‘Management’, whoever they are, has finally woken up to the fact that the project is in difficulty.  It’s been in trouble for some time and attempts to fix it haven’t worked.  Somebody, somewhere, decides that Recovery is needed before the project crashes and burns.

Blinkered participants who denied all problems and reacted in anger realise that the bad tidings were not false-news.  While they bask in depression others look at fixing the problem.  If this ‘fix’ is just reorganising then, inevitably, the real problem(s) will not be addressed.

However, acceptance that the project is in dire straits marks the end of the grief cycle. Quick diagnosis for recovery is essential as procrastination is a sure-fire way of wasting money, increasing the risk of successful recovery, and losing people.

Regular Maintenance and Servicing

Projects should have Monitoring and Control.  Typically, there will be a Monthly Progress Report but if this is so voluminous that it defies being read, or so sparse it provides no substance; it won’t be of much use.  Similarly, if there is less than objective reporting there may as well be no reporting.

Should senior management review troubled projects that end up ‘in rehab’ the question must be raised as to whether or not the review is a real assessment or just a back-slapping-ritual-hoping-that-things-will-get-better.  Does that ‘red flag’ on a dashboard really mean ‘stop’ or is there ‘spare time’ so you can “run the red light”; gambling should not be an option for projects in trouble.

Just as a poorly maintained car breaks down, so will a poorly maintained project.

Leading Recovery

Leading recovery requires the bold and inward looking step of taking an objective view of the Project, assessing the issues realistically, and defining the real problem(s) rather than the symptoms.  This is done through candid interviews with the project team, and may include the customer, suppliers and other stakeholders.

Getting people to ‘confess’ to failing or being part of a failure is difficult; ‘leadership’ in this situation is about creating an environment of trust and as General Schwarzkopf said, “the climate must allow people to speak up’.

Planning Recovery

The problems defined may be categorised into the areas of technology, requirements, resources, planning, schedule, and governance.  A plan to address the areas can then be prepared, priorities defined, resources allocated, a time scale developed, and (last but not least), a budget allocated – recovery is a project too.

The reasons as to why the project is being recovered (or abandoned) should also be defined.  The objectives of the recovery must be stated so that the ‘success’ of the recovery be measured.  Success may be also achieved via different ways, and if the objectives are known then these other ways that may present themselves become opportunities to be considered en route.  The road to recovery may not be easy, but it should be signposted.

The derailed project slipped into trouble one day at a time and it’s a fact of life that recovery will be in a similar same vein.  The milestones of the original project that were probably missed will be replaced by inch-stones as the recovery plan is understood, implemented, executed and galvanised.

Executing Recovery

Execution should be lead and managed by a Recovery Team selected from the existing team with appropriate reinforcement.  The team should have an appropriate mix of individuals who can see the big picture, be goal orientated, and be logical, practical, investigative and intuitive.  They should be able to think outside the box and, not least, have tempered optimism, enthusiasm and cheerful obedience.

Recovery is not business as usual but requires conscious change, but where there is change there is resistance.  Project team members may fear a change to their roles, their job security, and their reputations if they are blamed for the problems.

Creating an environment of trust during the analysis of the problem is essential and even more so during execution.  Those who experienced the problems first hand may be of the most value in the recovery process and should not be alienated or allowed to become paranoid.

Reporting on Recovery

Reporting on a project is essential but, as with following a plan blindly, reporting for reporting’s sake may merely give the impression that things are going well.  Over-reporting may even stultify the efforts of the Recovery Team.

Reporting must be focussed and not be a panacea for a (now) overzealous management to be ‘informed’.  Short term targets should be identified and reported against meaningfully in a timely manner; which doesn’t mean every five minutes.

Over-reporting may give the impression of progress but what will be done with such reports – the Recovery Team need some latitude.

Learning from Recovery

The plan for recovery is one for success…who plans for failure?

The project will be put back on its original rails or on a new track to a revised completion but must then be maintained.  The plan may call for abandonment and this too requires planning and implementation, albeit for a funeral than a rebirth.

Recovery is an organisational investment in learning what, when, how and where things went wrong and why things didn’t work so as not to repeat them.  But it’s not all negative, because the things that worked, and worked well, may be identified as “good practice”.  Recovery may also identify management, leadership and governance issues that will impact the organisation and personnel; not just its projects.

Learning is a life long experience and projects provide some of those lessons.  Some lessons may be more difficult, and more expensive than we would like but, perhaps, they are the poignant, well-remembered, and, in hindsight, the most valuable.

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.