For a less experience PM the implementation weekends are a trial of fire. If it works then great you will be the project hero. If it does not go live then you are a dud. In previous times in order to 'unblock' projects I have had a go at installing Windows Server using the manual (how hard can it be - impossible) and after many unsuccessful attempts went down to the pub and had lunch and had to wait three days for a Wintel person to do it properly. I was assisted in my kamikaze attempt by a Unix developer as I regard one operating system much the same as another. He thought it was a humorous approach but as he had seen me do weirder things and take bigger risks and see them work he just went along to pick up another anecdote to tell him Unix chums.
As a senior PM most of the projects I get will be remediation ones where the client and the supplier started to do it in a way that was either cheap (its straight out of the box, their bread and butter work) or expensive in the wrong way (the complicated but plausible method) and they have come unstuck. When they come unstuck they usually double down and call that re-planning. Then, when all motivation, budget and any chance of it being regarded as a success they will bring in a simplifier rather than a complicator, which what I think I am.
Even with experienced Wintel resource the first project was still causing problems. So I went to the local church in the centre of London and prayed to God and then the implementation worked. Do I think there is a link between the two? Of course I do. On a metaphysical level I escalated the issue to the celestial PM and his only response was that I should have come to him first rather than waste time with Wintel contractors. As the ultimate escalation point he is busy and he appreciated trying to sort my own problems first before sharing mine with him. As he said to me 'I can't be everywhere at once' - so much for omnipresence.
There is a lot planning, reviewing and rehearsing in these weekends. There is no shortcut around it - plan, review and rehearse. Then you need good people who turn up. It sounds simple but when an implementation weekend is months late and has been rescheduled three of four times it's hard to get people's attention and keep them fresh. Sometimes the team can be a completely different one from the ones who developed the original plan. That's why reviews and a walk-through are useful. Even then you might get people who don't turn up because their contract is not going to be reviewed or their is a management issue where they want to stick two fingers up to the company. You will never know until the implementation day itself. Advice: Cross-train people and get them to work in twos. It allows you to distribute the work more evenly and means yo have a broader set of questions.
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