# Re-plan from today > Reforecast the remaining work from where the project stands, keep the range, let sunk effort stay out of the choice, and tell the sponsor what changed and what you need. - Course: [Project Management Without the Bureaucracy: Run One Project from Brief to Closure](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy.md) - Module: Running the work: changes and re-planning - Lesson 27/32, ~25 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/re-plan-from-today ## Are we on plan? **Leo:** Thursday, 7 January. Quick one: are the practice sets on plan? **Vira:** The plan gave each topic two working days: 12 topics in 24 days. We're 21 days in and 7 topics are done. **Sofia:** So the plan says three days are left. But five topics are left. **Alex Tutor:** That's the question that matters. Not "how far are we from the plan", but "from where we stand, when will it be done?" That is a **reforecast**: a new forecast from today. **Alex Tutor:** Start from the work left and the pace you've really had. 21 days for 7 topics is 3 days a topic. > **Exercise:** After 21 working days, 7 of the 12 practice topics are done. At that real pace, how many working days do the remaining 5 topics need? ## A forecast with a range **Hanna:** Fifteen working days counting today end on 27 January. That's before the 29th, so we're fine? **Alex Tutor:** One number hides the spread. Some topics took two days, the electricity topic took four. So the honest forecast is 10 to 20 days, most likely 15. **Alex Tutor:** From 7 to 29 January, today included, there are 17 working days. The likely case leaves 2 days of buffer; the slow case misses by 3. And tutors need the last sets before opening, not on the 29th. **Vira:** And I'm teaching the January intensive until the 20th. My real days are fewer than the calendar says. **Alex Tutor:** Good: a reforecast uses the people really available, not the ones on the org chart. Put that in too. **Alex Tutor:** Check the slow end of that range against the calendar. > **Exercise:** The 5 remaining topics take **2 to 4 working days each**. From 7 to 29 January, today included, there are **17 working days**. In the slow case, by how many working days does the work miss the 29th? > **Exercise:** What goes into a reforecast from today? Select all that apply. ## What is spent stays spent **Vira:** The diagrams. The illustrator's 18,000 UAH for topics 1 to 8 is paid. He'll do 9 to 12 for another 9,000, but not before 25 January. **Danylo:** We paid for his style. If we switch now, those 18,000 were wasted. **Alex Tutor:** Those 18,000 are spent whatever you choose today. That's **sunk** effort, and it must not decide. Compare only what lies ahead. **Alex Tutor:** Ahead: 9,000 UAH and diagrams on 25 January, or Vira draws simple ones in 2 days now. The **Finance for Product People** course covers this in its lesson on relevant, sunk and opportunity costs. **Vira:** Two of my days in a tight month aren't free either. **Alex Tutor:** True, and that belongs in the comparison. The 18,000 doesn't. > **Exercise:** The illustrator has already been paid 18,000 UAH for the diagrams of topics 1–8. For topics 9–12 he asks another 9,000 UAH and can't deliver before 25 January; the alternative is that Vira draws simple diagrams in two days now. Which argument about the diagrams for topics 9–12 should **not** affect the decision? ## Options from where you stand **Sofia:** So for the practice sets I have three options from today. **Alex Tutor:** Name each one with its cost in days and money, and what it does to the range. Don't add "we'll work harder": effort that isn't in anyone's calendar isn't an option. **Vira:** One of the vetted tutors already solved the sample tasks for three topics. She knows the format; she could write topics 11 and 12. **Danylo:** Or topics 11 and 12 open with ten tasks instead of twenty, and the rest come in February. > **Exercise:** Match each option for the practice sets to what it does. **Alex Tutor:** And the option nobody writes down but everybody thinks? > **Exercise:** **True or false:** "the team will work harder in the last two weeks" is a valid option to list in a re-plan. ## What to tell the sponsor **Leo:** So what do I get: a new plan, an apology, or a question? **Alex Tutor:** A short note. The new forecast as a range and why it changed, the options with their costs, your recommendation, and what you need from him by when. **Alex Tutor:** No blame and no drama. "The pace is 3 days a topic, not 2" is a fact about the work, not about Vira. **Sofia:** And if the recommendation stays inside my threshold, I decide and he reads it in the status. If it touches scope in the brief, he decides. > **Exercise:** Put the parts of the re-plan note to Leo in order. **Alex Tutor:** One line explains why the forecast moved. Pick it. > **Exercise:** Which line explains the change in the note to Leo best? ## Your turn: the note **Leo:** Send it today. Short. I'll answer by Monday. **Hanna:** If the tutor's extra hours cost money, say how much. **Vira:** And don't promise twenty tasks for topics 11 and 12 if we choose the thin version. **Sofia:** Range, reason, options, recommendation, the ask. > **Exercise:** Write the **re-plan note** to Leo about the practice sets (5–7 lines): the forecast from today, why it changed, the options, your recommendation and what you need from him. The facts: the plan gave each of the 12 topics 2 working days; after 21 days 7 are done (3 days a topic, electricity took 4); the 5 left need 10–20 working days, most likely 15, against 17 working days to 29 January. Options: a vetted tutor who knows the format writes topics 11–12 for paid hours while Vira reviews; topics 11–12 open with ten tasks each and the rest come in February; or keep the plan and hope. Leo, the sponsor, will answer by Monday. > **Key points** > > - **Reforecast from today:** the work left × the pace really shown, with the people really available. Not "how far behind the plan". > - Keep a range: 5 topics at 2–4 days each is 10–20 days, most likely 15, against 17 working days left. > - **Sunk effort doesn't decide.** Money or days already spent are the same under every option; compare only what lies ahead. > - Options come with costs in days and money. "Work harder" is not an option. > - The note to the sponsor: forecast, reason, options, recommendation, the ask and its deadline. **Alex Tutor:** In the case, the late delay arrives for real: on Monday the checkout contractor says he needs two more weeks. - Previous lesson: [A fixed date with weekly iterations](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/a-fixed-date-with-iterations.md) - Next lesson: [Case: the contractor slips two weeks](https://productovi.com/courses/project-management-without-bureaucracy/contractor-slips-case.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.