While project management has become more professional over the last ten years, some aspects of the field are still unknown. This is the case, for example, with the interdependence of projects. This phenomenon can increase the duration and cost of a project substantially if you are not careful.

Imagine that you are at the controls of an airliner. Together with your team, your goal is to get the plane and its passengers to a safe destination. Although flying the plane is your main responsibility, you are aware that there are other planes in the sky at various distances. Staying alert and avoiding collisions is part of your role, even if air traffic controllers are on the alert.

In project management, however, know that there is no real control tower. However, the risks of collision, overlap and interdependencies do exist. So it is essential, as a project manager, to determine them quickly and to stay on the lookout throughout the flight. A project manager is a bit like an airplane pilot: he must therefore pilot the plan from start to finish.

Sharing resources

The first pitfall to be aware of is certainly the competition for resources. Whether they are human or material, you sometimes have to share them with other projects.

Business resources are often the most difficult to obtain. To implement a new order taking system, for example, it will be necessary to “requisition” specialists, who are already few in the company. If two business line experts are assigned to the project, their manager must be able to continue to operate their department with the rest of the team, which sometimes causes tension. If, later, another project, resulting from marketing for example, also requires this expertise, the first project will have to share business resources, even if it was not planned. The interdependence of projects sometimes brings its share of uncertainty: it is up to the manager to adapt and find solutions.

Technical and material resources represent a second bottleneck. In order to be able to carry out tests before implementing a new system, the project manager requires, for example, disk space, servers, etc. Unfortunately, the computer park can be saturated and projects compete for the same environments. The same goes for certain technical expertise. For example, it is difficult to access experts on systems that are 30 or 40 years old (Legacy Systems). However, the bulk of IT projects involve the replacement of systems, and this type of situation happens frequently.

Anticipate integrations

There are also project overlaps or interdependencies of projects along the way. This is especially the case during the integration phase between two tools. Take the example of a company that is planning a project to replace an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). This planning takes into account numerous financial, commercial, logistical data, etc. At the same time, this same company wants to set up a transport optimization project. The latter cannot be put into production before the first one, as it depends on the data from the ERP project to function. It must therefore be integrated into the ERP tool, and their integration dates must match.

Thus, interdependencies arise during the project, which leads to delays and additional costs. Can the project office, when there is one, anticipate and prevent these difficulties? Or the enterprise architect? In theory, yes; in practice, it's unlikely. On the one hand, because these interdependencies are sometimes hidden in the details, which are not the responsibility of the project office. On the other hand, because once the budgetary green light is given, planning is still to be drawn up. This is the responsibility of the project manager, and it is at this stage that he discovers interdependencies and the risks of collision.

Interdependence of projects: you have to stay on the lookout

So what is the solution? The ideal is to be able to detect, at the time of preliminary or feasibility analysis, the potential for a project to conflict or overlap with others. Afterwards, the project manager must be constantly on the lookout for what is happening in other projects, whether IT or business, to avoid blind spots. This constant state of vigilance is not always understood or appreciated by clients. However, it is essential to bring all passengers safely to port.

Do you know how to successfully implement an ERP system? This reading, complementary to this article, offers you strategic advice on the implementation of your ERP solution. Take a look at it!