The two largest project killers

Two project killers
Martin van Borselaer
© 2010 Whitehorses

Today’s goals
Create awareness
Recognition

Complexity

Deadly combination

My definition of fear
“Fear prohibits us from doing or saying we know what’s right”.

Customer’s fears
Pay too much/receive too little
Bad quality
Wrong requirements
Capability/capacity to change
…

Supplier’s fears
Too much time/costs
Dissatisfied customer
Making mistakes/bad reputation
Scope creep
Demanding too much from employees
…

Project Manager’sfears
Dysfunctional customer
Dysfunctional team
Dysfunctional supplier
Dysfunctional tools
…

Team’s fears
Life/work balance
Making mistakes
…

Underlying fears
Job/income security
Status

Projects know lots of fears
Customer
Supplier
Results?
Project Manager
Team

Exaggerated?
Consciousness
Rationality
Sub consciousness
Emotions

Fear leads to poor decisions

Examples
Fixed price/fixed date/unknown scope
Analysis paralysis
Kill the messenger, ignore the message
Stick to the plan at all costs
Micromanagement
Punish mistakes, no learning
Taking no risks, making no decisions
Operation successful, patient killed
The list is endless…

Solutions…
No culture of heroes and loosers, but …
together

Making mistakes is normal
No mistakes = taking no risks = accomplish nothing
Mistakes are part of the learning process
Don’t punish
Create a culture of learning

Be vulnerable

Transparancy
Yes, we make mistakes
Yes, we’re not perfect
Mistakes are visible
So that we can learn and adapt…
…together

Choose your measurements carefully
You get what you measure
Choose the correct level of measurement
Measurement system should enhance collaboration
Beware of conflicts in interests

Complexity
The past
More production?
More people!

Complexity
Simple is stupid
Smart sells
Solutions are supposed to be complex
The more complex the better

Managers believe in brainpower
Anything can be analyzed and planned
First analysis than plan than act
Follow the plan
Deviation = wrong!

The T-Ford productionmodel
Division of design and labor
First design a process/product, than build
Specialization creates efficiency
We still believe in this model
Project = production process
That’s fine if we build the same system over and over again

Assumption: predicatability
Chaos
Complexity
determines
Predictability
Complexity environment
Complexity
Order
Complexity tools

Complexity is hard to predict
All models are wrong, but some are useful.
(George E. P. Box)
In theory, there is nodifferencebetweentheory and practice. In practice, there is!“
(Chuck Reid)

Productdesign
A project is not a production process, it’s a product design process.
We don’t know what we want
We don’t know how to get there
We need to discover and adapt
We need to prove our assumptions
Collaboration creates knowledgeSpecialization impedes knowledge

Standard method for problem solving
The Deming
problem-solving process

That’s not how it’s used!

The ‘agile’ Demingcircle

Sequential or iteratief

Focus
Sequential
Iterative
Create solution

PRINCE2 against fear
Project Board is accountable
Project Manager is only responsible for the project’s process as agreed on by the Project Board
Known method which gives the Project Board explicit means of control
Tolerances
Management by exception

Scrum against fear
Promise little, create results fast
Uncertainty part of the deal
Team results are more important then individual results
Multi-skilled team
Strong customer collaboration
Mistake? No problem
Plan is a guideline, not written in stone

PRINCE2 against complexity
Manage in stages
Not ‘activity based’ but ‘product based planning’

Scrum against complexity
Simple planning process
Simple analysis process
Incremental product creation/delivery
Prove assumptions by creating software, not by creating a model.

Conclusion
Projects are more successful when the ability to learn is enhanced.
Enhance collaboration
Accept uncertainties
Proceed iteratively in small steps
Create a culture of learning and adapting
Prove assumptions fast

Two main impediments
Fear
Complexity
Recipy for success
Collaboration
Small steps
Learn and adept

The two largest project killers

by Martin van Borselaer on Jul 10, 2010

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