Conflict and Issue Management

We've seen a claim that over half of projects fail because of people problems. Stress and "people problems" are often cited as causes of conflicts within projects, and it is true that, as the pace of development increases and product cycle times decrease, stress can mount to the breaking point and personalities can clash. But is this a cause or a symptom? Is there more to conflict management than just refereeing fights? Are "difficult people" a euphemism for reasonable people in difficult circumstances? What are the root-causes of conflict within project teams and how can these root causes be mitigated. What are the structural project process problems that can cause conflict, and how can they be identified, captured, and resolved? Can all conflict be eliminated from project teams? Should it? And, if not, how do we plan for and manage this conflict?

• Click here for Burning Questions and know-how on Conflict and Issue Management
  
  
• TEMPLATE: Even in the smallest development environments, it's important to have an orderly process for correcting software issues (defects or "bugs" or problems discovered during testing) and feeding the updated software back for re-test. Re-testing ensures that the bugs really are fixed, and that nothing else was broken! Our Software Test Transfer template includes practical forms to accompany a software build when Development sends it Testing, to serve as a record of what is being transferred, testing instructions, and ultimately a record of what was tested and the results.
  
  
• TEMPLATE: The Issue Resolution Status Report template provides a format for reporting progress on resolving project or technical issues.
  
  
• TEMPLATE: Our Brainstorming Template contains a set of "how-to" guidelines for facilitating a Brainstorming Session, to generate ideas from a selected audience to solve problems or stimulate creativity. For instance, brainstorming can be used to solve a process problem, invent new product ideas, get past a project impasse, identify project design alternatives, etc. These guidelines cover several types of brainstorming sessions, detailed guidelines for starting a session off effectively, and pitfalls to watch out for.
  
  
• GUIDELINES: Our Project Escalation Process Guidelines suggest ways to escalate issues appropriately without creating resentment and provide examples of escalation write-ups for more formal PM situations.
  
  
• GUIDELINES: Get to the root of the problem, instead of just curing a symptom. Our Problem-Solving Tools and Techniques template provides six different problem-solving tools help you do everything from determining root causes to assessing possible solutions, and outline a basic problem-solving strategy so you can be sure you've covered all the bases. This structured idea generation and analysis also generates valuable material for later use in selling the idea up the chain of command, justifying expenditures, or getting buy-in from the involved or affected parties.
  
  
• PAPER: Read our paper Getting Relevant to Get Results for insight on managing conflict between management and technical contributors.
  
  
• ARTICLE: Read Doug DeCarlo's column Resolving Conflict Before It Dissolves Your Team for some pragmatic pointers on dealing with conflict.
  
  
• BOOKS: We've got some references on conflict management in our book list that will be helpful.