Modelamiento del negocio

Goals of This Chapter

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Identify the characteristics of a failing project

• Know what steps to take to save a failing project

• Explain how to revive a failed project

Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM said, “If you want to be successful, double your failure rate.” The point he was making is that growth comes from learning from your mistakes. As a human being, you can count on the fact that you will make mistakes. You will have projects that fail. You will be given projects that are failing. You have two choices: you can hang your head and walk away; or you can step back, take a deep breath, and figure out how to pull the project back on track.

Projects that fail share some or all of the following characteristics: poor requirements

documentation, inadequate organizational support (in terms of executive sponsorship, money, or resources), poor team management, unrealistic scheduling, and ineffective communication.

This book has addressed each of these issues across the chapters; however, look closely at the interviews in Appendix C. Each company, no matter how large or small, or what industry they serve, expects the project manager to prevent any project from completely failing. The larger the organization, the less tolerant it is of an IT project failure.

As one interviewee noted, there are times when a project manager just cannot do the job. In this situation, it is better to admit the lack of skill and ask for help from the executive sponsor.

Under the same scenario, a different interviewee pointed to the value of using a project

management coach. A third interviewee noted they would replace the project manager on the project and support additional training for the less skilled project manager. Communicating the need for assistance, as soon as it becomes evident the project manager is losing control, is the single, most frequently cited solution to a failing or failed project.

If you conduct an Internet search on the phrase “failed IT projects,” you will find papers and research reports written by universities and large global consulting organizations citing staggering figures on the cost to business of failed infrastructure projects. Dig into the documents and the following items explaining the failures, no matter who conducted the research, bubble to the top:

• Lack of executive engagement

• Project did not fit into the company’s overall business strategy

• Inadequate or incomplete project requirements information

• Poor communication between the project manager and the stakeholders

• Project manager was not certified, operating in a home-grown manner

This close examination of the top reasons IT projects fail illustrates the importance of the beginning processes of a project. Based on this list, three of the top five reasons for failed IT projects are due to improper planning and initial engagement. They fail before they even get started!

A project manager must take the time up front on a project to ensure wide executive support, develop a sound business case for doing the project, and ensure the product or service output requirements are solid.

An effective project manager possesses more than a project management certification and a portfolio of successful projects. A project manager has one of the few roles in a company that interacts with every level inside the organization, as well as with the clients. This person must have a highly refined EQ, or emotional quotient. EQ skills are the soft skills necessary to deal with people. A project manager who is new to a company should work closely with an internal mentor or coach. The mentor will be able to guide the new hire through the idiosyncrasies of the organization. Each company has its own culture with many nuances. Find someone who has been around a period of time and is willing to share this information. The more you know how to work within the company’s culture, the more effective you will be in managing projects for the company.

Common Mistakes in Managing Projects

Over the course of the book, we have addressed common mistakes in managing projects. The following is a list of errors that contribute to project delays and failures. The list is not in order of importance.

The Blame Game

• Thinking an unrealistic schedule should be blamed on management, rather than on the project manager

• Not holding effective meetings, or bothering to ask those who attend meetings if the meetings were effective

• Blaming management for scope creep, requirement changes, and cost overruns Misunderstanding the Tools

• Thinking project management is an optional activity

• Thinking software sold as “project management software” is intended to tell people how to manage projects

• Not using the best communication tools and methods for the stakeholders

• Not using the correct project management software for the scope of the project Not Following the Project Management Process

• Not having a project charter

• Not obtaining broad executive buy-in

• Not using the project charter to remind people about what is the project

• Not having all the key requirements before starting work on the project

• Not keeping the project schedule updated, and not delivering that updated schedule to resource owners

• Not having a WBS for the project

• Failing to involve the entire team in creating the WBS

• Not identifying risks for the project

• Not realizing that time or cost estimates for the project cannot be completed without including the impacts of risk on the project

• Allowing team members to pad their project estimates

• Managing a program as if it was one project instead of many projects

• Not realizing there is a process to project management, and that steps taken early in the project prevent problems later in the project

• Thinking project management activities add time and cost, rather than saving time and cost

• Not having, or not using, records of lessons learned from past projects Lack of Communication Activities

• Not developing a communications management plan

• Not including the stakeholders in project status communications

• Forgetting to include some stakeholders in the project planning and management processes

• Not identifying how each stakeholder wants to be communicated with

• Failing to recognize and reward successes throughout the project

What Steps Should a Project Manager Take When a Project Is in Jeopardy?

• Review the project’s scope requirements compared to the WBS, WBS dictionary, and issue log.

• Meet with the executive sponsor to confirm the business value of the project to the company. The meeting should also include a complete review of the project charter, requirements, and scope documents.

• Meet with the project team and/or specific members who are not performing to learn what the hurdles are to completing work.

• Replace non-performing team members.

• Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more with all of the stakeholders to gather support, assistance, guidance, and additional funding if necessary, to reignite the enthusiasm that was behind the project initially.

• Be explicit with all of the stakeholders about the current state of the project and how it came to be in a state of decline.

• Develop a project recovery plan.

• Conduct a self assessment: Do you have the skills to manage this project? Are you using the right tools for the size and scope of the project? Are you committed and engaged with the project and its stakeholders?

How to Resurrect a Failed Project

Projects fail for a variety of reasons. Some IT projects, however, absolutely must be resurrected and completed. A company cannot let its communication systems be non-operational. Sales order entry must work accurately. Order entry and billing applications absolutely have to be integrated. Companies take on these types of IT projects to improve operations and business process flows. What should a project manager do when handed a business critical project that is being relaunched?

The short answer, start from scratch. Begin at the beginning and treat the project like a brand new project. Meet with the executive sponsor and stakeholders to validate the charter and business case for the project. Expect that the executive may be aggravated at the delays and expense of the project. Go into these meetings with a comprehensive understanding of what went wrong with the first efforts, and with a plan to ensure the relaunch of the project will avoid a similar fate. Expect that the requirements will have changed since the initial launch. Expect that the executives will want more communication and have the project on a tighter rein.

Set up a meeting with the project team members. Setting the tone of this meeting will be critical to achieving useful information. The goal is to understand what was working well in the

execution process and what wasn’t. Be sure everyone provides input into the discussion, exploring one item at a time. At the end of the meeting, offer each member the opportunity to contact you in confidence regarding their level of commitment to the project’s relaunch. A project that is seeing a second coming does not have room for any member that is not wholly committed to its success.

As you take on and move through the project, the three things you need to focus on in almost an exaggerated mode are:

• Effective communication with all of the stakeholders

• Recognition of meeting milestones, exceptional performers, and thought leaders

• Delivering precisely against the project requirements Chapter Summary

Key Concepts

Projects that fail share similar characteristics:

• The top reasons IT projects fail illustrate the importance of the beginning processes of a project

• If a project is failing or has failed, consider restarting the process from scratch to get back on track with a solid foundation

Questions for Discussion

Identify the top reasons IT projects fail.

What are some of the steps a project manager should take to get a failing project back on track?

What steps should be taken to relaunch a failed project?

Action Plan

1. What will you do differently in your real-world project management as a result of reading this