6 Steps to avoid painful projects
/Do you have problem projects? Here are some early warning signs.
Odds are that you have memories of projects that have hit problems. Long days and long, urgent meetings as the deadline looms. Lack of clarity as to how things are going to get done in time. That strange mix of disappointment and relief when the deadline is moved back as reality bites and dependant initiatives are postponed along the way. Or perhaps the project slowly drifted off course due to lack of attention.
There are ways to detect project problems early on and take action to avoid unplanned slippages. In this series, we walk through the life of a project, highlight warnings signs at each stage and offer techniques to stay (or get back) on track.
This is the first in a series on detecting and resolving project problems.
If you don’t know where you’re going …
If any project is worth finishing, then it’s worth making sure that none of these warning signs apply at the outset:
- There is no project definition.
- The CEO or divisional leader is not aware of the project.
- No cadence has been defined for team updates.
- There is no plan.
- The team cannot ALL articulate the project goals in one or two sentences.
- No owner, vested in the successful completion of the project.
Project definitions take many forms, ranging from simple email summaries to formal project charters. The form us up for discussion, but what matters most is that the key issues have been considered, discussed, agreed upon and recorded. The simple act of formulating a record of project purpose (scope/ objectives), team and roles, budget, risks, success factors and timeline gives a chance to consider what matters, avoid the non-essential, and understand how the goal will be achieved. Absent this, the project is drifting from the outset.
Visibility – any project that runs for more than a few days is subject to delay if other priorities get in the way. If the CEO or divisional leader is not aware of the project start and end dates, the project does not matter to them. This is not always a show-stopper, but signals the potential for other activities to take priority when push comes to shove.
Update cadence is the metronome of a project. Regular checkins may take the form of daily posts to a shared project space, co-located and virtual meetings, daily scrums, and some forum to monitor progress with those who are ultimately repsonsible for project success. Lightweight is best, but no cadence is a recipe for failure.
Project plans. Whether the project is to have full governance or is an agile skunkworks, the lack of key milestones and a plan to reach each step is another indicator of failure. At the outset, a project is often green-lit with a high level plan based on +/- 50% estimates of effort and timeline. It is ok to defer the detailed estimation work to the first phase after approval, but approving a project without any idea of a plan is setting everyone up for failure.
If the team cannot ALL articulate the project goals in one or two sentences, they are not equiped make decisions. If a project is to achieve the required benefits with the best budget/ timeline outcome, EVERY decision that individuals and the team make should be tested against a simple question:
‘how does this decision get us closer to our goal?’
Unclear, ambiguous, unshared goals represents poor context for decision making.
No vested owner. The project sponsor, lead or champion is one individual who is vested in the success of the project. A successful outcome will enrich their working lives in some way. Whether this is the developer, project manager, executive sponsor or CEO, a project without a vested owner is apt to drift.