At an internationally active Swedish mechanical engineering company with more than 40,000 employees worldwide, the interim manager took on the task of completing a much-delayed product data management development project within six months. As project manager, he led a team of Swedish and German employees. The project language was English.
The project had been running for more than five years and should have been completed around a year ago at the start of the interim mandate. This was critical because the employees working on the subsequent projects urgently needed a functional product data management system. To make matters worse, the project team of irreplaceable experts had fallen out and had already worn out more than one project manager.
Responsibilities, time targets and verifiable success criteria defined
In order to give the project a stable structure, the interim manager recorded the development status to date and the outstanding tasks in the first meeting with the project team. He then assessed the workload for each task package. He then proposed a tightly defined project plan to the team with specific responsibilities, exact time targets and verifiable success criteria. This approach with a tight timeframe and key figures was initially very unusual for the team of creative developers and designers, especially as the interim manager strictly controlled the team's work.
Initiating solution-oriented and productive internal team competition
Another main task of the interim manager was to settle disputes about technical content without taking sides himself. Thanks to the new project structure and strong leadership, initial successes were quickly achieved. The interim manager's project management had initiated a solution-oriented and productive internal team competition. The developers and designers were now working well together again. Only one project team member was unable to do so and had to be replaced.
After four months of intensive work, more than 80 percent of the project had been completed
From then on, the interim manager was able to regularly report on the progress of the project to the project steering committee using reliable key figures. Based on the objective data, he was able to keep the team focused on their work. After just four months of intensive work, more than 80 percent of the tasks had been completed. Some of the subsequent projects were able to be started before the required date.
Successful completion on time and commitment for follow-up order
Without the enormous pressure to succeed and with the help of the interim manager, the team found a stable working rhythm. The remaining work was completed quickly. As a result of this success, the interim manager was commissioned to take on another similar project.
