An issue is an event or condition that must be dealt with. Issues are not the same as risks. Risks are future events that may impact on a project should they occur. An issue on the other hand is a risk event that has occurred or a new event impacting the project such the unavailability of a critical staff member due to an accident.
Issue Management Life Cycle
Here are the basic steps to deal with issues. Your organization or PMO may provide specific or supplemental guidance.
Issue Log
Issues have many names such as problems, conflicts, matters, or concerns. Regardless what they are called, they should be documented in the Issue Log when they happen. The Issue Log is a reporting, communication, and management tool that enables the project manager to:
- Track and assign responsibility to specific team members
- Analyze and prioritize the issues
- Record the resolution for future reference
- Report status to team members and stakeholders
Review and Prioritize
Not all issues are emergencies. Assign a priority rating to each issue:
- High priority for critical issues that will severely impact the success of the project and may cause the project to halt if not resolved
- Medium priority may have a significant impact on the project but won’t stop the project from proceeding
- Low priority does not affect activities on the critical path and probably won’t stop the project from proceeding. Low impact issues may never be resolved
Analysis
Assign a person to analyze the issue and recommend actions or corrections as needed. In some cases, the issue may be rejected and warrants no further action. The recommendations are reviewed and approved for implementation by the project manager or stakeholders.
Implementation
The proposed solution is implemented to correct the issue.
Verification
The proposed solution is monitored to confirm the issue condition has been corrected.
Closure
Finally, the issue is closed.
Reporting
Issues are frequently included in project status reports with an individual status noted for each issue using the following or similar labels:
- Open – an issue has been identified
- Investigating – the issue is being analyzed and possible solution are being considered
- Escalated – the issue has been raised to management or the project sponsor or steering committee
- Closed – the resolution has been implemented and the issue is closed