You have a plan, you have identified all your resources and the skills that you need, and you’ve identified a good number of risk and accompanying mitigations. If things start to go wrong, you should look to your risk log to see if it (and your accompanying mitigations) might be able to help. If they don’t help, there are many things you can start to do.
When things start to go wrong, start to make notes of what has happened, and how you have responded to what has happened. In other words, add entries to your project log. If you haven’t started a project log, start one. It is never too late.
Even though you may have prepared a plan (and identified risks) at the start of your project, these are not set in stone. Your project plan and all the other elements of planning (your resource, skill and risk summaries) should always be updated.
An important tip: keep two versions of your Gantt chart; the plan that you prepared at the very start of your project, and a version that you continually update throughout your project.
If things are not going to plan, do update your plan, and make a note of why you think this is the case. If things happen in your life which mean that you have to break your regular study pattern, and you find that key project milestones will be delayed, write down what has happened and replan your project. If you need advice about how to approach this, do get in contact with your tutor.
The reason for writing everything down is simple: it gives you some useful material you can use when you get to write your reflection section.
At the time of writing, the reflection section of your project report accounts for 20% of the overall project score. This means that there are a lot of marks available just for writing about what has happened during your project (and saying what you have learnt).
If everything went to plan and there were no surprises, your reflection section would be pretty uninteresting. Examiners are not very fond of uninteresting project reports. If your project doesn’t go to plan, this gives you something to write about.
To summarise, projects can and do go wrong. If you realise that your project has elements of complexity that you never expected, and need to replan, that is completely okay. If life intervenes which means that you need to reevaluate your project’s aims and objectives, that is okay too. Both of these situations will lead to a changed project which means you have a really interesting story to tell in your reflection section.
If you’re unsure about anything, my biggest tip is, of course, contact your tutor to book in a chat.
What should I do if my TM470 project goes wrong?
You have a plan, you have identified all your resources and the skills that you need, and you’ve identified a good number of risk and accompanying mitigations. If things start to go wrong, you should look to your risk log to see if it (and your accompanying mitigations) might be able to help. If they don’t help, there are many things you can start to do.
When things start to go wrong, start to make notes of what has happened, and how you have responded to what has happened. In other words, add entries to your project log. If you haven’t started a project log, start one. It is never too late.
Even though you may have prepared a plan (and identified risks) at the start of your project, these are not set in stone. Your project plan and all the other elements of planning (your resource, skill and risk summaries) should always be updated.
An important tip: keep two versions of your Gantt chart; the plan that you prepared at the very start of your project, and a version that you continually update throughout your project.
If things are not going to plan, do update your plan, and make a note of why you think this is the case. If things happen in your life which mean that you have to break your regular study pattern, and you find that key project milestones will be delayed, write down what has happened and replan your project. If you need advice about how to approach this, do get in contact with your tutor.
The reason for writing everything down is simple: it gives you some useful material you can use when you get to write your reflection section.
At the time of writing, the reflection section of your project report accounts for 20% of the overall project score. This means that there are a lot of marks available just for writing about what has happened during your project (and saying what you have learnt).
If everything went to plan and there were no surprises, your reflection section would be pretty uninteresting. Examiners are not very fond of uninteresting project reports. If your project doesn’t go to plan, this gives you something to write about.
To summarise, projects can and do go wrong. If you realise that your project has elements of complexity that you never expected, and need to replan, that is completely okay. If life intervenes which means that you need to reevaluate your project’s aims and objectives, that is okay too. Both of these situations will lead to a changed project which means you have a really interesting story to tell in your reflection section.
If you’re unsure about anything, my biggest tip is, of course, contact your tutor to book in a chat.