Foundational project management and problem solving
“A Project is a problem scheduled for solution” – Joseph M. Juran
Many companies I have been a part of struggle with project management. Management is always asking for status reports and faster completion. Project managers often are learning how to manage the project as they go (as projects are often seen as a “stretch” or growth opportunity). Project sponsors often aren’t aware of their role to help and mentor. As a result, projects flounder, teams get frustrated, or what gets released in the end has little value relative to the investment in money and people power. The good news is, there is a very easy way to implement methods, tools, and language that can help 1 project and scale to reporting on hundreds of projects. First, we need to methodically unpack what’s happening, why, and what to do next.
Diagnose the problem
Often, projects are led by subject matter experts rather than full time, professional project managers. Without a simple and clear set of methods, tools, and language, it’s easy to get lost or frustrated.
I’ll share a story to illustrate. One of my first project sponsors asked me to “build a Gantt chart” for my project. So, I went to our IT department and downloaded Microsoft Project and started typing lines. I built what I thought was a well-organized plan with the best dates and tasks I thought were left. The response during my next status update “where are the milestones?” I was crushed! I learned I actually had no idea what “show me the Gantt” chart means as there was really no clear language. And I had spent a full week building something that didn’t help the project move forward: it was pure administration (and therefore waste!).
Sound familiar? In short, the value of the project or problem you’re solving is the delivery of a solution that a customer values. Any time spent on administration, while necessary, isn’t adding value to the solution itself. The problem is therefore not recognizing this truth and getting lost and frustrated with project administration rather than focus on getting to the desired results.
The underlying cause
So why does this happen? In my experience, there are typically no practical company standards or project management standard work practices. Even more challenging is the myriad of options to solve problems that exist between Lean, Six Sigma, project management certifications, Agile, and other homespun corporate methods. More specifically, the following questions are typically addressed independently without clear connection.
How do I start the project?
There are many philosophies here: project charters and Agile stories being the most common. In this case, both are valid. Standard work is the key – don’t let your teams guess.
How do I run and report on the project?
Weekly slide decks? Monthly status report emails? Scheduled Phase gate or chief engineer reviews? Oh my… There is nothing worse than trying to collate all the work the team has done (typically in emails and whiteboard pictures) the night before a surprise request for a project update.
Prognosis and course of action
Many of us have been a part of a floundering project. There are many reasons for why it happens. The easiest fix is providing a simple and scalable method for your project leads where the low-effort administration is designed to enable project success and provide essentially free reporting. When the methods, tools, and language are interconnected, you can focus on driving project outcomes and can minimize administration.
Standard phase language: Where is the project at? Are we developing the scope? Do we have a committed team? Everyone in the company should be able to know what projects are in process just by knowing the phase.
Standard and easy to use tools: Most projects need a charter, a description of the work and its decomposition, and a simple status update slide
Scalable reporting based on the tools and language: As soon as you have project #2 in your pipeline, you need to be able to prioritize. A simple set of charts can do this with the tools and language in place
In around 4 hours, we can help your business put the foundations in place to solve your most important problems. Contact us today!