Managing the Urgent and Unexpected

Urgent work may be required unexpectedly by any organization, for instance to take advantage of a business opportunity or for protection against a sudden physical or business threat or to restore a severely damaged asset. So what is different from normal if a project is urgent and unexpected and so has to be started without prior study of its scope or how to deliver it? How is managing any urgent and unexpected project different from managing normal work? What are the lessons and ideas which may help? To answer these questions we drew on twelve cases of urgent unexpected projects ranging from the launch of the Freeview television system in the United Kingdom to the sifting and removal of the New York World Trade Center pile of debris following the “9/11” terrorist attack. 1 The urgent unexpected projects we examined all achieved their sponsor’s objectives. They do not necessarily represent every possible surprise which may require immediate action. They did provide an opportunity to consider what was different in managing them compared to normal practice. An emergency is defined as a sudden event requiring immediate action where there is thought to be a threat to life or property. None of the cases examined were emergencies in that sense, but four of them consisted of managing restoration and recovery work after emergencies. Four consisted of managing preventative work to forestall threatened emergencies. Two were new business opportunities. In their effects all the cases were the same in being triggered by a surprise event which demanded resources for urgent action. If a project is unexpected and also urgent the result can be a crisis, what the dictionary defines as ‘a turning-point in progress’ or ‘a state of affairs in which a decisive change for better or worse is imminent’ (Oxford English Dictionary) and medics say ‘when a change takes place which is decisive of recovery or death’. The word ‘crisis’ implies that the result will be bad, or at least undesired. This is not necessarily true. Two of the cases examined show that unexpected events can be opportunities. The crisis then can be in applying resources quickly enough.