Our advice: In this era of outsourcing, corporate streamlining, and downsizing, the first thing your IT staff will be thinking about is how much time they have before they're fired. Face it, the past few years have been bumpy for everyone, but IT people are feeling particularly under-appreciated and overworked as they're asked to take on more responsibility and work than ever before. Many of them started their careers in an era of rapid job changing and no corporate loyalty. Well, the easy job pickings are long gone, but the lack of loyalty remains.

Downsizing might be the last thing on your mind, because of a large backlog of new projects, but unless you address your staff's insecurities quickly, you'll be left with no resources for the next project. Whenever a project is cancelled, for whatever reason, addressing your staff's concerns, fears, and insecurity about the future should be the first step before assigning them to the next set of projects. To minimize the negative impact of project abandonment, it's important to be honest about the cancellation reasons, the staff's future prospects with the company, and upcoming project plans. Unless the project was cancelled because of staff incompetence (which they will probably be well aware of), then a discussion of the reasons for the cancellation (e.g., business environment change, technology issues, financial concerns, shifting priorities) will set their minds at ease and make them feel that they're respected team members. Publicly thank those who had contributed to the project. We recommend that "lessons learned" session(s) be conducted immediately to capture and analyze useful information such as: How can factors that resulted in the cancellation be avoided in the future? Are there any processes, skills, and artifacts from the project that can be reused on other projects in the future?

If you have plans to re-deploy staff to new projects, then a discussion of the corporate IT road map would help them understand how they can continue to play an important role in the company's future growth plans. If your company has career tracks or career-development programs, frame your discussion in those terms. If you're planning to cut staff as a result of the project termination, do it quickly--don't wait for the inevitable rumors to spook your staff. It will only cause your best people to be cherry-picked by your competition, leaving you with the mediocre performers, which is just what you want to avoid. To a certain degree, project teams can immunize themselves to the project-cancellation blues by anticipating negative impacts that could result in potential project failures. Then, a mitigation plan can be created to minimize or eliminate the risk. Do this either at the beginning of project, or on an ongoing basis once it is under way.

In summary, there are things you can do early in project cycles to lessen, if not eliminate altogether, the morale-sinking consequences of unanticipated project implosions. If you're proactive and honest in your communications with your IT staff about the reasons behind the cancellations, and their prospects for future project assignments and employment, you'll be able to retain the talent that you need to make the next project a success.

-- David Foote and Beth Cohen