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Restoring Projects to Peak Performance

December 14, 2009 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Communications Management, Motivation, People Issues, Process of Change Control, Project Management Best Practices, Project Stakeholder Management, Scope Management

Restoring Projects to Peak Performance
By Joanne Wortman

You’ve performed project triage.
You’ve run the required diagnostic tests.
It takes more than a diagnosis to avoid more implementation failures. Now what?

Here are some quick remedies and prescriptions for fixing ailing projects:

Symptom	Diagnosis	Remedy
Sluggish project progress	Project anemia	Transfusion of new resources, including some proven performers from your project SWAT team. If you don’t have a project SWAT team, you’d better call in outside help.
Scope creep	Your project is overweight, in terms of the number of requirements you are trying to implement in phase 1	Your project needs a weight reduction program that segments requirements into manageable iterations. Enforce “portion control” via checkpoints and a strict change control process with appropriate levels of sign-off.
Poor deliverable quality	Inadequate wellness regimen	Time to break out of the status quo: Your project needs a new methodology, better tools, and/or better resources.
Failure to meet stakeholder expecations	Hearing loss	Apparently, the project team is not hearing or understanding what stakeholders are saying. The project needs a hearing aid: a seasoned project leader with good interview, facilitation, and listening skills.
Excessive effort that is out of line with actual progress	Central nervous system disorders	Something is wrong with internal project communication - the brain is not connecting with the heart and muscles of the project team correctly. It could be a personality issue, or a project manager who limits communication to firing off email requests for status updates, or a project meeting format that is burdensome and ineffective. Treatment options include coaching/mentoring, conflict resolution, or a resource transplant.
Demotivated/stressed project team	Mood disorder	Talk therapy: Make sure you understand the differing motivations of each member of your project team. There will be differences by role as well as generational differences. Behavioral modification: Set expectations clearly. Don’t save up all rewards for the end of the project. Encourage high level of commitment throughout with interim celebrations and rewards.

This takes us back to the beginning of the cycle. Periodic triage and interim project health-checks are the best way to make sure your project portfolio will contain fewer implementation failures.

Joanne Wortman, JWortman@edgewater.com, Director of Consulting, Edgewater Technology, Inc.

Joanne Wortman has been leading complex technology projects, M&A integration programs, business process reengineering efforts and change management initiatives for more than a decade. Her work has been published in Buyouts Magazine and at www.vcexperts.com. Ms. Wortman holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Edgewater Technology, Inc. is an innovative technology management consulting firm. We provide a unique blend of specialty IT services by leveraging our proven industry expertise in strategy, technology and enterprise performance management. Headquartered in Wakefield, MA, we go to market by vertical industry and provide our clients with a wide range of business and technology offerings.

Related Articles

• A Better Way to Manage Projects - Guaranteeing Scope, Due Date and Budget Performance
• Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - Introduction
• What Is Critical Performance Indicator?
• What Is Cost Performance Report?
• Eliminating the “Status Quo” in Team Performance

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 and is filed under Communications Management, Motivation, People Issues, Process of Change Control, Project Management Best Practices, Project Stakeholder Management, Scope Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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