Another New Year, another set of resolutions that will fade by the end of January.
Another New Year, another set of resolutions that will fade by the end of January. Lose some weight (but there’s still so much good food in the fridge); get my golf handicap down (bit too cold and wet on the driving range); help people improve their project delivery (OK here are some ideas).
Social media contains a constant flow of doom-laden surveys and magic bullet solutions. Most “reasons why projects fail” are not reasons at all, they are symptoms of more fundamental problems. Magic bullet solutions are grown up versions of “Mum’s magic kiss”. They seem to make the pain go away by distracting you with something warm and hopeful.
Sounds like the build up to another list of things that cause project failure, but “No”. It’s New Year, it’s the time to be positive and try do things differently in order to get different results. Here are half a dozen resolutions for new and existing projects. How will they work? – simple, just make sure you haven’t stopped doing them by the end of January.
This year, make sure you:
- Establish why each initiative exists
Projects, programmes and portfolios are all designed to deliver agreed objectives. The temptation is often to concentrate on ‘how’ to achieve these objectives rather than ‘why’ they need to be achieved. Bringing together diverse teams to deliver objectives obviously needs a common understanding on how the work is to be done but more importantly, the team needs to understand why the work needs to be done.
- Ensure that the work continues to be worth it
A project, programme or portfolio should ultimately deliver benefits that have real value to those who are investing in the work. Value is both relative and subject to change. Just because value has been identified at some point in time, doesn’t mean that it is then cast in stone. Circumstances change, people change, and the work must be continually assessed to make sure it stays desirable, achievable and viable.
- Adopt the right approach and tools for the job
Projects and programmes come in all shapes and sizes, and exist in many different contexts. There is a great temptation to pigeon-hole them into discrete categories that match certain methods (e.g. Agile or Waterfall). In reality, there are no discrete categories. All work lies on a spectrum of scope and complexity. You should assess the needs of each individual area of work and select the approach and tools that are best suited to the individual circumstances.
- Making good practice a habit
Habit is a very strong driver of human behaviour. We regularly refer to ‘good habits’ and ‘bad habits’ and recognise that changing a habit is not an easy thing to do. Many projects and programmes that fail do so not because their leaders and teams don’t know what they should be doing but because their habits don’t apply their knowledge.
Good practice needs to become a habit. Simple things that increase the probability of success need to be second nature – and that needs perseverance.
- Understanding different perspectives
It is self-evident that different people see things in different ways. Project and programme leaders often understand that with regard to different contexts (e.g. a customer may think differently to a developer) but miss the fact that there are differences based on personality. Understanding how people intuitively view and respond to the different components of project, programme management and portfolio management is vital to achieve success.
- Learning, both individually and collectively
From personal development, through implementing lessons learned to improving organisational capability maturity, managing knowledge and learning from experience are essential factors in consistently delivering successful projects and programmes.
If you think these are all obvious common sense, good! You are well on the way to understanding that successful project management is about doing the obvious things well.
Adrian Dooley is the lead author of the Praxis Framework™.
