Strategic Project Management

Whether you know them as the Seven Deadly Sins, the Capital Vices, or the Cardinal Sins, the final version of the list consists of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. The "Deadly Sins" are not seen as a separate category of sin, but rather the origin of the other sins. The same could be said of the Seven Deadly Project Management Sins—most of the struggles we face as project leaders originate with them.

Here’s the list:

1. The Squeaky Wheel: I like to call this the, "stakeholder who screams the loudest gets what they want just because they are a noisy stakeholder" sin. Projects should focus on initiatives that provide the greatest value to the organization, not the personal or pet projects of powerful stakeholders. Organizations who spend valuable resources on projects of limited or suspect value tend to struggle.
2. Dogma Dominance: The "My dogma is better than your dogma" sin makes it difficult for project teams to approach project planning with the "best" methodology for any "particular" project. There are times when a waterfall approach to managing projects might not be the best approach. The same can be said for Agile. When a project manager’s personal preference for any particular approach dominates how he or she creates a project plan—time and resources can be wasted. The simplest approach, depending upon the requirements, is often the best. The best project managers I know are able to function in any environment, depending on what’s needed to deliver the most value to their customer.
3. Lack of Vision: It’s important that everyone involved in the project have an understanding of the ultimate goal of the project. When the vision of a project is not communicated to everyone or worse, non existent, it’s difficult for project teams to become engaged. If project leaders expect the team to treat their project like something more than "just another project," the team needs to understand why the project is valuable to their organization. (Refer to Deadly Sin #1)
4. The focus group of "one": As a project leader you may be smart and may really know your stuff, but let’s face it, those closest to the work understand it the best. Ignoring the input of individual project teams members is NOT a good idea. I am not advocating making decisions by committee, but I am suggesting that it’s easy to make a stupid decision by yourself. Most of the time, two heads really are better than one.
5. Seagull Supervision: I’ve seen this type of management style in numerous organizations. Have you ever had a boss who swooped in, made a big mess, and swooped out, leaving you to clean up the mess. I sure have. It’s a real morale killer for project teams who are head-down trying to get stuff done.
6. Crappy Communication: Project leaders need to be exceptional communicators. They need to effectively collaborate with project teams, stakeholders, and other executives in a style that is adaptable to each group. A one-size-fits-all approach to project communication doesn’t work. Giving a detailed project plan to the executive team is neither appreciated nor appropriate. And in reality, the project team doesn’t care about what the Gantt chart looks like either. They need to know what their contribution is and how what they are doing fits into the context of the overall project goals. Effective project leaders are exceptional communicators.
7. Forgetting Value: Ultimately the goal of every project is to provide value. In terms of either making money, saving money, or providing some other value. For some organizations ROI might not be as important as governance issues—depending on the organization and what they want to accomplish. If we forget that projects provide value, we’ve lost before we’ve begun.

I’m on a roll now and could probably keep going, but I’m going to stop at seven. What other project management sins would you call "deadly?"

I recently stumbled upon a report published by HREOnline arguing the need for organizations to implement a strategic employee recognition program. "The problem with trying to do more with less is we all focus on the 'less' part, don't we?" asks Mike Ryan, senior vice president of marketing and strategy at Madison Performance Group.

Maybe it's time to focus a little more on who has to do all that more with less?

He cited a survey conducted by Aon Hewitt that suggests, "...most employees want to know how their work aligns with the overall business goals and 'to be recognized for what they do'—as long as the compensation is at market rate."

This is very consistent with what I've observed over the years regarding what really motivates people and engages the team. It's not so much about what people are paid, as whether or not it's perceived to be fair. For example, if you team (or any employee for that matter) feels like their compensation plan is an attempt to give them the least amount they can and capture the most work out of them possible, it's likely that they will be frustrated and maybe even disengage.

Although most of us really do care about our compensation, it isn't all about exactly what that compensation is—so long as it's fair. "Managers [and project leaders fit into this category in my mind] are also extremely important in making sure employees feel their work is recognized," says Ryan. The reason it doesn't happen enough, is because "...many organizations do not have systems that help people do that."

This validates some research AtTask did a couple of years ago with Forrester that suggested a primary driver for many project teams is whether or not their contributions are visible to managers and peers. This is one reason I'm so fond of incorporating the social media metaphor into the project management process. I've observed that people are generally proud of what they do and a little recognition goes a long way.

Winnipeg consultant David Zinger, suggests "...authentic recognition is so much more than an annual gala or occasional gift card for good behavior. Recognition is social, strategic, and powerful."

It's no surprise that many organizations trust monetary rewards and points-based systems to motivate people, but once people are compensated fairly (as Daniel Pink suggests in his book Drive), it becomes less about the money and more about peer-to-peer recognition that not only costs less, it really pays off.

Are you doing anything to make recognition a part of leading the project team? If so, what are you doing?

I haven't thought about it in these terms before (at least so far as the hierarchy of needs is concerned), but I don't think it's too much of a leap to make the connection. As a metaphor for collaboration and team engagement, I think it works. Particularly with the millennial generation—who are fully engaged in social media.

What do you think?

My colleagues and I talk a lot about failing projects and the damage control associated with projects in trouble. I don't think it's a question of project manager skill, the team's ability to execute or even stakeholder involvement with some projects—even if you do everything right, sometimes projects struggle. With that in mind, here are 9 warning signs that your project might be in trouble. Some are difficult to put a metric to, while others are pretty easy to measure and identify.

