Resolving Conflicts

Conflict resolution is one of the key methods by which we find a path forward because many issues are rooted in disagreement or misunderstanding between multiple parties. As such, any place where a TPM can run into an issue, conflict resolution can make an appearance.

Planning

Conflicts during the planning phase usually occur while analyzing requirements but can also occur while creating the project plan.

During requirement analysis, disagreement on a requirement or an ambiguous requirement is common. As we work with our stakeholders, any clarification may introduce new complexities or insights and can steer the conversation organically. Knowing the behaviors and complexities of your systems helps during these conversations.

Author's experience: A recent project of mine had a requirement to take a regional functionality and make it available globally for business expansion. I understood how the functionality was implemented and could use that to elaborate on specific inputs needed from the business team. I was able to clarify ownership of data elements and expectations across multiple teams. Without knowing how the feature was implemented, this discussion would have come up much later during the design or implementation and could have led to delays because we wouldn't have had proper expectations about when and where data would be made available for the expansion.