You don’t need an economic downturn to sell the value of project management. But, oh boy, does it ever highlight the difference between the wheat and the chaff!
You would be hard-pressed to find a sector of the economy that is not challenged by the economic upheaval of recent years. While economists and politicians tiptoe around using the dreaded “R” word in recent months, it’s hard to ignore the fact that rumours of “trouble” have been followed by news of restructuring, bankruptcy protection, divestitures and, sometimes the worst case scenario, closings. We see only see a fraction of the issues since it is the “big players” that are newsworthy enough to make the headlines. However, there are smaller, less known companies that are teetering on the brink of disaster or closing their doors every day. You may think that “times of trouble” would be the worse time for any company to buttress their project management competence, but the opposite is true. I’ll take it a step further and say, all companies can benefit from improving their project management capability, even the ones that are doing well!
During challenging times, providing products and/or services to customers in the most efficient and effective way possible, will be the defining factor for those companies that will navigate to the top and continue to flourish, versus those that struggle to stay viable and are often forced to “close shop”. Efficiency and effectiveness is exactly what Project Management brings to the table. Reports published by organizations like PMI, demonstrate that companies, particularly those in crisis, will derive value by improving their project management practice.
“Executives discovered that adhering to project management methods and strategies reduced risks, cut costs and improved success rates—all vital to surviving the economic crisis.”
The Value of Project Management, PMI Whitepaper
Yet, with all the project management processes, tools and techniques available, a majority of projects still fail. This is seen in small companies, large multi-national corporations and across various industries; project management flop is not selective. These failures still continue for a myriad of reasons. The maladies are too numerous to mention but I will highlight some of my picks:
- The mysterious “In-vitro” project illness: Inadequate project oversight, so awareness about the viability and continued feasibility of a project remain a mystery, until it’s too late
- The “dead on arrival” project: Working on a project whose ROI expires before Go-live, thus delivering an end-product that is not used or is no longer needed
- The “failure to launch” project: Employing weak and inconsistent planning processes and techniques which leads to the prevalence of heavy stress, overtime for the project team throughout the project and, more often than not, an inadequate outcome
- The “immature” project: A project that is badly managed during execution, but it still manages to be delivered under the spectre of serious de-scoping. However, once it is delivered it requires gargantuan “life support” efforts to keep it alive
Particularly in the face of economic hardships, common-sense dictates that the benefits of project management capability improvement far outweighs the investment. Improving project management capability brings real value to companies in good times and especially in tough times. This includes:
Effective Use of Time and Money
There are countless project management processes and techniques that provide cost saving opportunities throughout the project life cycle. Having a common methodology provides an arsenal of proven processes, procedures and templates that reduce project start-up times and project team learning curve (time is money). Consider another example; that of scope management. Many projects have resulted in additional effort and costs due to inadequate or missing scope control processes. Not to mention, financial oversight processes that deliver better estimates, budgets and track actual costs, resulting in more predictable financial results.
First Time Quality Attainment
Quality control processes help the project team to understand the quality requirements for the product or service they will deliver. Clearly defined requirements allow the team to use quality assurance tools during design and development to ensure first time quality is achieved. When there is a gap between what is delivered and what is expected by the customer, there is often conflict. Typically, some of the work has to be redone to bridge the gap; this often results in lost credibility (especially for repeat offences) and an increase in time/resource spend.
Issues and Risks Resolution
Cultivating a solid PM practice is an antidote for risks, surprises, changes and other complications. Yes, there may be problems in the project – sometimes they are impossible to avoid. However, there is an assurance that when they occur, they will be managed quickly using project management tools, techniques and approaches. The only thing better than having a solution for a problem, is being able to anticipate it and mitigate it through prevention techniques.
Success Driven by Metrics
Having measures (leading and lagging) that give visibility on project performance, provide guidance for making decisions at the right time in the project lifecycle. This proactive approach supports project efficiency and effectiveness. Furthermore, it gives decision-makers information to determine if the ROI is still valid and, in cases where it makes sense, they can decide to stop, re-scope or cancel a project.
There are so many other ways to extract value from project management. Numerous books, white papers, webinars and articles have been produced on the topic and likely, many project management professionals, CEOs and CIOs have reviewed several of them. If there is still a hesitation to take steps to address PM capability issues because of perceived “overhead costs” consider this:
- Pre-emptive risk management or chaotic, reactive and (sometimes) costly problem resolution?
- Proactive stakeholder management or conflict and confusion?
- Effective project controls or budget, time and scope excesses?
- First-time quality or post implementation “fixes”?
The fact is that projects will continue to be executed, even during these volatile economic times, it just makes sense to do whatever it takes help your organization achieve success!
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