Project Management - Projects in Difficulty PDF

1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY  2 PROJECT MANAGEMEN...

1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY  2 PROJECT MANAGEMENT Distressed Projects ? For a football club, each year is a project – to improve their place in the league, to win a trophy, to gain more money than costs, to get more fans etc. Some teams do better, some not. For some, the season (their project) was a failure. Managers and coaches get fired, some players move on, others are brought on board. We can learn from this to recover failing or distressed projects in a business setting. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA  3 PROJECT MANAGEMENT Some general facts … ✓ Some projects are doomed to fail. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA ✓ The chances of failure may be greater than the chance of success. ✓ Most companies & PMs have poor ✓ Failure can occur at any stage of understanding of how to manage the project, success comes at the projects in difficulty. end of the project. ✓ Not all project managers have the ✓ Troubled projects do not fail skill to manage a troubled project. overnight! ✓ Good project managers can have ✓ There are warning signs, but these projects that fail! are often misunderstood.  4 PROJECT MANAGEMENT Some general facts … This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC Health checks – can lead to the discovery that the project may be in trouble. Lots of project Future leaders – success – low risk know how to turn Even if it looks healthy. takers, future problem projects is followers important! Recovery is very expensive, but not all projects can be recovered!  5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT Kerzner’s 20 top causes of failure… This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY ✓ End users not involved throughout the ✓ Resources lack experience process. ✓ Constantly changing resources ✓ Lack of ownership – by stakeholders ✓ Poor overall project planning ✓ Corp. goals not understood by staff ✓ Business changes – outcome inappropriate ✓ Over ambitious plans in time allowed ✓ Missed deadlines & no recovery plan ✓ Poor financial estimates – cost ✓ Exceeded / out of control budgets ✓ Results not used after the project ✓ Lack of attention to human & ✓ Poor project management organisational aspects of the project ✓ Plans based on bad data – ‘I think’ ✓ Ignorance of milestone dates/deadlines ✓ Plans made by planners, not the PM ✓ Poor communication ✓ Conflicting requirements for team ✓ Poor / No risk management  6 PROJECT MANAGEMENT 3 broad categories of project failure Management mistakes – often a result of managing stakeholders eg scope changes, poor governance, slow decisions & ignoring the project management difficulties. Planning mistakes – the result of poor project management – not working to plan, checking the health of the project, and not choosing good project tracking metrics. External influences – normally failure to assess input factors correctly, including timing of approvals and authorisations, and a poor understanding of host country culture & politics This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC  7 PROJECT MANAGEMENT Defining failure ? Not within the Was triple Different groups have different constraints definitions of success and failure. Projects do not fail overnight. Triple Watching a project in trouble is hugely Today constraints are important stressful. The earlier problems are discovered, Today success the more opportunity there is for is about value recovery. But for business and customer  8 PROJECT MANAGEMENT What to focus on What to focus on… ✓ Learning from past mistakes, ✓ Stabilise scope – rigidly ✓ Effective and essential communication ✓ Maintaining positive morale This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC ✓ Do not rely on systems to save you “We cannot solve our problems ✓ No unwanted stakeholder with the same tinking we used pressure when we created them.” ✓ Manage expectations carefully ✓ Keep the team away from politics  9 PROJECT MANAGEMENT Is it worth it, all this fuss? Project recovery is not easy. You will be closely scrutinised by everyone. You may need to explain everything you do, but saving a potentially troubled project is worth the added effort. For the company, the stakeholders, but especially YOU. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC  10 PROJECT MANAGEMENT To Close… This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND