People, Planet, Profits & Projects

We want to challenge you with the definition of what seems to be a mundane but pleasant word.

That word: success.

To do that, we're going to use an example provided from a very thoughtful post at an outstanding blog we suggest you visit, called SUKAD. 

So here is the scenario:

You are charged with building a gymnasium at a warehouse facility for an industrial company which has a large number of employees in the region.

And here is the first challenge question:

What is the project?

Many will say that it is the successful construction of the gymnasium.

Don't answer too fast! 

Now we quote directly from SUKAD:

Is the company in the business of building gymnasiums?

No!

OK, then what is the project?

Maybe we should ask the question differently, what is the business objective for the project, the business driver; business case?

Uh!

We understand. In this case we can say “improve employee health.”

To repeat and rephrase: the project is to build a gymnasium to improve employee health.

Great – now we know the project.

SUKAD goes on to discuss their four elements of project success.  And by now you know that although of course the completion of the gym (on time, meeting requirements, and within budget) is an important element of success, it's not an "end-all" measurement of success.

Here are the four measurements of success:

1. Product Success: did we deliver the gymnasium in accordance with the project detailed plan (PDP) and specifications? If yes; good, first success measure is achieved.
2. Project Management Success: did we deliver the gymnasium in accordance with the project management plan (PMP); i.e. within the established time, cost, and other metrics?  If yes; excellent, second success measure is also achieved.
3. Project Success: did we deliver the gymnasium in according to the project authorization (PAD)? Another way we can consider this is: did we deliver an acceptable and good standard gymnasium that the employees would consider using? If yes; wonderful, the third success measure is achieved. It is worth nothing here that since this can be measured shortly after completing the gymnasium, in most situations we consider the project a success and project is closed. However, we do not agree hence the need for the fourth measure.
4. Business Objective Success: We could have delivered an outstanding gymnasium and closed the project. However, the most important question is: did the project deliver the expected benefits that we anticipated when we considered the project and authorized it? Did we realize the benefits? The benefit expected is to improve employee health. It is unlikely that we will be able to give an answer at project close. We can measure the success a year or two after completion, long after the team demobilized.

As you can imagine, this last measure, business objective success, is related, at least in our minds, to the broad sense of project sustainability.  Notice that it doesn't have a thing to do with the environment, and yet it is still a sustainability issue.  We extend the view of the project beyond the deliverable and think in term of the steady-state.

Some project managers will find this objectionable.  "Out of scope!", they will say.  "Not our job!", they will declare.

We would like to agree quite strongly with SUKAD.  Whether or not they realized they had a posting on sustainability thinking, they absolutely did.

We also would like to know what you think.  Is there an advantage to you as a project manager and will you tend to do a better job as a PM if you consider these four measures?

Tell us!  We won't know until you do... and the posting will only be a success if it generates some good discussion....

Oh yeah...one of our deliverables was a link to the full SUKAD posting on this subject.

http://sukadipms.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/four-dimensions-of-success-example/

Freshly returned from the keynote address at the PMSA (Project Management South Africa) conference, "The Good in Green", we found that South Africa's project managers have a mature and considered view of project management.

One example is this article, from the PMSA magazine "The Project Manager", which questions the very definition of project success. Does it have to do only with scope, schedule, and budget?  Or - as we have been saying - should success include the success of the steady-state, ongoing use of the product of the project?

Although not strictly about sustainability, the article does correctly point out that a project is part of an endeavor of an organization, and success should be viewed in this larger context.

So- consider a highway project which goes over budget because it chose to use a paving material which (although more expensive) provides drivers with a 15% increase in gas mileage.  Is this project a failure? 

We think not. 

Have a look at the article and think about it.  We think you'll agree that it's at least worth considering this longer-term view.

Here's the full link to the article.

http://www.theprojectmanager.co.za/index.php/Other/the-elusive-concept-of-project-success.html

We're interested in your views on project success.  How much should project managers consider long-term operations as they seek to deliver the product on-time, under budget, and within scope?

But don't answer until you've read Terry Deacon's article.

No sweat.  More inspiration. That's what you'll find here at P, P, P, & P.

