A project near completion is behind schedule. Contingency funds are exhausted, but the remaining budget should suffice to finish. The only SME on the project has been asked by their manager to address an operations issue. What should the project manager do?

The project manager should develop a negotiation strategy because this is a resource conflict that requires a collaborative solution. The project is behind schedule and needs the SME, but the SME's manager has an operational priority. A negotiation strategy allows the project manager to prepare arguments, understand the other party's needs, and seek a mutually beneficial outcome, potentially involving a temporary sharing of the SME or a revised timeline for the operational task. Escalating to the project sponsor is premature; the project manager should first attempt to resolve the conflict at their level. Releasing the SME would further jeopardize the already behind-schedule project. Asking for a formal change request from the SME's manager is not the primary action here; the immediate need is to negotiate the SME's availability, not to formally document a change in scope or resources before attempting to resolve the conflict.