In the conclusion of the three-part series on successful project management, granular communications highlight performance lags and scope creep.

Go Granular

Granularization-not a word, but certainly a vital concept-is the third key to getting your projects under control. A basic dictum is that you have to track at one level of detail deeper than you ever have to report. In other words, to summarize and report at the task level a manager must track at the subtask level, and so on, down to activity and subactivity levels. Here are two suggestions to help along the way: Eliminate level-loading looseness and control communication at the granular level.

All too often, the responsible person assumes and reports a level-loaded scenario for each major activity, leading to looseness in tracking. For example, a team plans to deliver a function within a 10-week period. At the end of week one, the team reports 10 percent of the planned hours burned and of course, 10 percent completion. And so on, yielding a false sense of security to management and digging a dangerous pit just over the horizon.

Fear is often the driver of level-loading looseness. It is primarily the fear of reporting a slip to someone who does not realize that, in reality, projects do slip. A good project plan makes allowance for the inevitable slips.

The other major driver for level-loading looseness is that no one really knows all that has to be done at the early stages of a project, a task or an activity. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), as a project unfolds, there will be an increasing understanding of what is necessary and how to do it.

It would be wise to apply that insight all the way down to the granular level. Recognize that individuals and teams cannot know everything sitting in an ivory tower as they plan, no matter at what level they operate. As time goes on, they discover in ever-greater detail exactly what needs to be done. That is granular progressive elaboration. This has three additional benefits.

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