We'd like to draw your attention to an editorial in the 13-Aug-11 Cape Cod Times.

In the opinion piece, entitled "Looking To The Skies", the editors discuss the Dennis Union Church - a 173-year-old building on Cape Cod, and its congregation's effort to get air conditioning into their building.

From the editorial:

"Earlier this year, the church was one of four religious groups in New England to receive an Energy Star label, recognizing the congregation's "environmental stewardship." In the case of Dennis Union, that stewardship includes photovoltaic panels, lights that shut themselves off automatically, and double-pane glass."

The congregation wanted to install solar panels so as to power the air conditioning.  However, "the congregation discovered it could use solar panels to not only offset the energy to run air conditioning, but to turn a profit as well in the form of electricity sold back into the grid. And, as one congregant pointed out, although not everyone agrees about climate change, everyone likes to save money."

But the Editorial really got us thinking about project managers.  As usual.  Why?

What could a church tell us about project management and sustainabililty?

Well, first of all, this is a good example of a "Green By Definition" project.  (See our book for the 4 distinct categories of projects).  But more importantly, it shows how a group of stakeholders, in this case, a congregation and its leadership, decided to think long-term.  Sustainably.

Perhaps the best line in the editorial is here:

"Perhaps religious organizations that look at history in terms of centuries, rather than days or months, are better suited to understand the concept of a big picture than individuals on their own."

We're not saying that project managers have to run out and join a religious organization and become regular church, mosque, or synagogue goers, but we are saying that the type of thinking exemplified here by Dennis Union Church is more appropriate than you might imagine for a project manager.

Think sustainably, act projectly.

For those of you more interesetd in the actual project, the architecture, and history of the church, see this case study.

Ray Anderson died yesterday (see press release here). 

Words fail when it comes to discussing Ray Anderson and his importance to sustainabililty and business.  He speaks for himself, and for those who (justifiably) count on results to prove something to be correct, Ray Anderson's company, InterfaceFLOR's results also speak for themselves.

Watch this video to see what this amazing man had to say.

So - nothing to add except we're here to honor his memory and hope that some of you will take some inspiration from this man.

One of the most fundamental and imperative things a project manager must do is to identify stakeholders.

We think this is best done by asking two thoughtful questions:

• Who cares about your project?
• Who cares about your project’s outcome?

We focus a lot on this last part – the outcome, because many times we’re so caught up in the project itself that we lose (in a forest-for-the-trees sort of way) sight of the steady-state operation of our project.  And this is where many of the issues of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and TBL (Triple Bottom Line) come into play.

We recently came across a great comedy clip from the August 2, 2011 rendition of The Daily Show (a Comedy Central Network TV show, staring Jon Stewart).  In this clip, The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi interviews a stakeholder in a proposed wind farm in south Florida, USA.  Here, a stakeholder appears and is very concerned about the project’s steady-state use and its effect on a natural resource – ducks.  We hate to give too many details because it may spoil the comedy of the clip.  So watch the clip and come back here.

Here's the link (below):

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-2-2011/fowl-wind

So if you saw the clip – and we hope you did – here are the learnings from our perspective:

• Think broadly and deeply about who may be stakeholders  while the project is ‘under construction’.
• Now, imagine the project is done.  It’s running.  It’s working.  It’s perhaps a year into operation.  What happens to your stakeholder set?  Acknowledge that it will change. Feed that back into your stakeholder identification process.
•  Know thy stakeholders!

            -know – and expose as necessary - their true objectives and concerns (not always their spoken ones)

            -understand drivers of their behaviors

• Know the interactions of stakeholders with each other

To shift a bit from comedy to reality, check out the actual sites of the involved parties here:

http://sugarlandwind.com/Environment.html

http://www.unitedwaterfowlersfl.org/

We’re interested in your feedback here.  What did you think of the video?  Did the stakeholders’ interests surprise you?  Where did you see hypocrisy?  How would you have dealt with this if you were the wind farm project manager?  How would you have dealt with this if you were the Waterfowl representative?

We know that this is a difficult part of any project, and so, with tounge firmly in bill, we wish you the best of flock.

(snicker)