October 19, 2016
The “Second” Scenario
When you are assigned to a project during its infancy, it is easy to get the project to follow the lines you lay out. As the first project manager assigned to the project, you have the opportunity to set the project meeting cadence, organize the deliverables, and set the general tone for the project. You are there at the beginning and you have a good commanding view of the landscape. It is your project.
As you advance in your career, you may be asked to step into an existing project. If that project is in good shape, all the deliverables have been kept up, and there are no unhappy faces, then you should familiarize yourself with the project’s goals, get to know the team and the stakeholders, and keep that project moving forward.
This paper is about what you need to do when you have been assigned to be the project manager for a project that is in flight and in trouble. It could be that either no dedicated project manager had been initially assigned (maybe the project has just crossed some threshold your organization has and now merits a dedicated project manager), or there was a project manager before you, but for some reason, that position is now vacant. I consider you to be the second project manager if either of those two situations has taken place.
First, it could be that the person driving the project forward was not dedicated to the role full-time or officially. Every project has someone driving, but this person may have been driving while distracted. As mentioned above, it could very well be that the project has simply crossed some sort of predetermined threshold and now warrants greater attention. But by this, it must mean that the initial estimate for the project was off, or something new has been added to the scope of the project. Either something was missed or something has changed, and now the project warrants a dedicated leader.
Second, it could be that the dedicated project manager was unsuccessful in addressing the particular needs of the situation. Yes, it could also be that this resource was not up to the task. Every project is different, every team is different. If the project manager is not able to adapt to the particular needs of the project, a replacement might be warranted. However, as is found in the Art of War by Sun Tzu, “To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself,” (Sunzi, 1971).
I take that to mean that we can do everything right and still fail to achieve victory. Project management increases the likelihood of success. It is not a guarantee. Some project manager-to-project combinations won’t be successful. We are not here to pronounce judgment. This paper is about behaving professionally and moving forward with the goal of bringing the project from crappy to happy. Either way, you are now the project manager on a project that is a bit behind.
This paper will proceed under the assumptions that:
Two Issues, Three Steps
In my experience, there are two issues at work in a troubled project. The first issue is usually tied to scope. The second issue is usually tied to communication. As you follow the steps listed below, in my experience, the trail will lead you to something associated with the scope of the project. It may be missing approvals or a change control document, or it could be a large problem, such as a missing scope document.
The next issue you will likely encounter is one related to communication. At some point, there has been a break in the level of communication between the project manager, project team, sponsor, or possibly all three. Communication, when recovering a troubled project, is even more important than ever. This is why two of the three main steps for recovering a project are related to communication.
Step 1: Find the Missing Deliverable
The way to begin turning a troubled project around is to find where the trail of deliverables ends. In every project where I have been the second project manager, the status of the project can be tied to where the deliverable trail ends. The obstacles preventing forward momentum can be found by lining up the list of deliverables and seeing which one is missing. This is where the importance of documentation becomes very real to you. You will find that, as the second project manager, what you can prove by way of documentation provides a basis for reasonable and unemotional discussion. What you can prove by way of documentation provides a foundation in the midst of chaos. You want to separate out what is “known” from what can be proven. If it isn’t documented, then it is subject to individual understanding and interpretation. The hope here is that the missing document is the next in line, but my experience is that if the project is in jeopardy, then the missing document is something that was skipped over.
Do you have all the deliverables you would expect to see at this phase of the project?
If your organization has a formal PMO, then you should have a list of what documents should be created in which phase of the life cycle. If you do not have a list from your organization, then you may need to rely on your familiarity with the sub-processes defined by the Project Management Institute (2013). Each phase of the project should have certain documents according to the practices of your organization, following a SDLC. The initiation phase would likely have a business case, project charter, a requirements document, and any associated approvals. The build phase of the project should have an architectural design document, test plan, a project schedule, and any associated approvals. What is missing? What documents would be appropriate to the phase you are in, but are not present? The missing document may simply be the next logical document in the progression, or it may have been skipped over.
Do they all have corresponding and captured approvals?
If the documents are there, what about the approvals? You may have what the team feels are all the official or baselined documents, but has approval from the correct stakeholders been captured? Remember, the thing that will hurt the project the most is the thing that “everybody knows” (Everybody knows XYZ. Everybody knows PDQ. Everybody knows ABC). Do they? Prove it! You may have the final version of the requirements document that the development team has been driving toward, but do you also see the captured approvals for those documents? Don’t tell me it was approved; show me it was approved.
Which one is missing?
If you have been asked onboard because the project is in trouble, there will almost always be one deliverable that is missing. A key step in turning the project around is in finding which one is missing and correcting that mistake; and yes, it is quite easier said than done. Whichever document it is, whether it is a deliverable or an approval, you need to drive it to completion to be successful with the rest of the project and avoid rework. Find the next piece of the puzzle in order to complete the picture.
