| Duty |
Description |
| Define and manage the project schedule. |
The project manager is responsible for creating a schedule, assigning resources, and monitoring progress. Because there are so many unknowns at the beginning of a mass fatality incident response, it may be impossible to create a project schedule with a definite end date. However, the project manager should identify major tasks, create a precedence diagram describing the interrelationships of tasks, and establish work schedules for the project team. |
| Facilitate communication within the project team. |
The project manager is responsible for ensuring that employees in each functional area have the information they need to plan and execute their portion of the response. The project manager should chair frequent, periodic (daily or weekly) meetings with functional-area managers and facilitate a free flow of information. Current and future challenges should be discussed. Decisions should be made only after considering the impact on each function. A classic mistake is excluding the issue of information technology from decisionmaking. |
| Identify and manage risks. |
The project manager is responsible for identifying the major risks to the project’s success. Some examples of risks include not having a particular task completed by a deadline, the laboratory information management system failing to support the mass fatality incident response, and sample mixups during accessioning. Risks will be unique to each response and undoubtedly will change as the project unfolds. One proven risk-management technique is to have the management team brainstorm the top 10 project risks, order them from highest to lowest, then identify avoidance and mitigation strategies for each. Ideally, each functional-area manager also manages his or her own top 10 risks. |
| Optimize the overall project, not one function or discipline. |
Management theory says that the only way to optimize a large entity is to suboptimize its various components. Thus, the project manager should shift resources among functions, as necessary, to mitigate risk and ensure success. Even though the functional-area managers may object to losing resources, the project manager is responsible for the overall success of the project. This is another reason why the project manager should understand all of the functional areas. |
DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents
