PM: Projecting Go-live Dates

One of the most common questions a PM will be asked is: When are we going live?

Often, we are asked to confirm this within days or weeks of being assigned a project well before we’ve had the opportunity to fully engage ALL necessary resources, define the detailed level plan and vet with the entire team.

At other times, we may be assigned a project where the go-live date is “seemingly” preordained. As outlined in a prior post, there is no launch date until the PM says so! However, there will be projects that do have a hard and fast date which MUST be met (e.g., the contract with a key partner or supplier ends on a particular day and we must be ready the following day to conduct business without them). This would be a project where “failure is NOT an option.”

For this post, we’ll be focusing on the MANY projects which merely have a “desired” go-live date.

We must realize that our project sponsor and stakeholders need to know go-live timing from which they can base business planning, budgeting and forecasting activities. To support this, I take the approach of zooming in, over time, clearly setting expectations all along the way…

To begin, when a desired timeframe (or date) has been specified, I reference it as a “Target Date” in ALL project communications. That is, this is the date we are shooting for. And, we will do whatever we can in our planning to line things up to achieve that date. However, until we have a detailed level plan which has been fully vetted by the team, it remains a target / a mere notion: a date that is highly suspect and very well “may” be totally unreasonable.

Once we have a detail level plan, fully vetted with the team, we can begin referring to a “Commit Date” that we’ll move heaven and earth to achieve.

The reality is, however, it can take weeks, sometimes months, to nail down and vet a detailed level plan for a larger scale initiative. And, while we are going through numerous iterations, our project planning tool provides a specific go-live date. However, as you’ll undoubtedly observe, that date is in constant flux as details are added to and continuously honed in our plan. This is NOT the time to be projecting a specific go-live date because it remains in (planning) flux…

So, what is a PM to do between the time a project kicks off with a target date and when the commit date can be established?

I’ll now explain the zoom in, over time, approach. That is, early on in a project the best we may be able to provide is the general timeframe we are targeting (e.g., Q3 of 2024). As our planning activities progress and we increasingly nail down our project plan, via multiple iterations, we’ll be able to zoom in on a more specific timeframe (e.g., August of 2024). And, as we continue to iterate our plan, we are able to further narrow focus where we can provide increasingly precise timeframes (e.g., mid-August of 2024). Eventually, and as soon as reasonably possible, we will (we MUST) arrive at a level of specificity where we provide the exact go-live date for which the team is absolutely committed to achieve (e.g., August 12, 2024).

I have found that doing the above provides the project sponsor and stakeholders the increasingly precise information they require over time to meet their needs. And, taking this approach minimizes the amount of go-live date-anxiety due to the potentially numerous changes that may take place during the early planning stages of a project.

In closing, if you are looking to improve PM performance and capabilities in yourself or organization, feel free to reach out so that we may discuss how I can help.

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