Demonstrating a key indicator of PPM maturity: Project termination

Initial evidence of project portfolio management maturation in organizations is the reduction in accepted projects that often follows the introduction of consistent work intake practices.  Over time, active project prioritization approaches might also evolve from subjective to objective (or at least consistent) methods.  Projects will also start to be completed in a more predictable fashion.

However, the one practice that should occur with some regularity at these organizations but rarely does is project termination.  Put project leaders on the spot and they can probably count on one hand (or one finger) the last time they remember an active project being cancelled in mid-flight.  This is not a surprise – the concept of writing off sunk costs is a well known accounting practice, but the (perceived) fallout from project termination tends to overwhelm rational decision making.  Sometimes, there is the fear that the cancellation of the project translates into a failure on the part of the team or the sponsor.

For organizations that struggle with this, perhaps the best approach is to put projects on hold and re-deploy team members to other active projects or the highest priority project “on deck”, and to defined a fixed duration after which if the project is still not worthy of being resuscitated, it gets terminated.

This approach has some benefits:

• The optics of putting a project “on hold”, especially to enable redeployment of resources to a higher priority project, may be much better than the stigma of termination.
• The opportunity costs of continuing to invest in low value projects are avoided.
• The organization buys itself a cooling off period to ascertain that termination is the right decision, but leaves itself the ability to restart the project at a later date.

To utilize this tactic, a couple of prerequisites exist:

1. Objective, consistent criteria need to be defined and practiced by governance committees for putting a project on ice.
2. A “hibernation” process needs to be developed that will be executed by project leadership – similar to project closure, but with the added flexibility of enabling a potential future restart.

To avoid opportunity costs of your project funnel becoming a tunnel, consistent project termination is needed.  Recognizing that this can often be one of the most difficult steps to achieving PPM maturity, placing projects on hold might help to ease this transition.

The true origin of project management nomenclature

Here’s a (lighter) take on the etymology of some of our common PM terms:

1. Milestone – originally “millstone”.  A large, heavy object used to grind resources that can also be used to defeat a project manager’s attempts to stay afloat.

2. Scope – short form for “endoscope“.  A tool used to look inside a customer’s body to identify what ails them.  Wielding scope  (also known as “scope control”) usually results in discomfort to the customer with monetary gains for the wielder.

3. Budget – from the old French word, Bougette – a purse.  Usually this purse’s strings are welded shut by your project sponsor.

4. Sponsor – the term originally signified an experienced individual that would guide you through a growth initiative such as a twelve-step program.  In recent years, the term has changed in to identify someone that is likely to put you into Alcoholics Anonymous.

5. Issue – The act or an instance of flowing, passing, or giving out.  The key definition to extract from that last sentence is the “the act of passing out” as that is applicable to a project manager that has logged one too many issues.

6. Monte Carlo simulation – Named in honor of the famous casino to warn practitioners that at some level, project planning is the same as gambling – once you think you’ve created a predictable plan for your project, you’ll usually go broke.

7. Critical Chain – The chains that were used to bind rowing slaves to their benches on merchant ships.

8. Progress – A Russian expendable freighter spacecraft.

9. Baseline – an imaginary line or standard by which things are measured or compared.

10. Stakeholders – The assistants that Dr. Helsing employed to hold the implements that were used to eliminate Count Dracula.

Sorry Mulder, with projects, “Trust no one” will usually guarantee failure

An attendee on an agile project management webinar I co-presented last week asked how one can successfully manage projects (agile or otherwise) in an organization that has major trust issues.

After thinking about all the troubled projects I have witnessed or worked on, there is little doubt that there is a correlation between low levels of trust between key project roles and the ultimate success or failure of these projects.  There might be rare situations where the impacts of a lack of trust can be mitigated – for example, crisis projects or those where explicit contractual agreements can be drawn up between players, but in most instances, this issue can be one of the most damaging and yet most challenging to address.

So how can a project manager address this?

The first step is to identify the problem and understand the magnitude of impact.  Trust issues usually manifest themselves through negative communications, CYA-behaviors and body language – all cues that require a good combination of self-awareness and good observation skills.  Tying these behaviors to project issues starts to provide evidence that there is a real problem that needs to be addressed.

At this point, there are a variety of “baby steps” that can be taken to help the project team or organization re-cultivate trust.

1. Team building exercises at regular intervals over the lifetime of the project and not just during initiation.

2. Lead by example – don’t immediately assume that stakeholders or team members are lying to you or “out to get you”.  Only make commitments that you are able to keep.

3. Hold the project organization (team members, customer & stakeholders) accountable to defined & communicated project rules of conduct and engage project sponsorship to support you in this process.

4. Cultivate a sufficiently positive relationship with team members and stakeholders so that if you observe trust-related behaviors, you can (on a one-on-one basis) coach those involved to a more positive approach in the future.

5. Make sure you have a trusted outside observer that can help to keep you “honest” by ensuring that you don’t fall into the “trust trap”.

6. Practice 360 degree recognition – even for those that you or the team might originally have been inclined to distrust.

7. Take the time to ensure that the project organization is aligned with the project’s goals and success criteria – misalignment is a great way to strengthen mistrust.

Organization trust issues can appear like Goliath, but the slingshots of patience & predictability can help to slay this project über-villain.