The Project Management Advisor: 18 Major Project Screw-Ups, and How to Cut Them off at the Pass

193 Pages·2004·4.91 MB·English

by  Lonnie Pacelli

The Project
Management Advisor:
18 Major Project
Screw-ups, and How to Cut
Them off at the Pass
Lonnie Pacelli
PEARSON EDUCATION, INC.
The Project
Management Advisor:
18 Major Project
Screw-ups, and How to
Cut Them off at the Pass
Lonnie Pacelli
PRENTICE HALL
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Contents at a Glance
Preface
Acknowledgements
Screw-up #1 – We weren’t addressing the right problem
Screw-up #2—We designed the wrong thing
Screw-up #3—We used the wrong technology
Screw-up #4—We didn’t design a good project schedule
Screw-up #5—We didn’t have the right sponsorship
Screw-up #6—The team didn’t gel
Screw-up #7—We didn’t involve the right people
Screw-up #8—We didn’t communicate what we were doing
Screw-up #9—We didn’t pay attention to project risks and
management issues
Screw-up #10—The project cost much more than expected
Screw-up #11—We didn’t understand and report progress
against the plan
Screw-up #12—We tried to do too much
Screw-up #13—We didn’t do enough testing
Screw-up #14—We weren’t effective at training the customer
Screw-up #15—We didn’t pull the plug on the project when we
should have
Screw-up #16—We tripped at the finish line
Screw-up #17—The vendor didn’t deliver
Screw-up #18—We had no fallback position in case the
product failed
Wrapping It Up…
iii
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Screw-up #1 We weren’t addressing
the right problem 1
HOW IT HAPPENS 2
There’s a poorly articulated mission statement 2
There’s an inconsistent understanding of
what the problem is 3
It’s a problem but there are bigger fish to fry 4
WARNING SIGNS 5
You are having difficulty getting a sponsor
for your project 5
The project team is confused about what
problem the project is trying to address 5
It is difficult to keep the project team focused
on solving the problem 5
TURNING IT AROUND 6
Keep your mission statement prominently displayed 6
Adjust the mission if the problem changes 6
Put it on hold 6
TAKE AWAYS 7
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Screw-up #2 We Designed the Wrong Thing 9
HOW IT HAPPENS 10
The project isn’t scoped correctly 10
The customer is not adequately involved
in the design process 13
The project team was under pressure to start doing
“real work,”such as implementing the design 14
Something is lost in interpretation between
requirements and design 15
A bad process is automated to do something
bad faster 16
There is a poor or non-existent design
change process 17
WARNING SIGNS 18
There’s no “voice of the customer”on the project 18
The project team customers can’t see beyond
how things are done today 18
The customers are continually confused as to how
they’re going to do their job under the new design 19
The new design keeps changing late into the project 19
The customers lose interest in the project and
stop participating 19
TURNING THINGS AROUND 19
Right-size customer involvement 19
Listen to the customer 20
Slow down or stop the project to ensure that
the design is going to meet business needs 20
Keep true to your scope 20
TAKE AWAYS 21
Screw-up #3 We Used the Wrong Technology 23
HOW IT HAPPENS 24
The technology is not time tested 24
The technology does not meet the business
functionality need 25
v
There are inexperienced people working with
the technology 26
The technology isn’t able to handle the volumes
of the business 26
WARNING SIGNS 27
The technology keeps failing during your project 27
You hear “it’s in the next release”too much 27
Your customers keep complaining about
the technology 27
Your project team members who are responsible
for the technology are taking longer than expected
to fix problems 27
TURNING IT AROUND 28
Test the technology until you’re comfortable
it’s going to work 28
Get the right skills to work on and develop
the technology 28
Stop while it’s still containable 28
TAKE AWAYS 29
Screw-up #4 We Didn’t Design a Good
Project Schedule 31
HOW IT HAPPENS 32
The project schedule was either too detailed
or not detailed enough 32
The project schedule doesn’t correctly address
dependencies between tasks 34
The project duration is too long 34
Some of the tasks doesn’t produce useful
deliverables 35
The team doesn’t understand the plan 35
WARNING SIGNS 36
Tasks aren’t getting done on time 36
Tasks assigned to “the team”or some other group
of people aren’t getting done 36
Team members aren’t aware that they are
supposed to be working on a task 36
vi
Team members are confused as to what they
are supposed to produce for a task 36
TURNING IT AROUND 37
Get real with the schedule, and fast 37
Do focused reviews with team members 37
Keep dependencies simple 37
Highlight tasks that are due in the next 1-2 weeks 38
TAKE AWAYS 38
Screw-up #5 We Didn’t Have the Right
Sponsorship 39
HOW IT HAPPENS 42
The project sponsor is either too high or too
low in the organization 42
The project sponsor is being inundated with
issues that could be resolved by a steering
committee 42
You make the project sponsor work too hard to
try to understand your project 43
You don’t tell the project sponsor what you need 44
You meet either too much or not enough with your
project sponsor 44
WARNING SIGNS 45
You don’t have an identified project sponsor 45
You can’t get the project sponsor’s attention 45
Your project sponsor doesn’t help you with
management issues 45
TURNING THINGS AROUND 46
Make sure that your project sponsor is
current and engaged 46
Clarify your project sponsor’s expectations 46
Right-size your time with your
project sponsor 46
Tell your project sponsor explicitly what you need
for the project to succeed 46
Strongly consider stopping the project 47
TAKE AWAYS 47
vii
Screw-up #6 The Team Didn’t Gel 49
HOW IT HAPPENS 50
There is not a clear project organization
with clearly defined roles 50
The team finger points and fights in public 51
There is no “rallying cry” 52
Team members aren’t held accountable for delivery 53
The project manager isn’t suited for the job 54
The team doesn’t celebrate wins 55
WARNING SIGNS 55
The team shows confusion about who is doing what 55
Discussions are destructive and unproductive 56
Team members aren’t helping each other 56
TURNING IT AROUND 56
Clarify the confusion 56
Address the problem team member 56
Co-locate the team 57
Go out for a milkshake 57
All work and no play… 57
Be the unifier 57
TAKE AWAYS 58
Screw-up #7 We Didn’t Involve the Right People59
HOW IT HAPPENS 61
There is not clear definition on who the customer is 61
Others who could help with specific issues on
the project aren’t utilized 61
The people who can torpedo a project aren’t
identified and managed 62
WARNING SIGNS 62
You’re getting a lot of questions from other
stakeholder groups on what you’re doing 62
Uninvited stakeholders start showing up at
project meetings 63
Project issues are taking longer than expected
to resolve 63
viii