 Reforming Project Management |
||
|
|
||
|
Friday, January 17, 2003
Project Integrity Day Outcomes
Today we were a learning team...we learned more than we accomplished. We only worked for three hours due to the low turnout and the absence of project managers on the calls. I thought I would get a greater response than I did. Oh well, more learning.
We explored where to look and what to look for in project integrity. Mary Poppendiek helped tremendously. The distinctions conceptual integrity and perceived integrity are the what to look for. The Eight Ps are where to look. We were only left with what to do. Our discussion reinforced my perspective that projects occur in conversation. By accessing the conversation of the project we get to work on the issue of integrity. (I'll say more in a coming posting.) For now I'll just report on the plus and deltas from the participants.
I'm convinced this is fertile ground for project management. Participants reported they see out-of-integrity situations on all projects. Keeping integrity seemed to be the challenge. (More to explore here.) Thank you to Greg, Greg, Karla, Mary, Dean, Steve, and Amy for making the learning all possible. Anyone interested in participating in another Project Integrity Day? If I get a good response, I'll do one. Thursday, January 16, 2003
Project Integrity Day is Friday, Jan 17
Am busy right now preparing for Project Integrity Day. If you haven't signed up, it's not too late. Send a blank email to project.integrity.day@getresponse.com. You'll get a quick reply with the call-in Tel #.
We begin promptly at 10:00 AM Eastern Time and then every hour on the hour wrapping up at 2:55 PM. Read some of the previous day's postings to prepare for the event, particularly the note on The Eight Ps of Project Integrity. Hope to meet you on the phone. Participate in Communities of Practice
I subscribe to the following discussion groups. I recommend you do, too. Click on the link to subscribe.
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Training Precedes Project Integrity
Hank Winters, gantthead.com, penned two articles on The Top 10 Reasons Projects Fail (Part One). He identified the top reason as Inadequately trained and/or inexperienced project managers. Surprise...people took exception to that! Read his follow-up in Part Two.
I think Winters is right. Only I will be more specific: projects fail due to neglect. That neglect results in projects drifting out of integrity. Who neglects? Certainly it is the project manager, but why stop there? Most team members are in the position to notice the inconsistency of words and deeds. If they notice, then where are they speaking about it (because we know they are speaking about it)?
We need everyone in a position to notice to take action. This is where I agree with Winters. It is due to poor training that our projects managers and their teams are not noticing the inconsistencies and taking appropriate action. We need to set this as a standard on our projects: We will do those things we say we will do, or we will take action to rectify the situation whenever we stray.Let's use the up-coming Project Integrity Day to learn how to take action. BTW, Tom Mochal at Builder.com offers a different perspective in Project failures are less common than you think. Both authors reference the same Standish Group's findings. In their 1998 report, The Standish Group cited the success rate for that year was only 26 percent. Mochal contends because project schedules and budgets are set arbitrarily and scope changes we need to give ourselves some slack when declaring success or failure. Still, projects do fail and Winters' Top Ten list is a great way to understand why. Monday, January 13, 2003
Reforming Project Management *new*
This is a posting for readers who subscribe by email or get their dose of Reforming Project Management by rss feed. Here are some of the links and features I've added to the weblog:
Blogrolls
Thanks to all of you who rated Reforming Project Management at HOT or NOT?. As of today 62 people gave it an average rating of 9.2 out of 10.0. Many thanks. Leave me a comment at the end of this posting or send me an email with any suggestions, questions, or criticisms. And if you haven't left your rating, please do so. Awhile back I placed a Google It! link at the end of every posting alongside the the commenting link. Clicking on Google It! does a search on the subject of the weblog posting. If I've done a good job with the subject, then you'll find many useful resources. Other times the results are absurd. Oh, well! Try it. Archives are working. That may not be big news for you, but I struggled with it for weeks. With a little help from Ev Williams at Blogger you will now find postings back to the beginning. I'm still working on an archive listing by subject. Join me on this Friday for Project Integrity Day. Send your email today to project.integrity.day@getresponse.com. Let me know if you don't get a quick (less than 15 minute) reply informing you of the telephone number for the call. Knowing or Doing?
Sign-up now for Project Integrity Day by sending a blank email (no subject and no email body) to project.integrity.day@getresponse.com. There is no charge for participating. It is an opportunity for us to learn together.
Projects get into all kinds of trouble. The usual commentary on this speaks to scheduling issues, cost control, changing customer requirements, etc. I have never heard a project manager say, "We got into trouble because we acted inconsistently with our public declarations."Perhaps you've heard people say, It's not what we know that matters...it's what we do. It's not quite true. Remember this: Saying is doing. When our actions are inconsistent with our declarations (statements, promises, standards) we create the setting for cynicism. When we are repeatedly inconsistent the likelihood of cynicism rises dramatically. Projects don't succeed when the project team is cynical. Project Integrity Day is aimed at bringing words and deeds together again reducing the situation for cynicism. To prepare project managers and their teams for participating in Friday's Project Integrity Day I am sending lessons by email during this week. Participants will be using the Eight Ps of Project Integrity to identify where your project consistently has integrity and the opportunities for producing more integrity. Visit the Archives for more postings
|
 Reference Papers
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
