Bulletproof Plan

Our team was asked to implement a healthcare electronic medical record (EMR) system in each of our physician practices across the country, but we ran into an issue. The company Chief Executive Officer had already dismissed two outside firms who had offered proposals to do the implementation, so my team was nervous. I assured them we would be okay.

Why? Because we had a bulletproof plan. Members of our team flew to the CEO’s office to give a 45-minute presentation but as expected, he wanted an earlier completion date. Fortunately, we had planned well, and we had Gannt Charts*, PERT charts*, budgets, and resource plans. I explained the earlier date was possible, but it would double the budget and we would need to reduce the scope of services delivered.

Of course, he said that was unacceptable and pushed for an earlier date. I told him that I understood his need and asked him to point out which tasks he wanted removed, and I would accommodate. Naturally, he wanted them all, so I stated again that the date would remain the same. He couldn’t argue with the truth, so he agreed to our date.

The CEO had unrealistic expectations of schedules, budgets, and quality. In project management, each one of those variables affects the other. Simply stated, higher quality requires more time and resources. If your expectations of quality are low (never happens), then you can theoretically implement the project faster and cheaper.

As I quoted previously, “planning is indispensable” – General Eisenhower

Excerpt from The Extraordinary Business by Mike Hill

Write to Mike at Mike.Hill@TeamTrenton.com