The Milestone Nobody Owns
You are managing a 6 million regulatory compliance programme across four departments. At a steering group meeting, three of four workstream leads report amber. The data migration workstream is two weeks late because the department supplying source data has not assigned anyone to extract it. The training workstream is waiting on the new process design, which is waiting on the data migration. The regulator has confirmed an inspection date in 10 weeks that cannot move. The programme board asks for a status report showing green, because a red status would trigger an external review and the board believes the programme is "basically on track". Earned value shows SPI 0.85 and CPI 0.92.
1. How do you respond to the request to report green, and what does the earned value data tell you?
Read the worked answer
You decline to report green, and you explain why in the meeting rather than afterwards.
Earned value: SPI 0.85 means the programme is delivering 85% of the value planned for the time elapsed; CPI 0.92 means it is spending 92 pence of value for every pound. Both are amber by any reasonable threshold, and the dependency chain makes them worse than the numbers suggest. Data migration is late, training depends on process design, and process design depends on data migration. That is a serial dependency with a hard external date in 10 weeks. A green report would be false and would remove the board's ability to act.
How to handle the request:
- State the facts plainly: three of four workstreams amber, a critical dependency chain, SPI 0.85, CPI 0.92, and a fixed inspection date.
- Explain the consequence of a false green: the board would make decisions on a picture that is wrong, and when the inspection date is missed the external review happens anyway, later and with less time to prepare.
- Offer an amber-red report that includes the recovery actions and the specific decisions you need from the board, particularly the unassigned data extraction resource.
Reporting accurately is not disloyalty; it is the only way the board can govern. If the board overrules you, record the instruction and your advice in the minutes.
2. What recovery plan do you propose for the 10-week window?
Read the worked answer
The plan must attack the dependency chain at its head, because everything else is waiting on it.
- Data extraction: escalate to the department head and the board for a named resource this week. This is the single blocking item. If the department cannot supply it, propose an alternative: a contractor funded from contingency, or extraction by your own team with the department's data owner supervising. Put a date on it.
- Break the serial chain where possible: start process design on the data fields already confirmed, so design does not wait for full migration. Run training material development in parallel with design using a frozen core process, with a delta update later.
- Re-sequence training delivery: train a core group first, then cascade, so the inspection date is covered even if full rollout slips.
- Protect the inspection: define the minimum compliant state needed for inspection and confirm with the regulator what will be assessed. You may not need everything finished, only the assessed elements.
- Governance: weekly dependency review with the four workstream leads, a single RAID log, and a clear escalation route to the board for anything that misses its date by more than three days.
Report the plan as amber with named owners and dates, and state the residual risk to the inspection date honestly.