Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Project governance - the death of a project; lost in the bureaucracy

Published
by
Ron
on November 27, 2008
in project, project management, project manager and project sponsor
. 1 Comment

The project manager was very disappointed. He had in his words sweated to deliver the project on time, to budget and with the right results. He was so disappointed with the company that he resigned and went to work with a company who in his words ‘put energy and effort into having structured project governance’ rather than a ‘free for all’ as he described it.

His project got lost; lost in the bureaucracy of this monolith company.

Yes it was business critical, yes it had an agreed budget, and resources were allocated to ensure delivery. But, when you traced through the project you saw nothing but problems:

  • there were 2 project sponsors or rather it was not clear who the project sponsor was
  • the project manager spent a lot of time preparing reports to 3 internal committees. Each committee wanted a different type of report. The project manager estimated he spent 30% of his time preparing reports and attending meetings
  • the project manager pointed out the high risk profile saying it was high because of too little project accountability. Senior managers did not see this as an issue!
  • the meetings, according to the project manager, added no real value to the project and when examined, added to the risk profile of the project. Again, the project manager pointed out the impact the meetings were having on the risk profile which came about by a lack of decision taking - they procrastinated
  • change management - senior managers kept changing the project. The project manager asked for change request forms to be completed, only to be told “get on with it”

This is part of a story of a project that failed to deliver. It led to:

o loss of staff; the project manager leaving

o poor staff morale; according to the project manager those on the project team were de-motivated and stakeholders were extremely confused as to what the project was trying to achieve

o arguments among senior managers as to who was to blame for this project problem

The key issue for this and all projects is that they need a governance approach to support the project not work against it. What do I mean by project governance? Put simply it defines accountabilities and responsibilities for decision-making at a strategic level or project level. The problem here, as I am sure you can see, is that there were few, if any, accountabilities defined.

This was a key business project with a big budget (time and money) but few if anyone had overall responsibility for monitoring and controlling what was being delivered. The project manager took his responsibility very seriously. Few others did the same.

I wonder how many organisations would buy a new piece of equipment costing £750,000 without monitoring and control being strictly defined - before and during the purchase process. But this is what happened; a project with a lot of investment but no clearly defined governance.

This is one story; unfortunately, there are many all too similar! Will you or your company add to this growing list?

I simply do not get on with the project team member

Published
by
Ron
on November 25, 2008
in behaviour, influencing skills, project management, project management training, soft skills and training
. 0 Comments

That was how the conversation started! 

The project manager said he felt really uncomfortable managing James (not his real name) especially as he was not a member of his day to day management team. It was someone from another part of the business. 

He asked me what he should do. We spoke for a while about the situation and I asked him whether he wanted any feedback. He said yes. I pointed out that the relationship with James was having a negative impact on the project and I gave him two specific examples:

  1. James was not included in informal discussions. He seemed to be kept at a distance by the project manager
  2. James was not acknowledged by the project manager. They could be in the same room as each other but you would not know. The project manager did not talk directly to him. It was if he was communicating through some 3rd party 

I then asked the project manager whether this was worth while sorting. He agreed it was but asked me how this could be done. 

We talked about some approaches that were open to him. I mentioned that it is easier to change ones own behaviour rather than the behaviour of others. After some discussion we identified some behaviours he felt he could change to address the relationship issue. Nothing major, more subtle shifts. An example here was going out of his way to acknowledge James’s presence in the room and the contribution he made to the project. Things he had not done before. 

Slowly, over a period of time, the project manager felt more comfortable with working with James. There was a noticeable change in the “atmosphere” in the room when they were together. Others noticed the impact this was having and one commented that the team was now starting to gel. 

During a brief review sessions the project manager commented that he now realised the impact his behaviour was having. He had deliberately changed his behaviour; behaviour that impacted positively on the team member and the project generally. 

He learnt a valuable lesson in influencing others. 

I have seen situations where a project manager, a project team member or sponsor needs some support or help with their “people skills”. Often like James, they are unaware of the impact their behaviour has on others. 

There are many situations where we need to reflect on our own behaviour. Sometimes it takes a formal situation such as coaching or a training course (maybe influencing skills) before we know the real impact we have on others.  One thing we are often starved of is feedback and these processes will provide the structure to deliver this high impact development tool. James asked me several times for feedback which I was able to give him. 

Maybe it is time for all of us to begin to look at our own behaviour; how we impact on others; how we get people on board; how to trust others to deliver. Maybe it is time to attend that influencing skills or communications course or have some one to one coaching. 

Behaviour rules! 

This article is part of the skills series for project managers and those engaged in project working!  Click here for more information

Chairing that project meeting - a success?

Published
by
Ron
on November 18, 2008
in meetings, planning, project meetings and skills development
. 0 Comments

Everyone was in the room waiting for the project manager to chair the project meeting. Five minutes went by, then ten minutes. Eventually he rushed in, covered in sweat, with papers under his arm.

