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The
One Nugget Report from The Project Management Advisor™
Issue 2010-20 - How Could This Happen? Avoid Project Screw-Ups for You and
Your Business Partner
Project screw-ups mean
wasted time and money and can irreparably damage your
relationship with business partners if they perceive that you are at
fault—in any way. If you’ve been through a post-mortem for a
project that failed, you’ve likely heard one or more of these
“we didn’t” excuses:
“We didn’t define the problem we were trying to solve.”
“We didn’t communicate what we were doing.”
“We didn’t manage our project risks and issues.”
“We didn’t create a good project plan.”
“We didn’t have the right sponsorship.”
“We didn’t work well together.”
Having a business partner remember you as “that $%@*# project
manager” because
you were associated with a project failure is one of the worst
things that can happen to a project manager. Not only will you have
lost the trust of the business partner, but your ability to win
the trust of other business partners could be
in jeopardy because of the negative reputation you may have
earned.
While this is a very real risk, you can take steps to avoid that
fate. Follow these six tangible principles to avert those
project screw-ups and stay on the road to success:
Get laser focused on the mission. This may sound like a
“duh,” but I’ve been amazed at the number of projects I’ve seen
(and participated in) where someone halfway into the project
asked, “Now what are we trying to do again?”
Focus on what needs to be done, when it needs to be finished,
and the measures which will be used to determine success. Making
a statement such as, “We need to reduce costs,” is too vague and
isn’t enough for a project team to get passionate about.
A statement such as, “We need to reduce the cost of processing
invoices by 50 percent by September 1st while ensuring that
vendors are paid within terms 100 percent of the time,”
specifies the mission.
Be specific about the project schedule. Key to any
successful project is a well-engineered schedule. Depending on
the project, the plan could be a simple task list or it could be
a complex project plan with many dependencies and critical paths
which change frequently as the project progresses.
Spend the time up front to plan out the work in a very clear and
concise manner. Break down tasks to a point where a single owner
can be identified as responsible and the duration for the task
is 40 work hours or less.
Clearly understand your critical path through the project by
determining task dependencies. Ensure assignments are clear so
that each team member knows specifically what needs to be done,
when it has to be done by, and what happens if a task isn’t
completed on time.
A weak project plan is like building a house on a foundation of
sand; you’ll make some early progress, but the building will
fall down.
Make sure you have clear, committed sponsorship. For any
project, it’s crucial to get an appropriate level of project
sponsorship. The ideal project sponsor:
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Experiences the pain of the status quo and would directly benefit from a successful project.
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Actively helped craft the project mission statement.
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Has the decision making authority to secure or re-allocate resources to or from other projects to ensure that your project can be completed successfully.
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Goes to bat for your project with peer managers if you need help getting something from another organization.
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Meets with you on a regular basis to ensure that you’re getting what you need to succeed.
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Makes difficult decisions that may be unpopular but are in the best interests of the business.
If your sponsor doesn’t
demonstrate the above characteristics, proceed with caution.
Apathetic or nonexistent sponsorship can spell a slow, lingering
death for your project.
Put a team in place that will gel. A well
structured project team on which each member understands his or
her role in making the project successful is like listening to a
fine orchestra.
Team members understand what they need to do to make the project
successful and operate first and foremost for the good of the
team versus individual gain. Get clear on roles, hold team
members accountable for delivery, praise those members who help
others on the team, and avoid showing any bias to a particular
team member or group.
Develop clear, concise, and regular stakeholder
communication. Many groups can be affected by the result of
a project, including the project team, executive sponsor,
steering committee, customers, and other interested parties.
These are all audiences that should be included in your
communications plan.
Once you define your stakeholder groups, determine the
frequency, medium, and content appropriate for each segment.
Don’t assume a one-size-fits-all communication for your
stakeholders. What may work for one group might be a waste for
another. Keep your communications relevant to your stakeholders
so they will pay attention to what you send out.
Manage project risks and issues. Your project is humming
along and stuff is getting done. Then, out of the blue, an
unanticipated issue comes up. As the project manager, you
determine that the issue won’t have an impact on the schedule,
and you let the one of the project team members work it out.
But the issue doesn’t go away because the project team member
thinks the project manager is driving issue resolution. Before
you know it, the project is late because the design issue wasn’t
addressed when it should have been.
For project risks, ensure you have a clear articulation of each
major risk your project faces, a mitigation plan for each risk,
and a team member assigned to monitor the risk throughout the
life of the project. For project issues, ensure you have a clear
understanding of each one as soon as it rears its ugly head and
that you are able to actively monitor the issue through its
resolution. Don’t sweep the risk or issue under the carpet
hoping it will go away, because it won’t.
Project managers need to keep a close lookout for screw-ups
which can cause projects to fail and create problems for both
them and their business partners. Help keep your reputation spotless as a
project manager—keep these six things in mind as you’re undertaking
your next business partner project.
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