As is generally noted, project teams are engaged in the project to meet its objective. However at times, for reasons not in control of the project team, projects fail. How should a Project Manager convey this to his team? What should he be mindful of? How should he ensure he retains the trust of the team? Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 22, 2018 9:03 PM
Replying to Dr. Deepa Bhide
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Thank you and agree with you. Yet at times, much as the PM tries to salvage the situation, it is out of his sphere of control and that is when the difficulty arises.
Sorry for desigree, but if something is out of its sphere and control then there is no reason to have a project manager. First of all, what I see along the years and I have debate lot of time with PMI people (thanks to that an special session has been included in the new PMBOK. Obviouly I am not the only person) when you see the project objectives (the mean to measure success) you will see that they are incorrectly stated most of the times. Instead of stated project objectives they are product objectives then they are impossible to achieve for the project (for example: "growth 5% in market share on this year" is not a project objective). Second, nothing inside the project must be out of control of the project manager. This is because things like risk and issue management exists. The problem is most of the project managers work in reactive mode instead of proactive mode. The key reason to have a project manager is to prevent instead of to cure. But it demands to work smart instead to work hard. The third thing is:which is the definiton of project management used in your organization? That is critical. If your organization think that a project manager is something that must make micro-management then it is quit impossible to work smart or to prevent.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Dec 23, 2018 7:27 AM
Adrian Carlogea
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"Second, nothing inside the project must be out of control of the project manager."
I have worked for over 10 years in IT and I have never seen a project manager to be fully in control of a project. Some PMs have very little control. Reading articles and comments on this site I have discovered that there is a huge difference between theory and reality in project management, at least in IT.
Sorry for desigree, but if something is out of its sphere and control then there is no reason to have a project manager. First of all, what I see along the years and I have debate lot of time with PMI people (thanks to that an special session has been included in the new PMBOK. Obviouly I am not the only person) when you see the project objectives (the mean to measure success) you will see that they are incorrectly stated most of the times. Instead of stated project objectives they are product objectives then they are impossible to achieve for the project (for example: "growth 5% in market share on this year" is not a project objective). Second, nothing inside the project must be out of control of the project manager. This is because things like risk and issue management exists. The problem is most of the project managers work in reactive mode instead of proactive mode. The key reason to have a project manager is to prevent instead of to cure. But it demands to work smart instead to work hard. The third thing is:which is the definiton of project management used in your organization? That is critical. If your organization think that a project manager is something that must make micro-management then it is quit impossible to work smart or to prevent.
"Second, nothing inside the project must be out of control of the project manager."
I have worked for over 10 years in IT and I have never seen a project manager to be fully in control of a project. Some PMs have very little control. Reading articles and comments on this site I have discovered that there is a huge difference between theory and reality in project management, at least in IT.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Dec 23, 2018 8:36 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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Totally disagree. Project manager always is in control. How? Control means risk and issue management and to escalate when is needed. Control is to use indicators to evaluate the actual and to predict the future if current conditions persists (EVM for example). Control means to prevent instead of to cure. I leaded software/IT project by more than 20 years too. Is not theory. Is practice. But to put theory in practice demands knowledge and attitude.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 23, 2018 7:27 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
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"Second, nothing inside the project must be out of control of the project manager."
I have worked for over 10 years in IT and I have never seen a project manager to be fully in control of a project. Some PMs have very little control. Reading articles and comments on this site I have discovered that there is a huge difference between theory and reality in project management, at least in IT.
Totally disagree. Project manager always is in control. How? Control means risk and issue management and to escalate when is needed. Control is to use indicators to evaluate the actual and to predict the future if current conditions persists (EVM for example). Control means to prevent instead of to cure. I leaded software/IT project by more than 20 years too. Is not theory. Is practice. But to put theory in practice demands knowledge and attitude.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Dec 24, 2018 7:40 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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Are you sure that control means predicting the future? I though control means giving commands to humans or objects in order to reach a goal. The commands should in principle be dependent on the current state of the controlled system.
At University I studied Control Engineering, I was not good at learning it but the main principles are simple and I think a parallel can be made with controlling a project.