He settled into his chair, fussed over his papers and then said:

“Look, we do not have much time, so I think we had better cut to agenda item 5

“What about items 1-4″ asked a team member? “There is some important stuff in them. We need an answer to the budget issue for the new equipment. If we delay beyond the end of this week then the price goes up and this will increase the budget by 7%.”

Silence

“Look, this is something you need to deal with. I need to sort out the conference venue and speakers.”

“Umm, I thought I was sorting out the conference venue”, said another team member.

Silence, (again)

The project manager looked at the 4 people around him and seemed lost and in a panic. He said, “It looks like we will have to skip this meeting, sorry.” He collected his papers and ran out of the door. The others looked around and one person summed it up by simply shrugging his shoulders.

Well, hardly a very productive meeting. The problem is that people who attend our project management courses say there are so many meetings that are unsatisfactory. They waste time and money, do not make decisions and are poorly planned - a big error for someone involved in projects!

Project managers need to develop their meeting skills. This includes chairing meetings as well as the skills of being a participant. Preparation is needed and often lots of it.

I recently went to a meeting run by a person who spent three hours in preparation, looking at how to introduce the subject, when to introduce others as well as setting the overall tone. She normally prepares for a meeting and said that this was especially true of this meeting as she expected it to be difficult. By spending time planning she felt that she avoided the possible confrontation.

Now I am not suggesting you need to spend 3 hours preparing for your project meetings but prepare you must as a person who attends a meeting or as the person who chairs the meeting. If you have not, you need to be trained to play your part effectively and you need to obtain some feedback on the effectiveness of your meetings. Interestingly, few project managers have had any formal training in chairing skills but chair several meetings including project management ones.

This article is part of the skills series for project managers. Chairing and participating effectively in meetings is essential for the future of your projects, and more. Click here for more information.

“A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours.” Milton Berle

Read the instruction manual first - or ensure you know where your project is going

Published
by
Ron
on November 13, 2008
in business case, preparation, project planning, projects and time management
. 0 Comments

I came across an interesting Blog site recently. It is called The Happiness Project written by Gretchen Rubin. She has a great writing style and in her latest article Gretchen says that too often she does not read the manual; she rushes in and tries to use the new device or gizmo!

Sound familiar? It does to me and close to home. My stereo system lost all its radio channels and I have spent hours trying to store them but without any luck. After reading her blog, I decided to search the net and downloaded the instruction booklet. I can assure you it will be read! Thanks Gretchen for prompting me.

The article also connected with me when I thought about the number of people who dive straight in with project planning. They do not follow the manual which is very clear:

• identify the business case
• identify the business benefits
• agree/assign project roles
• carry out stakeholder and risk management
• develop the project scope including objectives

The list is extensive.

But, are you like Gretchen? Do you dive straight in without ‘reading the manual first’? We still meet many who omit the above areas. The result; as she mentions is… “that you do not have the time to prepare. How many of us have been aggravated by the amount of time we have to spend planning a child’s birthday party, packing for a trip, or setting up a presentation? It’s easy to stint on the ‘unessential’ beginning stages of a task. Read the instruction manual’ is a reminder not to begrudge the time and energy spent on preparation.”

So, read the project manual. Ensure you spend time getting the project off to a good start. As Gretchen comments, it is time really well spent!

Gretchen’s Blog can be found here

Are your change projects really working?

Published
by
Ron
on November 11, 2008
in executive sponsorship, project management skills and stakeholder management
. 1 Comment

The current economic climate means that there is pressure for changes to be delivered quickly. That system needs to be put in 2 months earlier. The training course needs bringing forward, get me that report 2 weeks quicker please….;key changes need to happen and a lot quicker…

But, how likely is it you will succeed in delivering your changes? Two contrasting articles suggest if you are involved in a change project you may well struggle. Leslie Allan suggests that change programmes fail for several reasons. These include:

 absence of a change champion or senior management support
 poor executive sponsorship or senior management support
 political infighting and turf wars

He goes onto suggest that “there is a need to recognise that bringing about meaningful change is fundamentally about changing people’s behaviour in certain desired ways. If people in the end do not behave and work differently, then the money and time spent in doing staff is wasted”

The article suggests a range of skills and ways of working are needed to ensure successful delivery of your change project. This includes stakeholder management, clear objectives, selecting the right people, training as well as having political savvy.

If you combine Leslie Allan’s article with research by Logica you may want to think carefully about your approach. They have produced an excellent White Paper called Securing the Value of Business Process Change. Logica point out that:

• Companies surveyed in the UK lose £1.7 billion a year from failed change initiatives
• One third of business process changes fall short of expected benefits
• One fifth of businesses do not measure change management performance Continue reading ‘Are your change projects really working?’