FACTORS THAT MAKE FOR PROJECT

SUCCESS OR FAILURE

Fundamentals
1. The management should recognize that project mgt authority conflicts exist and
have to be resolved.

2. Match right people and right jobs.

3. Allow adequate time and effort for layouts. Project groundwork and work
definition.

Work breakdown structure

New Work Planning

4. Ensure that work packages are the proper size.

Manageable in size

Realistic in terms of effort and time

5. Establish and use planning and control systems to

Know where you are going

Know when you have gotten there

6. Be sure information flow is realistic communication pitfalls are a large

contributor to project difficulties.

7. Be willing to replan and do

Change in inevitable

8. Tie together responsibility, performance and rewards

(key to motivation)
9. Long before project end, plan for its end with managers to

a. Disposition of personnel

b. Disposition of resources

c. Transfer of knowledge (records)

d. Close out of workorders

e. Final payments

GENERALLY DESIRABLE

1. That project manager has right to select key project members

2. That key members have a proven track record in their fields

3. A sense of mission and commitment is present

4. Good relationship is maintained between clients, team members, top mgt

5. Have key members involved in decision making and problem solving

6. Have backup strategies to deal with possible problems

7. Have an appropriate structure in place

(Flat & Flexible)

8. That project manager goes beyond formal authority to influence his teams
actions and decisions being made

9. Stress the importance Of meeting the goals

10. Keep changes under control

11. Project manager ensures job security and acts as a buffer for effective project
team members.

12. Avoid over optimism

 SOME MAJOR CAUSES OF PROJECT FAILURE

1. Doing a project that does not have a sound basis, forcing a change when time
is not appropriate

2. Selecting the wrong person as project manager not a doer

3. Unsupportive Top Mgr.

4. Inadequately defined tasks (Overlap, not adequately, wrongly assigned, etc.)

Poor estimating

5. An adequate planning and control system in place to maintain proper balance

between cost, schedule and technical performance

6. Doing more than is required by contract

7. Project termination not formally planned so that its impact is not defined

Decision Making - A Critical Success Factor

Decisions drive projects. There is a decision to proceed that makes a project a project.
There are decisions regarding requirements, the choice of resources, design approach,
and various other issues. Decision making is a critical success factor.
Ways To Make Decisions
There are three primary ways to make a decision in a group, by authority, by majority
(or plurality), and by consensus. Compromise, conflict avoidance and assertiveness,
dialog, debate and facilitation are techniques used in the decision making process. The
art of decision making calls for the practical application of these in an approach that
depends on the needs of the situation. There is no absolute one best way.
Consensus decisions are those made when everyone in the group agrees to a single
outcome. The outcome may not be everyone’s favorite decision but everyone agrees
that it satisfies the objective. Consensus decisions arise out of dialog and debate that
engages people with divergent ideas, common objectives and constraints. They
converge on a decision that satisfies their common objective within the constraints.
Consensus decisions can be good, bad or anywhere in between. Bad ones are likely
when the group is overly homogeneous or when members do not act upon their
responsibilities to be actively engaged in the process. Consensus implies open
mindedness and a willingness to let go of attachment to one's own idea and accept the
ideas of others with objectivity. When this is missing, there can be a consensus around
an ineffective decision.
Majority decisions are those made when more than half the participants are in favor of
an outcome. In the realm of projects and organizations, there is a problem with
majority rule. Majority rule leaves a minority that may not be sufficiently bought into
the decision to motivate their best efforts to actualize it. Further, there is little or no
correlation between the number of people in favor of an idea and the worth of the
idea. There are many examples of large majorities favoring an idea that turns out to be
truly horrible, even after a small minority made a point to show its weaknesses and
offer more effective alternatives. While majority rule may be an effective base for
governing, it is in need of moderation to protect minorities from the tyranny of the
majority.
Authority decisions are made based on the power of an individual or small group. The
authority figure can make the decision because he or she is the authority figure.
Authority decisions can run the gamut from very good to very bad, depending on the
intelligence and skill of the authority figure. Impatient, ego-centric, fearful and
unintelligent authority figures will make decisions that are far less effective than the
decision of any of their subordinates. Well informed, intuitive and intelligent authority
figures can make highly effective decisions. They often hold back on their decisions
to allow for some degree of open discussion by subordinates and to collect the
information required to make the right decision.
Factors Influencing The Approach
Applying situational management principles to decision making we see that the