In Control Engineering you have a system that has an output and a reference which is the desired output. In a closed loop controlled system a sensor is reading the output, the output is compared with the reference and base on the error and the model of the system a controller generates a command to an execution element in order make the output as close as possible to the reference.
The reference can be seen as the project goal, the current output as the project status and the controller as the project team and sponsor.
Most PMs read the output (get the project status) compare it with the goal but don't act as controllers and as such they don't take the decisions needed to reach the goal. Most PMs present to the sponsor and team the "error" that is the difference between the current status and the goal but don't get to give the command needed for completing the project. As such most PMs don't really control the project but they just act as a component of the overall control system.
In control engineering you also have to deal with external disturbances which can affect the control the same is in projects where you can be affected by external events which are not on your control.
Saving Changes...
Md. RahmanFounder and Head of Projects| ALPHABET SoftwareDhaka, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh
Thanks Deepa for the posting such an issue. I need to learn more about making project successful.
On my experience, I found that many project fail because of proper monitoring and verification by Project Manager. The ways it happen are:
- PM does not understand the power of project team member
- PM does not understand the minimum level of subject matter of the project deliverable.
- Project Members can't estimate task volume and delivery schedule individually.
- Too much dependency only on a paper based project status report.
- Does not want to verify a completed work with the acceptance criteria.
- Always want to have works done by others even when a micro level task is to be done by
PM.
- Error in communication plan.
- Error in stakeholder management plan.
Lack of expert judgement of all the team members is a reason for project failure.
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1 reply by Dr. Deepa Bhide
Dec 25, 2018 5:37 AM
Dr. Deepa Bhide
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Rahman, agree with the examples. The issue is around communicating this to the project team and the challenge lies there.
Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
If a project fail for reasons not in control of the project team then this is a project manager failure. It does mean that there was not communication with business analyst/business relationship manager which is accountable for the whole solution where the project is the mean to generate the solution.
I'm sorry Sergio but I completely disagree and will provide some examples that I have personally experienced. The first is due to physics outside the control of the PM, and the other 2 relate to developing a system, where there is a significant change to the external environment.
1) Research and development: A team I led was attempting to develop new materials that were beyond the current state of the art. The team achieved 2 patents for the work, however were unable to overcome some technical problems related to chemistry. There were successes but the overall project was cancelled and existing materials were used instead.
2) A government program canceled: A senior executive was caught in a major breach of ethics. As a result, the government cancelled the very large program contract and the projects of all teams developing the SOW were immediately terminated.
3) A product improvement to a product that is canceled during the project execution: The project seeks to reduce cost and flow to an existing product. The overall market for the product is rapidly disappearing so there is no business case to pursue the improvements.
These fall into the risk handling approaches of: Accept
As PMs, we cannot change fundamental physics, we cannot control senior executives or governments, and we cannot control the economic environment. The project can be greatly affected by these external influences however. The only way they cannot be described as failures, is if we redefine what we mean by success to fell better about the outcome.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Dec 23, 2018 4:54 PM
Sergio Luis Conte
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No problem. I am here to learn from comments and you help me on that. Here my comments: Item 1: is the project was cancelled and the PM make the work to put on the table all information needed on hands of people that decided about cancellation then there is no problem. Project manager is not accountable for the product, is accountable for all related to create the product as defined, in the time needed, inside the expected costs. Item 2: is a cancellation. The project can not be evaluated as successful or not. Item 3:the product is cancelled. There is nothing to be with project success. PM must stay in control on scope, time, cost, quality to create the product/service/result as defined (scope and quality), in the time needed, with the expected cost. That´s all. So, we do not disagree at all. All these things are out of project manager hands Stay in control is "do not come with surprises" about all related to project (time-cost-scope-quality). All other things are not in hands of project manager except she/he is performed the business analyst role too.
Saving Changes...
GORAKHANATH WANKHEDEProject Manager| Bharat Electronics LimitedBengaluru, Karnataka, India
Critical issues that may force project to slip away & that are beyond direct control of PM should be identified & documented in risk register.
All such high level risks should be circulated within team members to get their views on Risk Analysis & Mitigation. If team members are aware of what worst might come their way, they would be enticed to accept the challenge, giving their best & also would be much better prepared to handle the situation such as "Project Failure" if it actually occurs. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 23, 2018 12:56 PM
Replying to Keith Novak
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I'm sorry Sergio but I completely disagree and will provide some examples that I have personally experienced. The first is due to physics outside the control of the PM, and the other 2 relate to developing a system, where there is a significant change to the external environment.
