We've all seen a project that doesn't deliver what it should (any Boston resident has had a front-row seat at the Big Dig! and let's not even start on the topic of large-scale project failures that have played out on the world's stage....). Bringing the issue to a more personal level, we asked students what made for bad projects. We got some good stories, and a real sense that we all want to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
What might lie behind the project failures the students discussed? Here are some thoughts.
Project failures may be due to
- insufficient commitment/investment on the part of its members
- poor planning/time management that ensures incessant fire-fighting
- goals, deliverables that are too vague
- unclear understanding of the scope (and flexibility within that scope) that the project can/should address
- limited resources, in particular time (fire-fighting, again)
Now, what are the options for addressing these?
We touched on the organizational level (practices, strategy, operations, culture of firms, their business units, and other organizations), discussing how easy it is to get stuck in traps of poor performance in which missteps in one project cascade into others. Such a perspective is valuable because it helps account for the limited impact of one individual's actions. Nelson Repenning's work explaining the persistence of "firefighting" offers a great analysis of how this plays out; see below.
In keeping with the theme of praxis@MIT Sloan, we quickly moved on to look what an individual can do, and in particular at the skills, habits, and practices that might help avoid project failures. Of course. Here are our thoughts:
Skills, habits, and practices that may help avoid project failures
- planning; action planning, project management, and following up
- flexibility to adjust plans as needed (we noted a tension with planning, and discussed that there is probably a dynamic balance at play here, rather than a single ideal combination. We also noted that it's important to be prepared, with data and notes, for the times when the team chooses a more flexible approach)
- conflict resolution skills to address the demotivating, and often unaddressed, conflicts that undermine commitment and action
- team norms and practices that support raising appropriate concerns and that draw in the input and perspective of key stakeholders
- listening and inquiry as part of the last three items
To this, I'd add - a systems perspective and dialog skills that enable the team to understand their project, and the demands it places on the organization, in the context of everything else that's happening.
Some project management resources
Here are a few pointers relevant to the first two skills we discussed: planning and flexibility. We'll cover more in class, of course, but you may want to look at some of this. Information on project management abounds on the web, and many people have already chosen a tool or approach that works for them. If you'd like to explore a few starting points, here are my suggestions:
Scott Berkun's book, The Art of Project Management. He posted a useful excerpt: How to figure out what to do; another chapter is here. Check out his site for more information, including essays.
We'll add to this page and link to others as we go.
Repenning on the persistence of firefighting
Repenning, Nelson P. 2001. Understanding fire fighting in new product development. _Journal of Product Innovation Management_18(5): 285-300.
a powerpoint presentation of the underlying system dynamics
Black, Laura J. and Nelson P. Repenning. 2001. Why firefighting is never enough: preserving high-quality product development. System Dynamics Review. 17(1):33-62.