Project Management Disasters
Project management disasters are not new. but what can we learn from them?
As early as 1628 when the technologically advanced Swedish Flagship Vasa’s sank on its first sailing killing about 50 sailors. A catalogue of design modifications during building meant that the standard test of stability (30 sailors running from side to side to rock the boat) was canceled because it showed the vessel to be unstable. More recent projects that have suffered similarly include the Mars Climate orbiter (1998) that got lost in space because different parts of the project used imperial measures and another metric measurement. In 2015 SNCF, the French railway company spent $15bn on a new fleet of trains that were too large for the stations they were supposed to service. It turns out that the trains are also too tall to fit through some of the tunnels in the French alps.
Ultimately these failures are due to weaknesses in one or both parts of the project journey i.e.:
- Part 1: Developing the right specification (80% Project Management Art, 20% Project Management Science)
- Part 2: Delivering that specification. (50% Project Managment Art, 50% Project Management Science)
The above failures point to weaknesses in part 1. A journey characterised by uncertainty, the need to collate knowledge, gain insight, engage stakeholders and work with them to make smart choices.
Some traditional project management methods such as Prince2 (Project in Controlled Environments) specifically excludes the Project Management Art of knowledge/creative management, project quality assurance mechanisms and value engineering processes that characterise over 50% of the building blocks of Project Management Success.
Get both parts of the journey right and the gains can be significant. An oil and gas extraction company investing in a floating platform to extract oil and gas from under the Atlantic estimated that the additional output produced by achieving their goal of “flawless operation from day one” was enough to recoup the total capital investment costs in the first year of operation.
Organisations that do this well use a blend the project management Art and Science to avoid common project pitfalls.
Pitfall 1: The Project Scope
Those that don't understand their history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The Art of Project Management
Capital projects fit the definition of what has become known as a wicked problem. That is a problem with many potentially conflicting design goals.
At the start of a project, it is important to spend time defining the outcome needed rather than jumping to a solution too early. We may think that we know what is needed but to use a military term, time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
After committing to an additional spend of £10m on new assets a major supplier to the aerospace industry identified that the additional capacity it needed could have been achieved by spending less than £100k on actions to deal with design weaknesses and improvements to the condition and maintenance of existing plant.
A similar assessment at a soft drinks bottling plant identified the opportunity to avoid capital investment of around £5m.
In both cases, the trigger for the original investment brief was traced back to a knee-jerk investment decision made in haste in response to a shift in market demand.
The Science of Project Management
As any experienced designer will explain, the starting point to unpick such complex problems is to gain an insight into the day to day reality of the current user. Then identify what is it that helps and hinders their efforts to deliver the desired outcome.
The table below sets out 4 techniques to support this assessment.
| Technique |
Purpose |
| Criticality assessment |
An assessment of equipment mechanisms to identify weak components and critical to Safety, reliability, operability, maintainability, Quality and Cost performance |
| Condition appraisal |
Assess if basic conditions are in place, identify sources of accelerated deterioration |
| “Day in the life of” (DILO) |
Codify tacit knowledge about operational conditions and constraints as a trigger for setting standards, defining areas of risk, priorities and checklist points |
| OEE and Life Cycle Cost Analysis |
Analysis of hidden losses and their impact on capital and operational cost drivers. |
Pitfall 2: Project Expectations
Managing cost rather than project value
The Art of Setting Project Expectations
Behavioral research shows that when faced with a choice between options that we have no previous experience of, under pressure our unconscious mind will make a decision by answering a similar but different question. For example, some might select equipment based on purchase price rather than the total value to the organisation. Low capital cost can result in later operational problems which cost more in the long run. The pitfall here is to assume that the specification can be defined in detail at the start of a project.
In reality, every initial project specification is a work in progress. Even specifications for similar projects will differ due to the unique circumstances of different sites and the desire to apply improvements due to lessons learned. Be clear about what decisions need to be taken at each step of the capital project journey and make only those that are necessary to progress to the next milestone. At concept step, we need to select the right type of solution (get the right design) at the high-level design we work with a vendor(s) to get the design right. That is where the detailed plan is defined. The delivery steps will add further detail to how the organisation can deliver the full potential of that solution
Once the desired outcome has been defined (See pitfall 1) set out a stepwise milestone plan with clear expectations for each milestone. Add detail to the path between each milestone as more is learned about the options and a preferred solution is revealed.
Milestone plans include the definition of criteria to confirm that the desired outcome has been achieved before progressing to the next step.
