How Late Can Your Project Be Before You Push The Panic Button?

In my previous post, I discussed this formula for success:

Success = Motivation + Knowledge + Commitment + Perseverance * Action.

Let's assume we are strongly motivated to bring in our project within budget and on schedule. The easiest way to achieve both goals is to just focus on bringing the project in on schedule.  If we can do that, then we will also come in within budget.

Make the commitment with your project team that your project is going to finish on schedule and then take the actions that will facilitate achieving that goal.

This raises a question - how late can a project be before you need to push the "panic button" and take dramatic and remedial action?  Let's say your project is one year in duration, and after the first month the project is a few days behind schedule.  Surely you can catch up.

As we know from experience, work on projects (like climbing mountains) never gets easier with time, only harder.  If you are a few days behind early in the project, then you are going to be weeks or even months late by the end of the project.

So my answer to the question is that your project should be "Not A Day Late".  As the sun sets each day, your project should be on schedule.

How can we possibly achieve this?  Here's one way.

Set the goal with your project team that every activity on the critical path of your project has to come in on schedule and if they find that they are going to miss a target, they need to notify you as early as possible, but no later than 3 pm of the day that the activity will be late.

At that point, this is what I recommend you do.  Immediately call an emergency meeting of the whole team and work out an action plan using all the resources and experience of your team to get that activity back on schedule by the end of the next day.

This may sound dramatic, and it is, but you will only need to do this two or three times, before the objective and importance of coming in on schedule will be very clear to your team and you will find the occurrence of missed targets becomes few and far between.   No-one wants to stay behind, whether for their late activity or for others, so you will find more attention is paid to anticipating issues and addressing them earlier, before they cause activities to be late.

Try this approach out on your project, and let us know how well it worked towards bringing the project in on schedule.

==
If you are interested in learning some good project management best practices and techniques for keeping your project on schedule and within budget, sign up for our recorded APM03 webinar "How To Keep Your Project On Schedule And Within Budget" at www.alphapm.com/webinars.  Our next AlphaPM Project Management Webinar Program starts Tuesday September 4, so this webinar will also be available live at 12 noon EST on Tuesday September 18, 2012.

Success Starts With Motivation

I am often surprised during my project management training workshops, webinars and consulting engagements, to find that there is generally very little real interest in keeping a project on schedule and within budget. 

This is most likely because most project managers and their client and  executive management have become so used to seeing all projects delivered late and over budget, that getting projects in on-time and within budget is not seen as even achievable.

This mindset is untenable.  Unless we at least strive to manage within our budget and schedule, and work to constantly improve our skills and processes to achieve that goal, then we will never break the cycle of bringing in projects late and over budget.

Success in this area all starts with one key ingredient - and that is motivation.  Only once we are fully motivated to do everything in our power to bring in our project successfully, can we succeed.

But unfortunately it is not just the project manager who has to be so motivated.  All project stakeholders, from our clients, to our management and project team have to be similarly motivated and therein lies the challenge.  But we can certainly set the goal and expectation of delivering on time and within budget, make this goal very visible and reinforce it through our plans and actions and through a myriad of project management best practices such as Change Management, Risk Management and establishing Contingency Reserves.

Motivation is only one of four ingredients in the formula for success, albeit a key and very necessary ingredient.  In my next post, I will share the formula and remaining ingredients.

If you are interested in learning some good project management best practices and techniques for keeping your project on schedule and within budget, sign up for our recorded APM03 webinar "How To Keep Your Project On Schedule And Within Budget" at www.alphapm.com/webinars.  Our next AlphaPM Project Management Webinar Program starts Tuesday September 4, so this webinar will also be available live at 12 noon EST on Tuesday September 18, 2012.

The One Most Important Thing

I always start to laugh when I see questions like “What is the one most important thing that a project manager should do to be successful?” posted on sites such as LinkedIn. 

There are hundreds of things that a project manager needs to do on a project, and all can be very important at a particular point in time, depending on the project size, complexity and phase.  So trying to pin down one as the most important thing is surely futile.

However, upon further reflection, I think there is indeed “one most important thing” that a project manager should do, for all projects and at all times, and that is to maintain a strong passion for, focus on and commitment to project goals.

All goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based). 

 

Perhaps the best and most concise example ever of a SMART goal, was the goal set by President Kennedy on May 25, 1961:
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth”.

In spite of the many financial, logistical and technological obstacles encountered, this most ambitious goal was spectacularly and completely achieved with the Apollo 11 mission landing on the moon on July 20 followed by the safe  splashdown of the astronauts on July 24, 1969.

A SMART project goal could be:
“The goal of our (name project) is to deliver the committed functionality by (cutover date) within budget ($$$), so that we may meet (specify the key project objectives) to the complete satisfaction of all our stakeholders.”

Now here’s the scary part. According to studies by The Standish Group, only about one third of all projects are completed successfully.  This tells me that in spite of the generally high levels of expertise, methodologies, tools and technologies applied to projects, we still have a long way to go before we can consistently meet what should be readily  attainable project goals - goals which are usually set by us in the first place.

On any project of significant size today, there are many financial, technological and other obstacles and challenges that impede or prevent project goals from being achieved.  Without a high level of passion, motivation and commitment to project goals by the project manager, it is highly improbable that the project will succeed, no matter what resources, methodologies, tools and techniques are brought to bear on the project. 

 

The project managers who are most likely to achieve the project goals are those who ensure the goals are highly visible in every facet of their project, are passionate and excited about the goals and are highly committed and motivated to achieve them.

Your thoughts?