VeBridge News: 10-5-07

Business Lexington Article - The Common Ingredients for Project Success

By Robin Brockman
Guest writer

You’ve been promoted! The boss has assigned you as Project Lead for the implementation of a new software product in your company. The kick-off meeting is held, the schedule is presented, and key stakeholders outline the project goals along with project value. You begin to realize your assumptions about project goals are way off-base. You discover the scope is much greater than you'd imagined.

As you work against the contract, the team continues to add little bits of functionality until you're behind schedule and over budget. Nobody listens to you, even though you are supposedly in charge. No one understands what you are saying, maybe because you don't have the same understanding of the project requirements, success factors and objectives. Someone important and powerful (like the CEO) “hates” the final solution a week before launch.

This may seem like an extreme case, but in reality, this is not a far stretch from many real-world scenarios.

The 1995 Chaos Report by the Standish Group revealed that a staggering 31 percent of projects will be canceled before they ever get completed. The highest success rate was 34 percent reported in 2002. Further results indicate 53 percent of projects will cost over 189 percent of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs are not measurable, but could easily be in the trillions of dollars in the United States alone.

Attention to the following ten points will give you a much higher probability for success in any project, large or small:

Project management is a must

The Project Management Institute defines project management as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project.

Project management is not just a software tool. Too often companies assign projects to successful people, instead of to a person who has the background or education required to manage a project.

Common sense would lead one to pick a cardiologist over the brain surgeon for a serious arrhythmia. That same common sense would lead a senior manager to select and assign a trained, certified and experienced project management professional to the project in which your company will make a significant investment of time, resources and money. Like the cardiologist, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) has been put to the test and has earned his/her reputation through experience. He or she has the ability to take the knowledge and education and apply intelligence, best practices and a methodical approach to making your project successful.

Sound project management practices should be scaled to fit and then applied to every project, regardless of the size.

Executive support is critical

Where are the sponsors? Beware if your project sponsor is not visible or is not senior. Without the involvement of executive sponsors, projects may lack dedicated resources and will not be embraced as part of the culture. Executives will focus on the areas of the business that are important to them.
Define and document project success criteria

At the end of the day, how will the project be considered successful? Will it be considered successful by meeting all objectives, requirements, budget expectations and time frames? There are countless instances in which projects have been implemented to the letter of the contract, but the customer was not happy. Often we find success criteria are defined from the perspective of each individual team member — all of whom are very different. It is critical to gather all the stakeholders, define the success factors up front and report against them as the project progresses.

Why was the project funded? Clearly define what the company plans to gain from the project, in business terms, by business people. In the end the success should be easily determined and you will be able to explain it in business terms.

Know the document requirements/scope definition

Project objectives must be clearly defined. Requirements should not be ambiguous. Project leaders need to know the difference between customer needs and wants in order to manage them and match them to requirements, and they should always be sure to secure sign off.

Define and involve stakeholders

You must understand who the stakeholders are and their expected level of involvement and influence in the project.

Understand the politics and budget cycles

There are always politics. Successful project managers understand them and understand how to maneuver through them. They also ensure that their projects’ budgets are aligned with company objectives.

Communication is key

Projects rarely fail due to lack of technical competence. Communication breakdowns cause the failures, according to a global study of approximately 10,000 projects at 35 Fortune 500 companies.
Project team members and leaders must speak up, and also learn to say no.. What is the consequence when members keep quiet? Reported statistics indicate more than 65 percent of all projects went over budget, missed the deadline and failed to meet quality or functionality specifications. Additionally, more than 54 percent of the time, team morale was damaged.

Keep track of project checkpoints and reporting

Place all documents under version control, and break the project down into smaller pieces so you can report on successes quickly and often.

Be direct and clear on project failures or shortfalls, defining strategies to get back on track as soon as possible. At the same time, be sure to report on critical success criteria as often as required based on project scope.

There is no “I” in team

Successful project management requires the development of positive and open relationships. Team leaders must know the resources and understand the dedication of time to the project. In addition, project resources must view themselves as critical assets dedicated to the project. Project resources are often doing two jobs, and good leaders will treat them that way and recognize their contribution. They reward performance and actions that they want repeated and recognize these employees for the sacrifices they are making.

Define the decision process

List the decision makers and authority level, define steps in the decision process and establish an approval timeline.

While there are common ingredients associated with every project, the exact recipe is determined as you manage the project. It is through experience, knowledge, tools and education that you are able to fine-tune the ingredients to make your project successful.

By following this simple advice, you can enjoy a successful project characterized by order rather than chaos.

Robin Brockman is a senior project director with VeBridge. She received her PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2005 and is an Enterprise Content Management Practitioner (ecmp).