73.6% of statistics are made up on the spot and if conveyed with sufficient confidence are believed by 90% of the population.  Some sources advise that 70% of all projects fail, 42% of companies don’t understand the importance of project management, 55% of managers cite budget overrun as a reason for failure, and 62% of ‘successful’ projects had supportive sponsors. This means that less than 19% of projects had supportive sponsors which is yet another example of the Pareto Effect with 80% of the reason for project failure being due to unsupportive Project Sponsors…or is it that they are unaware.

Many of us will know of that comedic but all too true project life cycle of wild enthusiasm, followed by disillusionment, panic, search for the guilty, punishment of the innocent, praise for the non-involved and, eventually, realisation of requirements.  This life cycle can be short or long, but the effects can be costly for some and, oftentimes, everybody.  The longer the time for the lifecycle to play out the more costly things will become in terms of delayed completion, acceleration, some form of dispute, and the grief of failure and economic loss.

Project progress is measured in terms of money and value and these become our magic management marker; overruns mean a loss for somebody and ‘failure’ for others.  Overruns occur for many reasons: ill defined scope; scope creep, inadequate (optimistic) estimates, overpromising, uncontrolled change, market forces, inflation, naive assumptions, poorly managed or insufficient resources…the list goes on.  Another budget-bandit is unproductive time and a failure of the Project management team to realise that despite being busy, project management busyness may not to contribute to real progress…but why?

Project Players

Projects aren’t business as usual, but they are about people who, as a team need to be formed and normalised to perform.  People need to get to know each other as well as the project and storms can quickly, and all too easily result as personalities, opinions, experience, and styles clash.  Eventually, and hopefully the ‘team’ will develop, with or without the original planned people to form an optimal amalgam.

There is also the greater view of a ‘team’ which considers contributing parties and stakeholders who all contribute to project delivery.  Projects are not meant to be conflicts with friend and foe and all parties need to win for a success.  Of course, if there is failure, we see disputes arise and that idealistic goal of ‘everyone’s a winner’ does not always hold true.

Altercations can and do arise early in a project.  These tend to be put to one side under the guise of early teething problems or being part of some hypothetical ‘learning curve’, or even an ‘extended honeymoon’.  The ‘storm’ of team development is avoided under the feigned familiarity of friendship so as not to cause conflict (at least not in the short term), but contempt can be the unfortunate result as one party subjugates another who find it easier to acquiesce and be covert passive aggressive rather than overtly constructively confrontational.

Key dates, Milestones and Deadlines

While these dramas play out the project clock keeps ticking…“Time and tide wait for no man” is also so true of projects.  Key dates, deadlines, deliverables, and milestones that were once a dim and distant object on a faraway horizon now loom into focus and quickly become overwhelmingly close.  The author Douglas Adams liked the noise that deadlines made as they rushed by but after their silent wake there will be a cacophony of angry outbursts as associated dramas unfold in their aftermath.

And rush by they do. Often without fanfare but accompanied by a deafening silence as those responsible suck air and gird their loins for the post deadline fallout.  For those who are about to attacked for failing they adopt either a defensive or offensive mode.  The gung-ho project manager(s) will shout and bang the table, not so innocent bystanders will vociferously blame others, and those on the periphery will attempt to divorce themselves even further from any involvement.

However, for the keen observer they will see that those who are genuinely accountable keep their head down and, through stealth and under a Teflon overcoat, avoid the firing line.  But in any event such conflict and positioning wastes further precious time unless criticism is constructive and the project modus operandi changes, or at least improves and project managers realise that the key dates etc are part of a plan and not the be all and end all.

As saying goes “fail to plan, plan to fail’ but, and despite a plethora of project management plans many project proponents often forget Eisenhower’s sage words that “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything”.  They also disregard Steven Covey’s Second Habit – “Begin with the End in Mind” and the need to work backwards to the beginning and identify when things are needed, how they will be done. and by whom.

