Archive for the 'project learning' Category

“I did not sign up for this project management stuff.”

Published
by
Ron
on February 2, 2010
in project learning, project management and project management course
. 4 Comments

There I was in full flight during a project management course when someone said: “I did not sign up for all this project stuff.”

The person who made the comment was a graduate, had studied hard to become a professionally qualified solicitor within a company. He was effectively questioning why he was why he was involved in project management and on the course.

After a brief series of questions (from me) and answer session from him I established that he was part of a two major projects and had contributed enormously to build a business case for one of them. He enjoyed his work as a solicitor and he felt that he was being dragged into project management against his will.

It is important to mention that like many of the people we work with he was not involved full time in projects. Project management played a large part in his job.

The argument he was following was the same one many people have used when they start to get promoted into management roles; they leave behind their professional work. He felt uncomfortable; unsupported and could not see the context for project management.

Regular readers will note that I have written extensively about the role of senior managers. It is hardly surprising that people come up with comments such as the one made by the solicitor if senior managers do not discuss how the vision will become reality. How else is a corporate strategy to be delivered but through delivering projects which inevitably means professional staff getting involved in them.

I was able to convince this person and others of the real value of project management. He was going to go back and speak to his senior management and ask some important questions! 

Government computer failures add up to huge bills for taxpayers

Published
by
Ron
on January 19, 2010
in project learning, project management and project management skills
. 0 Comments

The government comes in for huge criticism in today’s The Independent Newspaper (19 January 2010)
Banner headlines shout:

“Ministers blamed for “stupendous incompetence” after tax payers left with huge bills for bungled projects”

The article highlights 10 notorious projects including the most costly programme; the £12.7 Billion IT system designed to revolutionise the NHS. The article questions the benefits of the system with pledges going unfulfilled for many years.

The Independent suggests that “Government departments right across Whitehall have been guilty of overseeing embarrassing IT failures” and that IT experts are too easily wooed by suppliers. “Insiders said a lack of expertise within the Government about the technology industry meant they were willing to believe claims made by major IT firms before contracts were awarded.”

Politics clearly plays its part and Tony Collins Executive editor at Computer Weekly says that. “There are too few people in the hierarchy of Labour who understand IT enough to understand that it is not a talisman - there is nothing magical about it.” David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party has signalled a move away from big IT projects, suggesting he will use technology to increase the transparency of government. Collins however suggest that “Once you’ve got civil servants giving you a host of reasons why you should not be more open, I fear the Tories will sink into the same depths of secrecy that Labour has found itself in.”

The article then lists 10 “botched” projects - pretty awful reading. When will we ever learn?

You can read the full article here.

Do we really apply lessons learned to projects?

Published
by
Ron
on August 13, 2009
in failed projects, project, project learning and successful projects
. 2 Comments

Peter Honey is a highly respected Chartered Psychologist, a dedicated lifelong learner who has written well over 20 books, numerous articles - all on learning.

He writes an informative and regular column in ‘Training Journal.’ In his latest article he asks whether lessons are ever really learned. He says: “I’m fascinated by the number of times you hear people …say things like “lessons have been/will be/must be learned.”

Peter suggests that so much informal learning goes on at the subliminal level and that people claim to learn something new each day but, if you ask them to describe what they have learned, you rarely get a convincing answer.

He asserts - and it is certainly my experience, - that if you can articulate learning:

• the learner becomes clear what he has learned
• the learning is shared, making it a trigger for others to learn
• the learning is more easily converted into action plans
• the learning is amenable to quality assurance

So what has this all to do with project management?

There are too many examples of ‘failed projects (however you define the word fail). How much learning follows from these failed projects? How much learning is shared with successful projects? My experience suggests very little.

Few companies can boast a robust project learning process. Lessons learned fail to be captured and shared, and defeat the whole learning process. My experience also shows that project closure meetings/processes rarely happen so how can learning be built into the overall project management process

Peter Honey suggests that is not easy to articulate real learning. I believe we need to go beyond ‘the Honey line’. He says: “when someone claims that lessons have been learned, we should ask what lessons have been learned and really probe further.” My suggestion; build into projects a much stronger process to capture and share learning

Honey says: “When they wriggle, we should insist on getting a thought through answer within 24 hours.”

We will continue to make the same mistakes if we do not, as Honey suggests realise what we have learned. Often, people need help in identifying learning. This is where a neutral facilitator (Training Manager) can possible help.

No learning and the same mistakes will be made…… over and over again?