Step 2: Find the Uncomfortable Conversation
What do I mean by the “uncomfortable conversation?” By that, I mean that there is something you will need to say to someone that someone before you has been unwilling or unable to say. There will always be an uncomfortable conversation when you are recovering a project. Finding the missing deliverable can help lead you to the topic of the conversation and to the audience. The further back the missing deliverable lies, the more uncomfortable the conversation. The uncomfortable conversation may be the result of finding the missing deliverable.
But, the uncomfortable conversation may also be related more toward a project resource instead of a deliverable. The deliverable may only be a symptom of a deeper issue. There may be a project resource that isn’t completing deliverables on schedule. There may be a resource that is detrimental to the morale of the team. The nature of the uncomfortable conversation changes in this scenario, but the uncomfortable conversation is still there, and the way forward is still there too. Depending on how deep in jeopardy this project is, you may have more than one uncomfortable conversation that needs to take place, but there is almost always at least one.
Don’t be shy!
Remember, you are the new guy. This gives you some wiggle room in saying what needs to be said. If you don’t say it now, then yes, it will be more difficult later. It will also be more of your fault if you wait until later. Acting right now it is the key to success. If you are doing your job as the recovery project manager, you will have found something to fix. Your project sponsors are expecting you to find something to fix, and your project sponsors already know there is a problem.
Approach the conversation professionally/confidently.
Remember, you are a professional who has been asked onboard to help fix a troubled project. You are not there to place blame and cast doubt on whomever was previously in charge. You are not adding work to the team that is not necessary. All you are saying is that you have identified a missing puzzle piece and that it needs to be corrected. This uncomfortable conversation may have an impact on more than one aspect of the triple constraint. Remember, the project is in trouble and that rarely means that only one of the triple constraints is impacted. They are linked. Therefore, risk to one can result in risk to another. It is better to be transparent if you are going to elicit the help of the sponsors.
This news might not be new.
It might help you to realize that the sponsors likely already know something is wrong; it’s why you are on the team now. They probably already know what it is too, they’re just not very happy about it. The interesting thing here is that you may very well be repeating something that someone else before you has said in the past, but simply because it is coming from a new voice, it suddenly gets more credence. You see the same thing when the advice you give your children gets ignored, but then some stranger comes and tells them the same thing and suddenly they change their whole outlook on the situation. Why is that? It’s just because that second person is new. That second person is saying the same thing that you have said in the past, but they are new and you are not.
Step 3: Find the Missing Meeting
There, now. You found what was missing and you have had the uncomfortable conversation. You know what needs to take place; you’ve said what needs to be said. You are now ready for what comes next. My advice is to make sure that all stakeholders and resources have one universal understanding of the path forward. This is probably in the form of a team meeting.
When is the next team meeting?
First, unless I missed my guess, you will likely find that no regularly scheduled team meeting is currently taking place. They may have been scheduled in the past, but were dropped for some reason, likely due to lack of participation. The team meetings weren’t fruitful, so people stopped showing up. This is the “doers” meeting; this is the meeting for the resources on the project who are getting things done. This is the meeting where progress is checked against the plan and status updates are captured. It is hard to know where you stand without this meeting.
When is the next sponsor meeting?
If the first meeting is already in place and healthy, then the second is the stakeholders/sponsors meeting. Here again, it may have been in place at one time, but attendance fell off. This is the meeting of those impacted by the project. This is the decision-makers meeting, where project status is shared and direction is confirmed. This is a strategic discussion. Misunderstanding and false perception results from the loss of this meeting. Either one or the other of them is almost always missing. Setting a regular meeting cadence will help keep the project on track.
Or do you just need to get back to “green?”
If neither of them is missing (which I doubt) then set up a “get to green” meeting. This is a reference to the ranking systems many organizations use as a dashboard update to assess the status of a project (green, yellow, red). This “get to green” meeting will include the key resources and stakeholders needed to help correct the course. If the project is in trouble, this is the meeting where the interested parties get together to see what progress has been made to correct the situation. This is the meeting where you get critical issues resolved and where you report on the elimination of certain obstacles. This is a tactical discussion that likely involves members of the sponsors meeting and key information suppliers. It is a temporary meeting cadence because you will be green soon enough; you are that good.
I like to have a weekly team meeting and a monthly sponsor meeting, but you will want to assess the situation for yourself. Whichever meeting is missing, this will serve to pull the team together, level out the misconceptions and misunderstandings, set a new tone for a new day, and set the concept of one team driving toward one goal. Ready. Set. Go!
Conclusion
There are two key things missing and three steps to follow when you have been assigned to a project that is already in flight and, quite probably, in trouble. The two things missing are typically tied to scope and communication. The three steps to correct the troubled project are:
Good luck! Don’t worry! Go be amazing!
About the Author
Robert Barger, MBA, PMP, is the author of Sam The Cat: A Guide for Memorizing the 42 Sub-Processes Using Mnemonics and Memory Stepping Stones, a manuscript utilized by the PMI Central Ohio Chapter to assist students in preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification examination, as well as Red, Yellow, Green., and Lessons for the Project Manager from French and Raven’s Bases of Power. Mr. Barger has been in the project management field since 2003 and has worked in a wide variety of industries and settings. He is currently working as a principal consultant for a technology solutions consulting firm in Central Ohio.