decision approach is influenced by factors such as the time available to make the
decision, the "style" of the decision makers, the desire for broad group buy-in and the
criticality of the decision.
The approach that works best is often one that combines techniques. For example, if
the decision is one that must be made by a particular point in time, decision makers
are often most effective when they shoot for consensus and then fall back on authority
decision making when time runs out or it becomes clear that the consensus building
process is not going to be fruitful. Votes can be taken along the way to assess the
degree to which there is agreement or disagreement among the decision making
group.
What Is A Good Decision?
Decisions are made to drive action. A decision made but not acted upon is useless.
Is a decision made and implemented in a way that fails to achieve the objectives that
underlie the decision, a poor decision? Arguably, a well made decision can be
considered a "good" decision even if the outcome does not meet objectives. In other
words, the operation can be a success even if the patient dies.
Rather than using the term "good" decision, I prefer "well made" decision. A well
made decision is one that integrates all the right tools and techniques, makes use of
the available knowledge, is based upon intelligent analysis, includes effective use of
intuition and subjectivity, and engages the right people in the right way and at the
right time. The outcome of the application of the decision is another issue. Decisions
are made based on assumptions. The assumptions are necessary because the outcome
is in the future and therefore uncertain.
So, a decision to move ahead with a project to create a new product may be a well
made decision but the product may be a total failure because the market place changed
in a way that the decision makers could not have anticipated.
What if the decision makers could have anticipated the change, had they taken the
time to do a little more research or had they involved other people with a broader
range of knowledge or ideas? Then the decision would be poorly made.
Decision Making Factors
Decision making requires patience, objectivity, method and intelligence.
Patience is needed to overcome the desire to get the decision making over with and
eliminate uncertainty. Patience allows us to sit with uncertainty and accept it. It is said
that it is wise to postpone a decision as long as possible to allow the time to discover
as much about the decision content as possible. It is particularly important to exercise
patience when faced with a decision that must be made within a time constraint.
Patience in this case does not imply taking all the time in the world. It means being
clever enough to not be driven by the deadline to the extent that there is unskillful
rushing. Patience implies using the time available as effectively as possible, avoiding
analysis paralysis, avoiding the panic and the rushing it leads to that deadlines often
bring.
Objectivity is needed to clear one’s mind of the emotional attachment to an idea
because one owns it. A person might own an idea because it is his or because it
belongs to someone who is considered to be an expert. Objectivity requires
questioning everything. If after questioning and assessing it is found that the idea is
worthy, then act on it. It is not the source of the idea that has to be worthy, it is the
idea itself.
Objectivity implies not being driven by greed, ignorance, and anger.
Objectivity also implies the kind of pragmatism that enables decision makers to accept
less than perfect outcomes. Spoiling the good enough for the perfect is a common
barrier to effective decisions. It is an objective pragmatism that allows decision
makers to recognize practical realities and make them part of the decision criteria. For
example, can the decision be implemented in the real world environment, given its
politics and capacity for change?
Interestingly, being objective enables a decision maker to use his intuition. Gut feel is
as much a part of making an effective decision as the results of analysis. The objective
decision maker understands how to balance the two.
Method combines techniques like facilitation, dialogue, debate, negotiation, research
and analysis. For group decisions, communication techniques are the most critical.
Facilitation brings out information creates a space for the decision makers and their
supporting subject matter experts to exchange facts and opinions. Other techniques
enable the decision team to navigate within the space to determine the outcome.
Intelligence has two meanings. One is about the information required to make an
effective decision. The other is the ability to acquire and use knowledge and
experience. Both are required for effective decision making. Without the right
information, even the most intelligent people will make poor decisions. Without the
ability to acquire and synthesize the information at hand, decisions will be poor even
with huge amounts of the right information.
When we combine patience, objectivity, method and intelligence we have the factors
that make for an effective decision. Effective decisions are a critical success factor for
successful projects. Optimal performance in this critical competency is to be
cultivated through an acknowledgement of the need, training, recognition and
emulation of effective decision making and the implementation of formal processes.