There are many articles about project failure, troubled projects, and project success. There is also a tendency to desire the ‘top five’ or ‘top ten’ reasons why something unexpected happened in our constant search for brevity.
PROJECT SUCCESS IN THOUGHT BITES
In the same vein there are five well known quotes that give sound advice about projects and their success, failure, or avoiding trouble:
- “Insanity – doing same thing again and again and expecting a different result.” – misattributed to Benjamin Franklin (1705 – 1790)/ Albert Einstein (1879- 1955).
- “The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.” – Ovid (43BC to 17AD)
- “Prior preparation and planning prevents piss poor performance (7Ps).”, possibly every Sergeant Major in the British Army and probably every other army as well.
- “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
- “This report by its very length defends itself against the risk of being read.” Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
So how may these quotes be used as guidance to successful projects, or rather keeping your project out of trouble? So, let’s look at the nuggets of wisdom in each of the above
NOT ADOPTING LESSONS LEARNED – INSANITY?
How often have we used the previous project as a guide for the current project? How often is the project team recruited from other jobs and are they suffering from ‘Last Job Syndrome?’ If their project was a success there is no harm in adopting some of the last project’s processes. The objective lessons learned from earlier projects and requisite changes to an organization’s or individual’s project management knowledge must be instigated or insanity could well be the order of the day.
RISK – CALM SEAS AHEAD?
Shipwrecks happen and if it can go wrong it will. The gung-ho team member sees no risk whilst the risk averse member sees a risk at every turn. Risk assessments need a balanced and pragmatic view rather than opposite ends of the risk spectrum.
PLANNING – THE 7 P’S
Planning, ie the what, why, when, how where and who is critical to success. Action without a plan has been likened to a nightmare and without a well thought out plan, the project is destined for hard times. Even if the plan is not perfect it can be adjusted and amended. The project team needs to be made aware of the plan through effective communication and possibly preparatory training.
MONITORING & CONTROL – AXE SHARPENING
Two hours of ‘work progress’ and six hours of sharpening because a blunt axe will not finish the job in time. When the ‘edge’ has gone off the team or the work is veering off plan, there must be monitoring and control measures in place to get back on track. The potential time and effort it takes needs to be realized from the outset.
EXECUTION – WEIGHTY DOCUMENTS
As part of any project, there is a requirement for varying degrees of documentation and several ‘management plans’ are prescribed as mandatory. However, are the plans so voluminous that they are not read? If so Churchill’s warning is correct and if a plan is not read, not understood and not critiqued, then what is the point of the plan. Less is sometimes more and rambling plans with swathes of theory are often not read, sad but oftentimes true.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Projects are based on people and it is their perception and planning that can make them successful. Objective learning from previous experience, pragmatic risk assessments, planning and preparation, effective monitoring and control, and precise and concise documentation are a great start to the achievement of project success.
Bio:
MBA, MSc DIC, BSc; Chartered Engineer, Chartered Geologist, PMP
Over thirty years’ experience on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro systems, airports, roads, marine works and reclamation, hydropower, tunnels and underground excavations.
Project management; design & construction management; and contract administrative in all project phases from feasibility, planning & design, procurement, implementation, execution and completion on Engineer’s Design and Design & Build schemes.