We love implementing, following, and encouraging others to follow ‘processes’ as Project Managers. But, is there a time when having too many processes in place can actually harm or slow down a project? I think so. I’ve seen some become so entangled and entrenched in following processes that the Big Picture (getting the project done) suffers. I’m not talking about taking short-cuts, but there is definitely a point in time when enough is enough.
What do you think? I’d love to hear some of your nightmare stories of where unnecessary and convoluted processes dragged a project down, or how you gauge when it is time to implement a process. Saving Changes...
Kevin GazaProgram Manager| Franciscan Alliance Information ServicesGreenwood, In, United States
Processes are actually never thrown out, you just switch to using your own preferences instead. When you get to the point that everybody just acts on their preferences in an organization, what you end up with is anarchy. Nonetheless, I am on two major $ projects right now that started with no Project Definition Statement (e.g. scope statement) and management has never noticed that I have never produced a single weekly status report. Anarchy? No, painful projects, and they feel like agile project monsters. But Jennifer Whitt's point about "big picture first" is dead on for these projects. Each week is a search for the real business value and reducing noice and distractions. We will finish the project and deliver the business value before I write a single scope statement or status report. Why? Because we havent thrown all the processes out. We still do core items, like weekly team status teleconferences. I still update a Microsoft project schedule---although at this point it reads more like a punch list. But Wai Ku's HBR article on "no experience needed" is insanity if you are saying run projects without project management. Maybe you need a seasoned project manager in the manufacturing sector to be hired into the narrow minded health field to get new perspectives, but you dont throw the baby out with the bath water for Pete's sake. My point is you need processes, and seasoned project managers do these by rote---and thinking you can hire "Mark Zuckerberg greenies" to run projects is just asking for trouble. He's an anomoly. Don't kid yourself, process teach discipline. Experience prevents catastrophes. And you dont have to get rid of your project management methodology, nor your seasoned project managers to get a new perspective. My goodness, Use your common sense here people. Saving Changes...
Processes are nothing more than repeatable best practices that foster communication with expected outcomes.
Project Managers need to be able to work within the culture, team norms and use tools and processes to produce successful delivery of projects.
Adaptability, right fit of tools, techniques and methodologies, emotional intelligence, communication tools, Flexibility, Openness, Innovation, Stakeholder management......this is the stuff that great project managers will tap into to develop high performing teams.
Lots of projects live and die by the processes meant to deliver success; project leaders must learn to step out of the box ...Organizations must be adaptable and open to change.... Saving Changes...
One aspect of processes that has not been articulated in this discussion is control.
Here we talk of best practice, efficiency, steamline communication etc. But really the bottom line is control and quality. So the question that should be asked is how much control is required for this project?
Are you controlling Risks, issues, scope change, budget, communication? Do you want to?
Perhaps slowing the project down could be considered a good thing if the end product is delivered to a high quality and controlled scope and budget.
Don't forget that projects "go bad" one day at a time, but in uncontrolled projects no one knows! Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Julie, good point on the control. There is an interesting comment regarding culture & control posted by William Williams in a blog that I would like to share with everyone here. Here is how it goes...
"There is a strong relationship between culture and control. Culture is, at least in one sense, control... a set of paradigms or constraints. For example, certain types of crime (chaotic behavior) are almost unknown in one cultural setting but common in another. Control is also culture--peer pressure, social hierarchies, criminal justice systems, the church, political systems, and the like.
Controls, however, are static things. Culture is living, changing, evolving... and not always in positive ways. Cultural DNA, much like human and animal DNA, is experimental. Some experiments fail and the culture either fails to survive or changes again in some other way. Other experiments succeed and are retained.
Controls do not halt cultural change. They can affect the speed or direction, but not the evolutionary juggernaut of cultural change. .
In projects as well as cultures, controls optimally exist at the minimum level required to mitigate risk. Any more and a glass lid slams shut. Any less and chaos overtakes us. A critical understanding in the process of defining controls is understanding the organizational culture in which the project operates. Project managers with an ability to understand cultural and its implications are more likely to manage controls successfully." Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Great post and comments. I especially agree with Wai Mun Koo in that processes should not be viewed as a one time best practice that is set up and left to run on auto-pilot, but rather continually improved upon. We all know this, and in fact, this happens by default over time. We see more and more PMOs proactively addressing process improvement as part of their project management methodology (PMM) gate reviews and post-closing process as well as having process owners who have the responsibility to ensure that the process (best practice) is continually improved, refined, made flexible, and reflective of the best approaches to getting the work done. Some advocate a good rule of thumb - if you don't have a process owner, you don't have a process. Saving Changes...
Kevin GazaProgram Manager| Franciscan Alliance Information ServicesGreenwood, In, United States
Wow. Mr.Koo just gave me a epiphany by posting the Williams blog. Control and culture go together. The unintended ephiphany was that this extends beyond the organization---to our society. I have often wondered why the business world isn’t in the same mess the rest of the American culture is. Paraphrasing the blog provided the answer for me: “Culture is, at least in one sense, control... a set of paradigms or constraints.Crime (e.g unbelievably high murder rate in the USA) and chaotic behavior (graffiti, disrespect of elders, etc.) can become common because there no long is peer pressure, social hierarchies, criminal justice systems, the church, political systems, etc.---e.g. rules in place. The American experiment in “there is no such thing as right or wrong, I will do it my way” has failed and whether the culture will survive or change in the right direction (a control value) depends on control as they can affect the direction. Leaders with an ability to understand what a healthy culture is and its implications are more likely to manage controls successfully." Saving Changes...
Randa SpellerMarketing Specialist / Chair PM Community of Practice| Union Gas Limited; EnbridgeChatham, Ontario, Canada
If we remember the key purposes of documenting process, we can restrict ourselves do focusing on work that adds value.
- documenting as-is (current state) processes helpe business and IT stakeholders understand the handoffs, interactions, and gaps in performing a process. That in turn helps generate discussion to identify how to improve and/or automate the process.
- well documented cross-functional "swimlane" processes puts all the actors on the same stage, and gives them the ability to see the bigger picture of the progress towards the end state or output of the process.
If a process doesn't meet either of these criteria, it is not useful to project teams. Saving Changes...