1) Research and development: A team I led was attempting to develop new materials that were beyond the current state of the art. The team achieved 2 patents for the work, however were unable to overcome some technical problems related to chemistry. There were successes but the overall project was cancelled and existing materials were used instead.
2) A government program canceled: A senior executive was caught in a major breach of ethics. As a result, the government cancelled the very large program contract and the projects of all teams developing the SOW were immediately terminated.
3) A product improvement to a product that is canceled during the project execution: The project seeks to reduce cost and flow to an existing product. The overall market for the product is rapidly disappearing so there is no business case to pursue the improvements.
These fall into the risk handling approaches of: Accept
As PMs, we cannot change fundamental physics, we cannot control senior executives or governments, and we cannot control the economic environment. The project can be greatly affected by these external influences however. The only way they cannot be described as failures, is if we redefine what we mean by success to fell better about the outcome.
No problem. I am here to learn from comments and you help me on that. Here my comments: Item 1: is the project was cancelled and the PM make the work to put on the table all information needed on hands of people that decided about cancellation then there is no problem. Project manager is not accountable for the product, is accountable for all related to create the product as defined, in the time needed, inside the expected costs. Item 2: is a cancellation. The project can not be evaluated as successful or not. Item 3:the product is cancelled. There is nothing to be with project success. PM must stay in control on scope, time, cost, quality to create the product/service/result as defined (scope and quality), in the time needed, with the expected cost. That´s all. So, we do not disagree at all. All these things are out of project manager hands Stay in control is "do not come with surprises" about all related to project (time-cost-scope-quality). All other things are not in hands of project manager except she/he is performed the business analyst role too.
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Dec 23, 2018 11:18 PM
Keith Novak
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We do agree. I think I misinterpreted one of your previous statements and your explanation helped. I have found it very easy for people to find themselves in violent agreement, when they mean the same thing but use language in different ways.
I also hope you understand that when I challenge your opinion on a subject, it is from respect as another professional. There is a lot to be learned when we challenge accepted 'truths'.
Saving Changes...
Kevin ColemanSubject Matter Expert, Author, Speaker and Strategic Advisor| - InsightsPa, United States
Open, honest and frank always worked for me! Individual failures should be addressed one-on-one and face-to-face. Saving Changes...
No problem. I am here to learn from comments and you help me on that. Here my comments: Item 1: is the project was cancelled and the PM make the work to put on the table all information needed on hands of people that decided about cancellation then there is no problem. Project manager is not accountable for the product, is accountable for all related to create the product as defined, in the time needed, inside the expected costs. Item 2: is a cancellation. The project can not be evaluated as successful or not. Item 3:the product is cancelled. There is nothing to be with project success. PM must stay in control on scope, time, cost, quality to create the product/service/result as defined (scope and quality), in the time needed, with the expected cost. That´s all. So, we do not disagree at all. All these things are out of project manager hands Stay in control is "do not come with surprises" about all related to project (time-cost-scope-quality). All other things are not in hands of project manager except she/he is performed the business analyst role too.
We do agree. I think I misinterpreted one of your previous statements and your explanation helped. I have found it very easy for people to find themselves in violent agreement, when they mean the same thing but use language in different ways.
I also hope you understand that when I challenge your opinion on a subject, it is from respect as another professional. There is a lot to be learned when we challenge accepted 'truths'.
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Dec 24, 2018 4:37 AM
Sergio Luis Conte
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Keith, believe me, I spend my extra time in two places only: here and linkedin. The reason is to interact with people because it helps me a lot to learn and improve myself. So, I do not take your comment or comment from @Adrian above as something without respect. In fact, I always make a comment into those discussion I found interesting. About the point, I am an open person but there are two or three things I firmly believe and sustain. One of them is: the only reason to hire a project manager is because she/he will stay in control of the whole project. Is the same than when you travel in a car or you fly in an airplane and you are not the driver. People that becomes nervous in those situation is because they feel the driver is not in control.