Some of the earliest warning signs are more difficult to measure and require us to be watching what's happening on the team and be prepared to take action:

1. Lack of Interest: Whether it’s a lack of interest within the project team or among the project stakeholders, it’s often demonstrated by people not showing up for meetings, a lack of active participation and feedback, or a poorly organized user base. This is an early warning sign of a project in trouble.
2. Poor Communication: If nobody is communicating, including stakeholders, team members and end users, there could be a problem.
3. Lack of Velocity: Projects should always be moving forward. The best way to keep a good velocity is to divide your project into small deliverables at frequent intervals. If the project isn’t moving forward, it’s likely in trouble.
4. A "No-Bad-News" Environment: Nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes organizations need to face the reality of negative news. This includes project team members who don’t want to be the messenger and business leaders who tend to shoot first and ask questions later. If there isn’t an environment where the communication is honest about "reality", projects tend to fail.

You don’t need to depend on some of the intangible signs that a project is in trouble, there are also a number of easily measurable signs:

1. Lots of Overtime: A project running on schedule should have little or no overtime. Overtime is often a quick fix, but leads to poor employee health resulting from too much caffeine, too many late nights and too much junk food. (It also leads to mistakes.)
2. Diversion of Resources: When people are pulled from one project to work on something else, it could be a sign of trouble. If you’ve budgeted your people properly, a few hours here and there on a troubled project can quickly add up and cascade down, endangering healthy projects.
3. Ratios Trouble: Cost ratios and schedule ratios are financial metrics that allow business leaders to measure budgeted time and money verses money and time actually spent. Without metrics, all you have to rely on is the accuracy of communication you receive from project teams.
4. Milestones Aren’t Met: This is pretty obvious, but it is surprising how many times this warning sign is ignored. Small, discrete and often, are the guidelines for the milestones of a successful project.
5. Scope Changes: A common approach to shoring up a lagging project is to change the scope. Eliminating features or relaxing requirements is not uncommon, but if project teams are doing it because the project is struggling, it’s a huge warning sign of danger ahead.

Of course, warning signs are not the harbinger of doom, they are just warning signs that a project might be in trouble. Depending on how your organization handles project-based work, the right project management tools can help identify potential problems early, when there’s still time to do something about them.

If you'd like to read more about some of the early warning signs to a struggling project, Caffeine, Late Nights and Failing Projects might be a good place to start.

I think most of us agree that projects are inherently risky endeavors. We don't normally talk about them that way but let's face it, if they weren't  risky we would treat them like business as usual. Projects are usually associated with something new, something we haven't done before or some kind of change—making them risky.

Flying home from San Francisco on Friday night I finished a new book I'd picked up a couple of weeks ago. First published in 1900, Sailing Alone Around the World Alone by Joshua Slocum may not have the most captivating title, but it describes in detail Slocum's solo circumnavigation around the globe in a derelict 36 foot sloop, Spray, he rebuild himself. He may not have been the first to do it, but he was the first to do it alone.

Setting sail from Boston in April of 1895, at the age of 51, Slocum set out on what many thought was a "fool's errand." There were many who didn't think he would make it back alive. He recognized the risks associated with such an endeavor, but he had a couple of things going for him that the average guy in a 36 fool sailboat might not. As it turned out, his skills didn't eliminate the risks of his journey, but they helped him mitigate what might have otherwise been disaster. Do you and the members of your project team share some of these skills/behaviors?

1. Preparation and Experience: This wasn't Slocum's first experience on the high seas. He'd been a sea captain on a number of ships over the course of his career, running away from home at a young age to begin a life at sea. He'd even been shipwrecked and forced to build his own boat to return home. He was no stranger to the sea and the challenges associated with traveling both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Challenging projects require preparation and some experience to ensure success.
2. Flexibility and the Ability to Adapt to Difficult Circumstances: Chased by pirates, pursued by hostile natives, illness, rough seas and horrible weather sometimes made Slocum's circumnavigation a challenge. Nevertheless, the ability to adjust expectations and adapt to challenging situations made it possible for Slocum to keep going when others might have abandoned hope and given up. Sometimes "stuff" happens and project leaders need to adjust their plans to accommodate. Being flexible is a critical part of achieving project success.
3. A Willingness to Accept Help From Others: It didn't seem to matter where he stopped. Alone on the sea, people were always willing to help him make repairs to the Spray and offer provisions to help him along the way. As news of his adventure spread around the world, more and more people became aware of what he was doing and were willing to help. However, even strangers who knew nothing of what he was about were amazed that he was sailing alone and offered help along the way. Are you and your team willing to look outside the team for help when needed?

Risk aversion would have kept Slocum safe at home, while a willingness to accept the potential for risk and devise a way to mitigate expected problems made Joshua Slocum a pioneer; and allowed him to successfully do what no man had done before.

Although we might not ever face hostile natives, pirates or the depths of the sea, we need the same skills and behaviors that helped Slocum along his journey.

If you'd like to read more about dealing with risks, you might find these recent posts interesting: Sometimes the Smart Plan is to Regroup, Rethink and Retreat or Risk Management: Don't Become a Casualty.