Programme overview
Introduction:
Troubled project recovery, with health checks, re-baselining and go/kill decisions, is a 5-day course for project and programme managers, PMO leads and sponsors who must rescue a failing or crisis-hit project, ending with a Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation. Organisations lose money and credibility when distressed projects keep reporting green, absorb fresh funding without a new baseline and are neither repaired nor stopped. Nominees already run or oversee live projects, and the course is taught as case study work on a troubled project data pack. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this troubled project recovery course.
Course Objectives:
- Detect early warning signals of a troubled project from milestone slippage, burn rate and the gap between reported and earned progress
- Lead an independent project health check and rate whether a distressed project is recoverable
- Stabilise a failing project through a triage freeze, a scope reset and a sponsor and stakeholder reset
- Re-baseline schedule and cost with bottom-up re-estimates and estimate at completion forecasts
- Run recovery governance, contractor renegotiation and team leadership through a 30-60-90 day recovery plan tracked with CPI, SPI and TCPI
- Produce a Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation that tells the sponsor whether to continue, re-scope or terminate the project
Target Audience:
- Project managers accountable for delivering a project that is late, over budget or in crisis
- Programme managers responsible for red-rated projects inside a wider programme
- PMO leads responsible for spotting distressed projects and coordinating their recovery
- Project sponsors and steering group members who must approve further funding or stop a project
- Project controls leads responsible for re-forecasting cost and schedule on troubled projects
Course Outline:
Day 1: Anatomy of Troubled Projects and Early Warning Signals
- Red Flag Indicator Checklist for Slipping Milestones and Burn Rates
- Root Cause Taxonomy of Failed Scope, Estimates and Sponsorship
- Watermelon Reporting Detection Using Spend Versus Progress Divergence
- Problem, Emergency and Crisis Severity Classification Matrix
- Troubled Project Portfolio Screening and Rescue Candidate Shortlist
Day 2: Independent Health Check and Recovery Diagnosis Models
- Independent Project Health Check Terms of Reference and Team
- Six-Dimension Diagnostic Grid Across Scope, Schedule, Cost and People
- Earned Value Snapshot With CPI and SPI Trend Reading
- Structured Interview Protocol for Team, Sponsor and Contractor Views
- Health Check Findings Report With Recoverability Rating
Day 3: Stabilisation, Re-Scoping and Re-Baselining
- Triage Freeze List to Stop Non-Essential Work and Spend
- Minimum Viable Delivery Scope Reset and Deferral Register
- Bottom-Up Re-Estimate and Revised Schedule Baseline Approval
- Estimate at Completion and Estimate to Complete Re-Forecast
- Sponsor and Stakeholder Reset Briefing and Expectation Agreement
Day 4: Recovery Governance, Commercial Levers and Team Leadership
- 30-60-90 Day Recovery Plan Architecture and Milestone Checkpoints
- Recovery Steering Group Cadence, Decision Log and Escalation Triggers
- Contractor and Supplier Renegotiation Options and Commercial Levers
- Team Morale Recovery, Fatigue Watch and Leadership Pulse Checks
- TCPI Thresholds and Weekly Recovery Dashboard Controls
Day 5: Case Study Building a Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation
- Case Troubled Project Data Pack and Health Check Scoring
- Continue, Re-Scope or Terminate Decision Matrix Application
- Re-Baselined Schedule and Cost Forecast for the Case
- Lessons Learned Capture and Recurrence Prevention Actions
- Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation Completion and Defence
Skills You Will Gain:
- Troubled Project Diagnosis
- Project Health Check Leadership
- Project Triage and Stabilisation
- Scope and Baseline Reset
- Recovery Forecasting with Earned Value
- Recovery Governance Design
- Commercial Renegotiation Planning
- Go/Kill Decision Analysis
Why Attend This Course:
- Deliver a Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation, built on a case troubled project, to the project sponsor and steering group for decision
- Decide whether a distressed project should continue on a new baseline, continue with reduced scope or be terminated in a controlled way
- Avoid sinking further funds into projects that report green while earned progress, cost performance and contractor delivery keep falling behind
- Equip PMO and project colleagues with the health check grid, triage freeze list and recovery dashboard for use on other red-rated projects
Conclusion:
Back at work, the participant hands the Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation to the project sponsor and the steering group, who use it to decide whether the project continues on a new baseline, continues with reduced scope or is closed in a controlled way. The PMO can use the same health check grid and recovery dashboard on other red-rated projects. After the first thirty days of recovery, the steering group should compare actual CPI, SPI and TCPI against the recovery targets, confirm that frozen work stays frozen and decide whether the go/kill call still holds.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What do participants need before a troubled project recovery course?
Participants should already manage, sponsor or oversee live projects and be familiar with schedules, budgets and progress reporting. Bringing anonymised status reports, schedules or cost data from a struggling project helps them apply the health check, re-baselining and forecasting tools to their own work.
How does troubled project recovery differ from a project governance or stage-gate assurance course?
It concentrates on a single project already in trouble: diagnosing it, stabilising it, resetting scope and baselines, leading the team and deciding whether to continue or stop. Governance and assurance courses design oversight and review regimes across a portfolio before problems arise.
When should a troubled project recovery effort recommend killing the project?
Termination is recommended when the re-forecast estimate at completion or the required TCPI shows the project can no longer deliver enough value, or when the business need has disappeared. A controlled stop preserves resources, records lessons learned and protects the sponsor's credibility.
What do participants take back from the troubled project recovery course?
Participants take back a Recovery Plan and Go/Kill Recommendation for a case troubled project, including a health check scoring, a triage freeze list, a re-baselined schedule and cost forecast, a 30-60-90 day recovery plan and a recovery dashboard they can adapt to their own projects.