A really useful technique many project managers could use - Do you know baselining?

...SO you are a project manager taking over a failing project right in the middle-- what would be your first step?---Baselining

Far too many good project managers end up becoming martyrs simply because they do not use this technique. This used to be a question I often asked project manager candidates!

The definition I use for baselining is " the synchronisation of all configurable items of a project".

In simple English it means you take all the latest versions of the configurable items of the Project ( Requirements document, Design document, MPP, Test Plan document, Latest source version, etc..) and then reconcile them with a baselining document which captures the differences among these documents e.g. if requirements document has 67 use cases but design talks of 58, then identify the difference. Similarly if the scope of the MPP is different from the requirements document then identify the difference and so on....

You then set about reconciling these differences (from a contract/ customer perspective) with the Project manager handing over the project to you, so that all CI's of the project in perfect synch and you are now truly in control. All differences can be highlighted and also you get all stakeholder in "synch" as well. It is not funny to see the disconnects in larger programs.

If you are taking up a project in the middle of a mess, you better do this in the first 2 weeks otherwise the entire mess will be inherited by you. This also is a line in the sand that you can draw to show progress from what you have inherited.

Hope this is helpful beyond cracking interviews!