For example, do we have buy-in from all stakeholders to the High-Level Design specification which will be used to develop the ITT (Invitation to Tender) document?
Once past the stage gate, we can then circulate it with confidence. These milestone exit criteria provide project quality assurance framework.
The use of milestone plans provides a framework for project governance to manage the iterative, evolutionary linkages between the people, procedural and process related development activities of part 1 of the project journey.
The Science of Setting Project Expectations
Use Milestone plans to set out the signposts of the project journey.
Start with a preferred concept based on an evaluation of at least 3 options. Add detail to that to create a high-level design which makes clear the benefits sought and the cost justification. Use this to explore what vendors have to offer and what they can provide. Work with the vendor to develop a realistic and achievable project quality plan to:
- Support the identification of skills and resource levels for each supporting activity/task;
- Allow detailed planning to be left as late as possible;
- Simplify progress measurement and reporting;
- Confirm progress.
- Support the milestone planning activity with:
Activity schedules which define what has to be achieved to progress to the next milestone;
- Tasks which set out how the activities will be completed. These are also used to identify skills and resources levels;
- Briefing notes set out guidelines for the aims, approach, and outputs for activities /tasks.
These are techniques are covered as part of the Manufacturing Project Management and Early Equipment Management Courses.
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Pitfall 3: The Project Team Culture
The Art of Project Management
The success of a project depends as much on the project team culture and the teams working relationships with the rest of the organisation as it does on their knowhow. A project manager needs to be able to facilitate this network interaction to deliver the full project potential. Part leader, part teacher and in some cases part social worker.
The Science of Project Management
The process of how team members are inducted to the project has a major impact on the speed and level of their engagement with project goals. The behavioral signposts that mark the steps of this transition are
1.Team member able to understand the task and visualise what needs to be done
2.Team member makes plans to achieve the task
3.Team member implements those plans
The progression from signpost 1 to signpost 2 above, is an important transition. It is not unusual for team members to wait for tasks to be allocated and then later complain that they had nothing to do. Their ability and willingness to make the transition will be influenced by the culture within the project site. Particularly for front line personnel involved in projects for the first time, they need help to move from a directive, defined production environment to one of uncertainty and discovery.
To accelerate this progression, give new team members the opportunity to develop plans or define their role in the team from an outline brief. Once their plan has been developed they have made the behavioral transition from step 1 to 2 above. This sets the foundations of the psychological contract between the team member and the project manager. The project management role is then to help refine the plan and support the delivery of it.
Get the team engagement right and the project management role is transformed from one of policing to one of project leadership. A much more effective and rewarding approach.
Pitfall 4: More Haste, Less Speed
The Art of Project Management
During the normal day to day routine, the direction of information flow is downwards. Those involved in a day to day shop floor reality are the ones who can make or break investment performance. That means opening up channels of upward communication. This includes allowing time and space for reflection for managers and their direct reports on challenges faced, options selected and plans made. Without this outlook, project teams may be working on the wrong tasks or ignoring the areas which are outside of their comfort zone.
The Science of Project Management
The cross functional core team members work best when they provide a communications conduit between the project and the rest of the organisation.
Project war rooms are a great place to do this. Here key project information is visible and the links between issues can me more easily considered. Toyota considers Oobeya (Japanese for big room/project war room) to be the backbone of the Toyota Management System. This is where the project sponsors and project teams meet to carry out develop briefs, carry out design reviews, review progress and agree on actions. Just like in a CSI investigation, a place to look for connections and solve puzzles.
Project Governance benefits of Project War Rooms include:
- Better visibility and engagement
- Improved communication, visibility of plans and workload
- Improved engagement of leaders and teams
- Ease of priority setting
- Greater accountability
- Focussed targets drive team activity and proactive behaviour
- Clarity of metrics and alignment of commercial, operations and technology team goals
- Increase team awareness of parallel work streams
- Better cross functional collaboration
- Quicker problem solving
- Everything to hand
- Problems made visible and shared
- Creates the conditions for innovation and new thinking.
Project Management Training
Find out more about our Project Management Training
Find out more about our Project ManagementTraining for those who want to deliver operational improvement or engineering projects where there is a need to
- Refine existing operations, introduce new assets or systems
- Collate internal knowledge
- Plan, Organise and Control project resources
- Facilitate decision making and project governance
- Guide internal project teams
- Commission new assets and operations
- Engage people with changes in ways of working.
Projects where in addition to traditional project management science, the project manager needs to apply the project management art of leadership, facilitation, and collaboration
FOR FURTHER DETAILS OF OUR NEXT PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING COURSE
