All project work is good project work, especially if you’re a consultant like me, right? Take on everything and see how it goes, since money is money. And if you’re an employee, can you really say no to a project you’re assigned?
Not so fast. Yes, money is important to consultants. And yes, many times it is difficult to say no to a project assignment within an organization of which you are an employee. But should you always just say, “Yes”? No.
Here are my five reasons — not "excuses," don’t confuse the two terms — why you can and should say no to (or try to refuse, in the case of an employee) a project that falls in your lap:
1. Work overload. No doubt it takes a big and bold person to admit they are overloaded, especially if you are an employee and not a consultant. Convincing management that assigned the project to you that you are already overloaded may be difficult and may make you appear weak or uncooperative.
If you feel strongly that you are too overloaded with projects, then you are going to need to present your case and the best way to do that is to document as accurately as possible the hours you have been doing and the hours you will be putting in on your current load of projects. You have to make a case, though whether they accept it is another issue. Good luck.
2. You lack expertise or experience. If you lack the amount of experience necessary for the size of the project at hand and feel that success will be difficult, you may need to pass on the project at hand. If you lack any technical expertise and the project at hand is a complex technical project, then you may need to pass on this project as well.
In general, project management is project management. Best practices apply to all projects of any industry and genre, but often technical project management calls for some technical expertise. At least I’ve always found such expertise to be beneficial, especially in managing a skilled technical project team. A technical project manager often gets a different level of respect and cooperation from the project team if they have technical background.
If your background is lacking and could weigh heavily on the success of the project, you may need to say, “No.”
3. You have a conflict of interest with the customer. If you are an employee and have a past interest with a project customer, then you should probably let everyone know. You can decide to step aside or let your senior management decide whether or not the project should be assigned to you. If you’re a consultant and are heavily involved with a competitor of this new potential client, speak up because it may be a problem down the road. You certainly don’t want to get into any legal complication.
If you have too close of a relationship with this project customer or their competition before the project starts, you may need to say, “No.”
4. You're unfamiliar with the technology or solution and it seems to matter. Yes, project management is sometimes just that — project management. But in the case of complex technical solutions or industries that you have absolutely no familiarity with, it may not be in your best interest to dive in on the currently assigned project. Perhaps you would succeed, but it may be better if you can get your feet wet on a smaller scale project with this untested or unfamiliar technology or solution.
If you're too unfamiliar with the kind of project, you may just need to say, “No.”
5. You don’t see eye to eye with the project client. You can tell early in the discussion process that you won’t see eye to eye with certain clients. I’ve had a couple of those, and I let them waste a lot of my time that I can never get back. They resulted in no income after hours and days of discussion. I could tell it was going to be a long process at best, yet I failed to take my own advice and I regretted it.
If you can avoid it, don’t waste your time trying to change this client relationship or trying to force this client into something you can work with. Let them move on to someone else, or release them and see if they come back acting differently. It may be you, it may be them, but either way it just may not work.
How about our readers: how do you feel about turning down projects, as a consultant or as an employee? Have you ever turned one down? If so, what was your reasoning to the client (and your management, if applicable) and how did it turn out? Please share so we can network and discuss.
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