August 2008 - Secrets of New Project Success

Avoid Square Peg in Round Hole

Improving the Process

Four stage process

Benefit of Process

Resources (links, books, articles, the lighter side)

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Secrets of New Project Success

By Baldwin H. Tom, CMC

Avoid Square Peg in Round Hole

"Let’s set up a creative thinking program."

"OK, this should be in HR."

When an organization-wide (cutting across functional groups) initiative is housed (structured) in a business unit without first working through the full aspects of the effort, one often finds the proverbial square peg in round hole problem. The resources are not well matched, personnel do not have the appropriate skill sets, the unit leadership does not have the ideal passion, etc. One then wonders why the initiative does not work out well.

The need to quickly identify a place to house an initiative is very strong because new things are disruptive and known entities more comforting.

When there is an owner, someone becomes responsible to manage the new effort and there is a sense of ‘containing’ the newness. Yet, this should not be the first step taken. Why would one choose one home over another before the effort is clearly defined?

When working on cross cutting initiatives like establishing a creative thinking initiative, the choice of a home may seem clear. "Let’s place it in Human Resources." Until one has defined the nature of the initiative, know how to implement it and who or what might be needed to make it work, providing a structure should be the last thing done, not the first.

Improving the Process

Here is a four stage process that avoids the urge to house a project before its definition. The progression of stages — Goal, Process, Resource and Structure — is particularly important because each provides answers to a logical, sequential set of questions.

What do you want to do?
How are you going to do it?
Who or What do you need to get it done?
How are you going to assure consistency, reproducibility and performance measurement of the efforts?"

Descriptions of each stage are provided in chart form.

STAGE 1	GOAL
*Question*	What do we want to achieve?
*Description*	A common focus helps overcome individual agendas. This must be a shared goal. If there is insufficient time devoted to reaching a shared goal, the effort will not be optimized and the best scenario will be that not all participants will be engaged. Without a shared goal, the worst scenario will be that the entire effort will unwind and be discarded. Note that a shared goal is one that all participants can articulate in ‘their’ way. Hence, if the goal is not clearly stated, it will be a challenge to agree how to proceed.
STAGE 2	PROCESS
*Question*	How are we going to do it?
*Description*	Of all the stages, this may be the most important one. If the process is poorly considered, then the entire effort is at risk. Asking this *how* question, at this point, will focus the group on methods and procedures to be aligned with the goal, purpose, or vision and hold off discussions about what can’t be done because there is a lack of personnel or funds. As the original goal was shared by all participants, completing this stage before considering resources should not be controversial. This stage is critically important if one is building a coalition working on a common cause. Then it will be important to agree on desired behaviors as part of the process that will help offset differences in personal values and organization norms. Decision making considerations must be articulated here as well. Is this by consensus? How is consensus defined? Who represents each group? Building a coalition is a deliberate act and if a key step is missed, it makes the effort more difficult.
STAGE 3	RESOURCE
*Question*	Who or what do we need?
*Description*	This discussion is guided by *who* or *what* is needed to manage or act on the processes/methods. The rubber finally meets the road here because by answering this question one determines whether the in-house talent, experience, or materials/technology is sufficient or not. At this point, if the effort has been conscientious and the goal desirable, there will be strong impetus by participants to consider ways to obtain the needed resources, rather than give up for lack of resources.
STAGE 4	STRUCTURE
*Question*	How are we going to assure reproducibility and performance success?
*Description*	Structure refers to policies and procedures, rules and regulations, and operating norms that provide *guidance* to such efforts. It refers to procedures such as clear, transparent, and consistent means for communications; it refers to the office responsible to manage the project that includes the means for reporting progress. It refers to the necessary administrative hierarchy; it refers to the process to evaluate and measure results; it should also refer to deliberate ways to acknowledge successes – individual and group! The latter is especially important for all participants, regardless of status – employee or volunteer.

Benefit of Process

The first steps taken with this four stage approach allow free thinking that energizes participants because constraints are not called into play until after different options for getting the work done are presented under Process.

