February 4, 2008 – When the Plan Fails

In an on-shore / off-shore set up you need to expect the unexpected. Half you your team is in a foreign country, half way around the world. You’re never quite sure what time it is where you live, let alone where ever they are. Languages, especially English, can lead to confusion. Names are redundant (there are four Toms where I now work). I’m not sure how you could possibly have seen the following surprise coming, though.

Picture yourself sitting at your desk on Monday morning, pulling together reports from the weekend and getting ready for the week. Fred comes by with a new face and introduces you to Gupta . The name sounds familiar. "I have a team member by that name, where are you from?" you ask.

"That is me," is the reply.

"What are you doing here? Don’t you normally work from India?" you ask, bewildered.

"Yes, but I am going to be the project manager on a different project here on-shore now."

True story. Talk about putting a crimp in your plans.

Resources quit. Scope gets breached. Bugs happen. Systems go down. Priorities change. So what do you do when life throws you a curve ball? Hang on for the ride and follow these steps.

Take a deep breath. Before you react, take a moment to calm your blood pressure before you say or do something you might regret. It might save your health as well as your job.

Confirm it. I hate it when I start yelling about something only to find out I have the facts wrong. Take it to the source and, calmly, get some answers.

Assess the impact. If the issue is scope related, determine the gap factor. Resources can be difficult to replace. Is there a more junior member of the team that might be easier backfill? Can she step up to the role?

Check the schedule and budget to determine what the damage will be.

Identify Options. Don’t work in a vacuum to figure out what to do. Invite your team and other stakeholders to help develop strategies to stay on track.

Present Options. Take your findings and options to the Sponsor or Steering Committee. Explain the challenge facing the project and ask them how we, as a group, should resolve it. One of the things I stress is that the project manager does not own all of the problems. They are "our" problems and "we" have to take steps to resolve them.

Get approval. If a Change Request is necessary, file it and get it approved. Get the go ahead to make the resource changes. Confirm commitment by getting approval.

Learn. Figure out the root cause and take actions to keep it from happening again. You can’t keep a team member from taking a better job offer, but you can make the current position better. Scope is drawn to determine when it does change, not if it will. You can take steps to manage it better.

Move on. It is better to get beyond the issue than to dwell on how things should have been. Once you have taken steps to keep it from happening again get on with successfully completing your project.

Stuff happens. You can’t control the surprises but you can control your reaction. If it were simple, anyone could do it, right?

January 12, 2007 – How to Really Fix a Failing Project

You project is in trouble. You know it. Your team knows it. But somehow you have been able to keep it from your management. You need a quick fix. But there aren’t any. What can be done to get back on track? Since yesterday's ideas didn't help, here are some suggestions that might point you in the right direction.

Refocus the Scope. Begin by going back to the defining documents including your Charter, Statement of Work and approved Change Requests. Figure out what you have committed to accomplish. Conversely, document all of the things that were unofficially added to the project. What you are trying to obtain is a clear understanding of the commitments and the expectations of others. With these lists in hand, meet with the project sponsor (or similar key stakeholders) and agree on what should be part of the current effort.

Draw up the Schedule. Based on the remaining effort and current resources, recalculate the schedule. Forget the deadlines placed on the project at this point. Given the amount of work and people available, determine a realistic timeframe to complete the revised scope.

Determine the Cost. Find out what the budget is and how much has already been spent. After calculating the difference between the two amounts (hopefully it isn’t negative) compare it to what remains to be done. Based on your revised schedule run the numbers to determine a reasonable Estimate to Complete.

Review Lessons Learned. Meet with the team and other stakeholders to determine where the project went wrong. Develop a list of steps to take in order to avoid the same thing happening next time.

Develop Alternatives. Using the scope, schedule and cost information review the options available. Based on the Project Triangle* that pits scope, time and cost against each other, consider the impact of each of your options on those factors. Will your plan include adding more resources? Extending the date? Reducing the scope? Although “Phase 2” is always the answer most project jokes, it can be a solid alternative. In some extreme cases the right decision will be to cancel the project. Although an unpopular choice, some projects need to be dropped. Reduce the testing phase is usually the popular option, but I don’t suggest it.

Admit Reality. Once you have drawn up a couple of viable alternatives, present them to the management team. Begin with a healthy dose of reality. Management does not like going through the failed project dance. If they have to do it twice things get ugly. Lay out the situation, preferably without playing the blame game. Then present your plans for getting back on track. Let them help you talk through the options and make suggestions.
Start Fresh. Issue a revised scope statement, obtain the funding, reset the schedule and obtain appropriate approvals. You have been given a new lease on your project. Work the plan and make sure to incorporate the Lessons Learned from your first attempt.

* Project Triangle: Picture a triangle where each of the three sides represents Scope (or functionality), Time and Cost. If you change one side it impacts the other two. Reducing the size of the Scope side will allow you to reduce the Time and/or Cost side. It is the same for the other sides as well. This is a standard and effective way to communicate the struggle between the three.

January 11, 2007 – How to Fix a Failing Project (Not)

You project is in trouble. You know it. Your team knows it. But somehow you have been able to keep it from your management. You need a quick fix. What can be done get back on track? Here are some tried and true ideas that could do the trick.

Rename the project. The beauty of this is that people won’t recognize it. It is like a new lease on life. People will soon forget the problems with the old project and focus on the new and improved one. Just don’t use the name “The Project Formerly Known As….”

Declare victory. If your project had 10 objectives but you only accomplished 3, hide the Scope Statement and throw a big party. Convince the business that the 3 that were implemented were the only ones they really needed.

Restructure the team. Obviously fresh legs are needed to carry the project forward. It doesn’t even need to be new people. You could try just shuffling them around a bit, maybe elevating a new team lead. Easier still, just rename the resources.

Blame the requirements. Evidently the business didn’t know what they were asking for or they would have been clearer. If the requirements were better written the project would be done by now. Better go back to square one and rewrite the requirements.

Begin Phase 2. This is the ultimate fix. Phase 1 was obviously a learning experience and created a foundation to build on. Phase 2 is where it will all come together. Used with the declaring victory tactic this can be extremely successful.

If you use these tools you will baffle and amaze your critics.