Project Handoff: Taking Over a Project Already in Progress

For one reason or another, the original Project Manager who initiated a project will be moving on to new endeavors or reassigned while the project is still active; and then the time comes when that project needs to be handed over to another Project Manager.    Best-case scenario the initial project manager is available to do smooth handoff.  Unfortunately, many times, that is not the case.  In healthcare, no one would ever consider doing a patient handoff without comprehensive communication to ensure patient safety from one care team to another.

A patient handoff “involve the transfer of patient information, including the responsibility for a patient, from one clinician (or a team of clinicians) to another clinician or team” (Kemp, Trivitt, & Davis, 2023).  Because handoffs are so common, The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) require programs to evaluate the competency of handoffs by trainees (Horwitz, et al., 2013).   In contrast, The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) does not go in depth about project handoff other than in the Closing Phase when the finished product is passed on to the customer.

When a new Project Manager takes over a project that is in progress, the Project Manager becomes a detective or an archaeologist.   According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Area are recommendations for tailoring (Project Management Institute, 2017).  In the case of a Project Manager taking over a project without a proper handoff, those process groups and knowledge areas become a checklist.  If the receiving Project Manager is lucky, the previous project manager was a Professional Project Manager (PMP®) and there will be a high probability of consistency and standardization when searching for documents and evaluating processes.  Otherwise, the receiving project manager will need to dig through the project archives and files searching for equivalent documents and project artifacts and determine what is completed, what might be missing, and what will need adjusting.  Once that is completed the easy part is done.  Then comes the hard part, evaluating the status of the project and comparing it to the constraints established in the beginning of the project.

What Is the True Status of the Project?

When a patient is being transferred from one provider to another, that is one of the most vulnerable moments for the patient where errors can occur (Kemp, Trivitt, & Davis, 2023).  The same holds true for a project handoff from one Project Manager to another.  Unless there is a comprehensive checklist and protocols in place for the project transfer, tasks could go undone, project status measures could go unnoticed, and contracts could go unattended.  Unattended contracts could pose a critical problem if the terms and deliverables are unnoticed or unmet.  For example, an agreement with a subcontractor that has an autorenewal clause that kicks in after the initial terms could renew a contract for services not needed.  Having to negotiate a revision of the contract or executing a termination clause abruptly due to an oversight could harm relations between the parties; not to mention the reputation of project’s leadership.

After taking charge of a project, find out the status of the project immediately.  That could be a challenge while a project is in its execution phase because those tasks being executed cannot be stalled or fall behind.  You may need to interview the stakeholders and the team members.  Listen to the team and look for clues to from the unspoken words.

Experience is Key

Always keep a private project journal outlining what worked, what did not work, and the challenges arising on every project.  Keep it private and be candid; this is your private journal.  When handed a similar project, you will have something to reference and look back on as it may be a guide on how to take over new projects.

Conclusion

Unlike healthcare where patient care is being transferred daily, whether it is for higher levels of care or a shift change, projects are not handed off as frequently requiring a specific project protocol for handoffs.  While PMI has done a great job organizing the knowledge areas designing a method for a PMP® to tailor and implement when assigned a project, not everyone who manages a project are certified PMPs and may have their own methods of approaching a project.  Even if the predecessor was a PMP, the knowledge areas are mere suggestions that are tailored to the project.  Like an archaeologist digging up artifacts to understand the past human activity and past culture, the Project Manager must also dig for artifacts such as a Project Charter and contracts to see how the project is operating.  Fortunately, unlike an archaeologist, the members of the organization are alive and well to interview.  However, the team may not be the team that chartered the project.  Therefore, the Project Manager must rely on documentation and contracts established by predecessors.

Works Cited

Horwitz, L., Rand, D., Staisiunas, P., Van Ness, P., Araujo, K. L., Banerjee, S. S., . . . Arora, V. M. (2013). Development of a handoff evaluation tool for shift-to-shift physician handoffs: the Handoff CEX. Journal of hospital medicine, 8(4), 191-200.

Kemp, E., Trivitt, J., & Davis, C. (2023). Evidence-Based Performance Indicators of Positive Inpatient Experiences. Journal of Healthcare Management 68(2), 106-120.

Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square: Project Management Institute.