The Power of Managing By Exception to Control Project Variations

In this episode, Ricardo talks about "management by exception" in PRINCE2 methodology, which encourages communication and action only in exceptional cases, saving time on routine updates. As an example, meetings are only called when there is a significant delay, a cost overrun, or a risk that is about to happen. Teams can focus on project work when communication is streamlined. Ricardo accentuates project success over meticulous management processes. "Management by exception" can be used with both Agile and waterfall methods, which makes project discussion more efficient. Ricardo suggests using it when making project communication strategies, highlighting the benefits of time savings and increased focus for the team.

Listen to the podcast to know more.

*PRINCE2® = PRojects in Controlled Environments

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Episode transcript

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Hi everyone. Here is Ricardo Vargas, and this is the 5 Minutes Podcast. Today, I'd like to talk about one principle of Prince, the programming control environment method that I really love. I use it all the time, and it's the concept of management by exception. This is one of the best things I learned when I studied for PRINCE2, and why this is so relevant is because the concept of management by exception means that you only communicate. You only take action or management action when there is an exception. You don't communicate just for the sake of communicating. For example, you don't have weekly meetings, for example, weekly status meetings where people sit and say, oh, my area is fine. The other one says my area is fine. There is no point in doing that. So, you only do meetings or trigger meetings or decision points when there is an issue or an exception. Let me give you an example. Let's suppose you have a schedule, and let's suppose that you create an exception, which means you will only trigger an exception if the delay is above five days. I'm just making this up. Okay, so let's suppose you are starting to work and there is a delay of two days. The delay is one day, and the delay is three days. It means you don't need to take any action. You just need to focus on your project and do the work you need to do. But if, for any reason, the delay reaches five days, then you trigger an exception. Then, for example, you call for a meeting with the project sponsor or the project board to decide on the project, and this saves you time in routine communication work.

So, for example, you don't prepare that fancy PowerPoint just to say I'm fine; everything is great. You only create a PowerPoint, for example, when there is an exception, and the exception can be due to delay. The exception can be a cost overrun. The exception can be a relevant risk that is very close to becoming a reality or an issue. You create this. So, these improve your communication plan and allow your team to focus on the project, not necessarily on managing things. You focus on what the project is and not the management. Remember, project management is about delivering better projects. It's not to deliver better management. What we want in the end is for our projects to succeed. It's not our manager. I don't want to say that I can sharply say the project is late. Now, I have improved my process, and the project is really late. I don't care about that. What I care about is how I can deliver that project on time or improve the benefits. And these processes I use. No matter what the method is, you can use Agile and management. By exception, you can use waterfall and management by exception. And I think this is a fantastic communication tool that you have in your toolbox. And I use this all the time. Every time I'm crafting a way of communicating results in my project, I use the concept of management by exception. It saves time and focuses the team. Think about that, and see you next week with another five-minute podcast.

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