Icebergs, the Gulf Oil Spill, and Project Management

 

Driving into work yesterday I listened to yet another story on what I've started calling BP's "Nightmare in the Gulf."  This is the story of a disaster that just doesn't seem to get any better.  No matter what BP does, the situation doesn't improve.  The news seems to be worse than originally reported and there is no real end in sight. 

The particular story I'm referring to was broadcast by NPR, Scientists: Dispersants Compounded Oil Spill.  Quoting the author Elizabeth Shogren, "Everybody feared the oil would rise to the surface like in a salad dressing, causing big problems in the marshlands and on the surface of the Gulf.  Now some scientists are focusing on contamination thousands of feet below the surface."

I'm not planning on starting an environmental rant on the pros and cons of deep offshore drilling.  I'll leave that for another forum, suffice it to say that there is so much oil spewing out of that damaged well a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf, that scientists like Dr. Frank Muller-Karger of the University of South Florida can do nothing but ask, "How large is the impact?  We don't know.  Where exactly is it happening below the surface? We don't know.  So all these things are very frustrating."

There are cleanup plans and strategies for gathering the oil on the surface, cleaning the marshlands and beaches—but have you heard anything about a strategy for cleaning up the oil in the deep water?  I think this is much like an iceberg, as bad as it looks on the surface there's even more underneath.  What's more, I think this is a great example of how a lot of project problems get handled.

Although there might be a tendency to hide bad news and hope that things work themselves out over the course of the project, often the most dangerous problems are those left intentionally or unintentionally under the surface, out of sight.  I'm no expert on the problem in the Gulf, but here are a couple of suggestions for project-related problems:

1. Foster an organizational willingness to take the bitter with the sweet:  Sometimes the tendency is to shoot the bearer of bad news.  Granted, it may not be what you want to hear, but it may be that you need to hear it.  Sometimes the difference between an inconvenience and a full-on disaster is a matter of timing.  Business leaders need accurate information to make the best decisions.
2. Make honesty the best policy: Sometimes when problems crop up, it's easy to soft-pedal the situation, put a good spin on it, or intentionally underestimate the potential damage when talking to the boss.  It might make you feel better for the time being, but that will only last until the boss finds out the truth—which he or she will.  Resist the urge, it hasn't been a good idea for BP and it won't be for you.
3. Realize that organizations can only address the problems they can see: Problems that are unseen, or deep under the surface, won't get addressed until they bubble up and make everything stink.  By then, they will more than likely be bigger, more difficult to address, or worse—the death knell for the project.

The right project and portfolio management software will provide a number of tools and alerts to help you identify  potential problems, but for any work management solution to be effective there needs to be an established culture of identifying, isolating, and dealing with problems early—or the workforce will keep them hidden and lingering under the surface.

How does your organization deal with problems?  Share some of your successful problem-solving best practices.