The Beginning

“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step” goes the Chinese proverb and as with any step forward it should be idiomatically on the right, rather than the wrong foot.  When it comes to starting a project, we again have people.  And people, like projects are unique with different experiences, attitudes, perceptions, and styles.

People may well have come from other projects at various stages through its life cycle.  Some may have left during execution or after initiation or planning.  Others will have seen testing and commissioning and handover.  All come with their own view of how a project should be executed and the startup, for many, may be a dim and distant memory or even a complete unknown.

As the philosopher Aristotle observed, “well begun is half done” and if a project doesn’t commence well a team’s formation and performance could well be marred from its outset.  People hark back to their last project and their perception of lessons learned can become endless monologues of ‘I told you so’.  War stories of past projects and what should have been done are swapped and precious time is wasted under the guise of ‘progress meetings’. It’s easier to reminisce and provide historical rhetoric rather than take courageous positive steps and initiate the action required to establish geography.

Action or Procrastination

“Actions speak louder than words”. But how often is time spent in endless meetings where ideas are exchanged, and participants hold court as they take centre stage and recount their past experiences.  Rather than add value such practice demonstrates the Parkinson’s Law of Triviality, as with the inevitability of Murphy’s Law, is alive and well but is treated with indifference and naivety.

Rather than commence works to a definitive plan of action, or road map, or action plan that oftentimes difficult first ‘right’ step is not taken.  This is particularly so if there are “doubting Thomas’” as opposed to “encouraging leaders”.  It’s also difficult if the planned ‘right foot’ is different the one that started the last job even if it wasn’t the success that was hoped for.  Changing feet can be difficult even when one knows that the using the last ‘right foot’ is most likely wrong.

“Doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result” is one definition of insanity.  Endless speeches may convince people to believe that ‘tried and trusted’ will work even though “it didn’t” and in the harsh light that “it wasn’t”.  But in environments where there’s a view of ‘my way’ or the ‘highway’ it’s easier for people to go with the flow rather than rock the boat.  In these circumstances the endless words and speeches and lobbying to impose project execution further waste that most precious project commodity, time.  The noise and ‘buzz’ from the actions that should happen will be deafening in their silence.

Surprise?!

One day, and despite many of the Project Team realising the truth, the Senior Management / Project Sponsor team will finally wake up to reality.  A few early deadlines may have been late, but then there’s time to mitigate these, isn’t there?  However, the real revelation is that no real progress has occurred and the Time For completion is at risk but, most significant will be cash flow and payments or rather lack thereof.  Flatline EV curves quickly result in intensive care but when the Project had an early headache a couple of timely Paracetamol could have been more effective.

The ensuing dramas result in anger, blame and periodic shoutings.  Every crisis is then met with same level of importance and teams who are exposed to shoutings and sense of humour quickly become immunised and desensitized.  We should remember that barking dogs that never bite are akin to empty vessels that make most noise. Raised voices and table thumping may attract attention but such behaviour detracts from the real matter at hand, namely recognising that the project is in delay and fixing it.

Effort will have been spent on attempting to shove the square peg of a preferred approach into the round hole of what a project needs.  Endless tirades of complaints coupled with monologues as to what should be done rather than what must be done is so easily construed as progress.  People try to convince themselves as to their correctness, and with such convictions their egos grow.  Toxicity and bullying can quickly result, and conflicting ideas are overruled as heresy.  Participants keep their heads down in an act of self-preservation and time is spent being seen to be busy rather than carrying out the business of project management:

project management without managing the project is a waste of effort.

and suddenly we realise all too late that nothing has really happened except for a compendium of Minutes of Meeting and frustration on all sides…and yet some still act surprised!

Bio:

Malcolm Peart is an UK Chartered Engineer & Chartered Geologist with over thirty-five years’ international experience in multicultural environments on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro, hydro, airports, tunnels, roads and bridges. Skills include project management, contract administration & procurement, and design & construction management skills as Client, Consultant, and Contractor.