shift few consider under pressure
- Use gamification, teams often discover options, optimizations, or overlooked internal talent
- Simplify Principle, instead by waiting for Person A to finish Task X, simplify Task X enough that someone else can do a version of it. Then finalize later.
These aren’t silver bullets. But they’ve helped me keep timelines on track when conventional tactics hit their limits. Best practices should guide us, not confine us. When things get messy—and they often do—it’s the ability to think differently that gets the project delivered.
Best Regards
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