When limited funds and other resources constrain the plans under Resource, efforts to find ways to overcome the limitations are greater when there is passion and ownership of the efforts.

In contrast, if constraints are brought into play early in the planning that inhibit expansive thinking, there will be less invested emotional energy to seek ways to find needed resources.

About the author: Baldwin H. Tom, CMC^® Former instructor in Strategic Thinking and Planning for the United Way of America; Past National Chair of the Institute of Management Consultants USA, 2004-2006. Get free management downloads from www.tbgroupconsultants.com (under Publications).
©1999-2008. The Baldwin Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the author.

Internet Resources

The Baldwin Group - www.tbgroupconsultants.com (free management downloads under Publications)
Institute of Management Consultants USA www.imcusa.org
International Council of Management Consulting Institutes www.icmci.org
Secrets of Successful Project Management http://www.processimpact.com/articles/proj_mgmt_tips.html
Successful project management: It's the person, not the process http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,289625,sid92_gci1249505,00.html
Scrum – make a successful project management http://blogs.msdn.com/rjohn/archive/2006/04/07/571153.aspx
Ten steps to successful project management http://familymanlibrarian.com/2008/02/22/ten-steps-to-successful-project-management/
Successful Project Management (Or How to Ruin the Lives of Others for Fun and Profit!) http://www.search.org/conferences/Presentations/Successful%20Project%20Management.ppt
Project Management Tips and Articles http://www.startwright.com/project2.htm
Ten Guaranteed Ways to Screw Up Any Project http://www.michaelgreer.com/screw_up.htm
Ten "foolproof rules for successful project management" http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/tony_collins/2007/06/ten-foolproof-rules-for-succes.html
http://www.e-projectmanagers.com/joomla/ (free project management templates)
Key to Successful Project Management http://generoche.net/blog/2006/09/23/key-to-successful-project-management/
Microsoft Office System Webcast: Successful Project Management in Finance (Level 100)
Successful Project Management is Critical! http://www.pmhut.com/successful-project-management-is-critical
Secrets of Successful Project Management http://www.ddj.com/architect/184415753
The Secret to Successful Project Teams http://www.cio.com/article/193050/The_Secret_to_Successful_Project_Teams
Forming and Implementing a Successful Project Management Office http://www.dmreview.com/issues/2007_47/10000992-1.html
Adaptability: Essential Ingredient for Successful Project Management http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1187
Am I, or Am I Not, Using Scrum? That is the Question. http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/41-am-i-or-am-i-not-using-scrum-that-is-the-question
Glossary of Scrum Terms http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/39-glossary-of-scrum-terms
Coaching Scrum Teams http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/98?class=article#comments_312

Books - Disclosure: We get a small commission for purchases made via links to Amazon.

Successful Project Management. Jack Gido. South-Western College Publishers, 2005. ISBN-10: 0324224281 ISBN-13: 978-0324224283
Agile Project Management with Scrum. Ken Schwaber. Microsoft Press, 2004 ISBN-10: 073561993X ISBN-13: 978-0735619937
Scrappy Project Management: The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces. Kimberly Wiefling. Happy About, 2007. ISBN-10: 1600050514 ISBN-13: 978-1600050510
The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management (Portable MBA Series). Eric Verzuh. Wiley, 2008. ISBN-10: 0470247894 ISBN-13: 978-0470247891

Articles

The Lighter Side

ABC for MBAs (Humor) http://www.abcformbas.com/
Project Management Jokes http://www.visitor-tracking.com/pm-jokes.php
A Compendium of Project Management Humor http://cvr-it.com/PM_Jokes.htm
Clean, Funny Project Management Jokes http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/jokes.asp
Random (Humorous) Thoughts on Information Systems Analysis http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/random_analysis_thoughts.html
Project Management Humor http://www.psgnovelties.com/Project_Management_Humor.html

About our resource links: We do not endorse or agree with all the beliefs in these links. We do keep an open mind about different viewpoints and respect the ability of our readers to decide for themselves what is useful.

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