We have all had projects where the project team is virtually DEAD! The project is in a red status and the path out is not known thus the project team is likely demoralized, fighting among themselves, disorganized, etc. They and the project are DEAD and need resuscitation. So what is the IT equivalent of the defibrillator?
I believe focusing on three main areas to revive the project team:
- Team Composition and Dynamics
- Fix Strategic Process/Methodology Issues
- Regain Momentum on the Project Deliverables
Team Composition and Dynamics
The key element is assessing and understanding the mental state of the project team and address the findings. Are they demoralized, fighting among themselves, lacking key skills on the team? In my experience, the teams are usually behind and beginning to question their own skills and their capability to complete the project. Although this may be true the team lacks key skills or certain individuals are creating an environment that is not conducive to project success (Fire the Bastards from Todd Williams), the situations tend to be multi-dimensional so team composition and dynamics is a beginning point.
In these situations, I bring renewed energy and confidence to the project reassuring the team that we can dig ourselves out of the hole. This is the old school pep talk and is a good beginning. The PM should pay close attention to how the team reacts as not all individuals react positively to the old school pep talk and the approach may need to be more individualized. Also refocus on the future as the past is behind us and all we can control is how we perform from this point forward. We should learn from the mistakes of the past but not dwell on what we did not previously produce but focus on what and how we will produce in the coming weeks.
Todd Williams (@BackFromRed) and I were discussing the last piece of this puzzle is to help them understand the PM is working for them (Does the PM work for the resources?), we are all on the same team and will only succeed as a team. This will provide additional confidence they can succeed from this point. Congratulate them with each new achievement going forward. I will discuss how to implement this in the coming paragraphs. Focus on their individual confidence, team dynamics, and build them up as the project begins to gain momentum.
Fix Strategic Process/Methodology Issues
The reasons for a project going RED are typically at multiple levels and in several different areas. One of those areas may be the strategy, methodology, or processes the project team is following during the project. One project I inherited had 350 critical issues open when I arrived. This was due to the lack of requirements at any level. We were developing a system with extensive business logic but none of the logic was determined ahead of time and it was being determined as each new scenario was uncovered. After six months of trying, we had 2500 issues total, 350 open issues and the business logic was stepping over itself. We had a process issue and needed to define the business logic. After spending two weeks documenting the business logic, it was all working 3 weeks later....
Build strategy is also a typical culprit. I am currently working on a commercial software implementation of an order management and fulfillment system where the customer wants to convert all the configuration data the week before the User Acceptance Test (UAT). This conversion data includes the production stores, distribution centers, delivery vehicles, etc. Essentially all the critical configuration data will be converted and tested only during the UAT. The end users will test if the proper stores are being served by the proper distribution centers and the trucks are serving the right delivery addresses. The major UAT objective and critical business functions will only be reviewed in context during the UAT and not before. This is clearly a flawed strategy. The explanation is the conversion should occur at the end because it changes. PMs should look strategically at the approach to building the system and look for issues such as noted above.
Finally, develop a plan for recovering the project. This plan may include fixing issues such as noted above and other issues noted during the initial analysis. As the plan begins to become clear, involve the project team in the plan before finalizing and include at least some of their feedback. This will reinforce the premise that the PM works for the resources and builds confidence with the team as their concerns are being heard and addressed. This same plan is typically the topic of executive level briefings on the project so serves two purposes.
Gaining/regaining momentum on the project deliverables
Regain the project momentum is needed quickly and even during the timeframe when the other items above are in progress as the customer is typically concerned and needs to see positive results. The first step is to find some deliverable that is easy and quick to produce (i.e. low hanging fruit). This should be a solution component as documents are nice but are not the solution being delivered. I will dedicate a future post to this topic. In the example above where I had 350 open issues, I chose a solution component with only 10 open issues and focused two resources on resolving the issues. The resources sat next to the tester and worked directly together to finalize the solution component. Two days later, the first component was working as reported by the tester. Quick win number 1!
Re-evaluate the current project plan to create small well defined solution components. In the old days, we called them inch pebbles instead of milestones. If it takes more than a week to produce the inch pebble, then break it into a smaller component. In many cases, the size of the solution components can be an issue so staying vigilant with the component size is important until the team and customer confidence has been rebuilt. Establish a reporting mechanism that documents the real progress being made so the renewed momentum is visible on a frequent basis. Having the customer provide the input data is best as it eliminates issues around data accuracy or validity.
The final piece of regaining momentum is to evaluate and identify where all the project issues reside. The PM should interview and collect information from all parties on where they see the issues. This interviewing should be on an informal basis so the interviewees are more likely to open up. This process will also dovetail with the processes and methodology component of resuscitating the team.
By using this three phased approach to resuscitating the project team, the PM dropped into the hole of a DEAD project team has the best opportunity to revive the team, the customer relationship and the project.
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