Project Go-Lives are not what they used to be!

When I was a teenager I was often asked to organize student parties. Somehow I always seemed to be picked out for the one that got things done. In the beginning there was always something that either I, or one of my friends, forgot (apart from the alcohol which always came first). In fact we used to enjoy partying so much that we used to arrange ‘dress rehearsals’ the day before, just to make sure the bottle openers worked, the beer was cool, and the music was loud enough etc.. The problem was, it was often the dress rehearsals that caused many of the issues (beer shortages and neighbors getting upset on the second night etc.).

Looking back, the interesting thing about watching amateurs organize events or projects is that they don’t care too much about forgetting something. My theory for this is that people get a buzz from ‘fixing’ things. Bad planning nearly always results in people having an adrenaline rush of creative thinking in order to solve challenges such as: “where can we find flowers and 50 balloons at this time of night?”

Today, with project methodologies such as PMI, Prince 2 and any other approach that works, good planning and a mitigation strategy take out all the fun of the chaos that is normally associated with Go-Live day. It has been a very long time since I had to play Pizza man at three in the morning!

Why am I writing this blog? 1. Because it is Go-Live day on the first leg of a massive project I am working on and 2. Because it is a testament that having vision, staying focused, setting up objective criteria from which to measure readiness for go-live and surrounding yourself with just the right number and caliber of people, us humans can do just about anything!

Perhaps more interesting than a blog on successful project go-live days, would be a blog on project disasters? So if you some disaster stories, I would be very happy to share them, after all, we learn more from our mistakes than our successes and also it would at least pass the time… until I hear, “Harley, we have a problem…”

Have a good week,

Harley

When is your project ready for go-live?

‘You don’t need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows’, but give the same source data to a number of different weather forecasters and nine days out of ten – you’ll end up with differing predictions (unless, perhaps, you’re living in the Sahara).
Assuming the above is true, then how can we rationally and safely know when a complex project is ready for go-live, especially if the decision to go or not to go, can have a major impact upon the business? As my MBA students know, at the beginning of any project I ask myself three questions:
1. What is the problem we are solving?
2. How will we know when it is solved?
3. How will we measure it?
This is basically a dramatic over simplification of a business case – but they are the three questions that are most overlooked. Hence, early on, I build a slide deck that I will use at the very end of the project at go-live decision making time and again at the end of the evaluation phase.
The answer to the question is that the PM should not make a decision because he, or she, alone does not know exactly when to go live. Instead he guides his Project Board into making a unanimous decision, based upon very specific sign off criteria.
The format of the decision making process should be displayed in a slide deck with one or two slides per measuring point, with a summary slide that covers the whole topic at the end or beginning. An important part of this exercise is that the sign off criteria has to be formulated and agreed way in advance by each member of the Project Board, based upon specialist advice from the experts below each and every one of them.
No one member of the project board is exempt from taking on the ownership of ensuring the well being of the business. This has nothing to do with apportioning blame but everything to do with collective responsibility, involvement and personal commitment.
So when is your project ready for go-live? What criteria do you use – it’s worth thinking about, long before your next crunch time comes!
Have a good week,

Harley

Project Management In One Hour

I need to prepare for a lecture on project management. I have been allocated one hour on the subject. I am giving it to two groups of MBA students that will receive, in total, one and a half days of education on the subject. This might seem rather limited at first, but when you think about it, of all the things you need to learn about in business, perhaps project management is not so important? After all there are so many companies that do not adopt a project management methodology per se and they still seem to survive.

So what should I tell my sudents? I have been advised to bring in as much practical experience as possible. (Anyone one who has attended one my presentations will know that, a lecture from me can only be based on real life and that I am not one for too many theories) ;-)

My first thoughts are to tackle the following questions:

1. Why do we need project management at all?
2. Why do projects so often fail?
3. What is the difference between successful and unsuccessful projects?
4. Why is it that so many projects, even if they do deliver their goals and objectives, still do not deliver real benefit to the company that commissioned them?

The answers to the above questions, to me, seem obvious. But I know from experience that too many managers, even the ones who commission projects regularly, do not dare to tackle the hidden truth that they convey. After all, if you make your living managing whole rafts of projects, it is probably not in your short term career interests to set about cutting out all the useless projects to begin with?

To me projects are a bit like roses: you need to prune them back at least once a year, cutting them right back to the stem. And when you see new projects shooting up from unexpected places, you need to be rigorous and cut them back too. A well defined project that has its roots in good business sense, and that has only one objective to deliver: ‘real value to the client’, is the only project worth making space for. Cut back all the rest that pose the risk of getting in the way or interfering and give the good one all the attention and nourishment you can.

When it comes down to it, only the projects that were rigorously challenged before they were started, and where everyone gave 100% commitment to ensure their success, and were lead by a steering group that were resolute to sticking to the original objectives – are the only projects that turn out to be successful in the long term.

Now if you want to know the detailed answers to my questions above, you have three alternatives: 1. read my book, 2. attend my lecture or 3, wait for two weeks when I may decide to give a resume of the speech in my blog, assuming I have the answers by then!

Have a safe week,

Harley