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January 2004 This is the third article in a three-part series that discusses successful techniques for assessing the status of a project, determining whether recovery is possible and turning the project around. Part 1 was published in the September 2003 issue of ESI Horizons and covered basic concepts. Part 2, which appeared in the November 2003 issue, defined the charter and discussed how to develop an assessment plan. Part 3 outlines how to develop the recovery plan and how to conduct the recovery.
Developing the Recovery Plan
The main goals of project recovery are:
Considering the Three Major Categories
People
It is also important to clean up any major personnel problems. Original team members who openly display negative attitudes, who perform below expectations or whose skill sets are ill-matched with this particular project should be reassigned or terminated. Although reassignments or terminations may leave some holes, managers need to add any new people carefully, if at all. Sometimes just improving morale and releasing negative employees can increase the productivity of the remaining team members. After the project team becomes more cohesive, the project manager will be able to focus on team members’ time. The manager should ensure that the original project team members pace themselves to prevent burn out and ensure that team morale remains high. Processes and tools
Once these mistakes have been identified, it’s easier to find a solution for fixing the problems plaguing the project. The easiest way to start is to fix the parts of the project and development processes that are obviously broken. Developing a more realistic schedule or creating a more detailed risk management plan may be all the project needs to get back on the right track. The recovery team will create detailed miniature milestones known as “inchstones.” A schedule linked to inchstone completion can then be created. The recovery team will carefully track the recovery schedule once it’s in place. The team will record the reasons for any missed inchstones and recalibrate baselines. Teams shouldn’t commit too quickly to new baselines, however, until meaningful ones can be created. Developing a new risk management plan is also important. More than likely, the original plan was not as detailed as it should have been and may have been part of the problem. The new plan will be more meaningful if stakeholder input is again included in the development process. Product
Some ways to help product-related recovery include:
Choosing a Recovery Strategy Option
Reduce scope
Increase process productivity
Lengthen schedule
Compromise
Sometimes at this stage, the best way to prevent further lost investment of time and money may be to cancel the project. Developing the Recovery Plan
Figure 1: Developing the recovery plan (ESI International)
Hold kickoff meeting
Again, the kickoff meeting is crucial to continue building the extended team that was formed during the assessment phase. Team consistency will ensure proper recovery planning and increase the chance for a successful project recovery. Develop top 10 TOPs
Prepare inchstone plan
Prepare preliminary project plan
Implement control processes
Summarize findings
Conducting the Recovery
Figure 2: Conducting the recovery (ESI International)
Execute inchstone plan
Update inchstone plan
Baseline project plans
Execute baseline plan
Update baseline plan
Hold exit review
Preventing Projects from Getting in Trouble
Getting it right from the start
Although time-consuming, this process is well worth the investment of time. Because the requirements process details expectations and is part of the project schedule, this process will prevent schedule slippage later in the project. A good requirements plan will also yield a better end-product and ensure easier customer acceptance.
Developing the “perfect” team
But, even the happiest employees won’t perform as expected if their skill sets are not well matched with the project. Managers should care-fully select team members whose knowledge closely matches necessary project tasks.
Setting realistic goals
When detailed requirements plans, a realistic schedule and cohesive team are used, successful projects soon follow. Ensuring Successful Recovery
The methodology described in this article is based on ESI’s course Rapid Assessment and Recovery of Troubled Projects.
George Sifri, PMP, has more than 16 years of experience managing IT projects. E-mail Sifri at: gsifri@ieee.org.
References:
Sorensen, Paul G. “Project Planning.” Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta, Department of Computer Science, September 30, 1999. http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~sorenson/cmput401/lectures/ProjPlanning. Submit an Article to ESI Horizons: To
contribute articles to ESI Horizons, contact the Horizons editor
at horizons@esi-intl.com. Also review
our submission
guidelines.
Assessing and Recovering Troubled Projects, Part 3
By George Sifri, PMP
The recovery of a project should be treated like a project in itself. As with any project, a detailed and realistic plan before project launch can help to ensure a successful outcome. Therefore, the assessment and recovery team needs a detailed project plan to ensure a successful final deliverable — project recovery.
The main objective of the recovery plan is to establish a detailed road map that will assist the team in putting the project back on track. This “map” should include processes and tools needed to achieve this goal. During the planning stages, the recovery team should also continue to build confidence and morale among the original project team.
When developing the recovery plan, three areas need to be considered — people, processes and tools, and product. The team will identify classic mistakes for each category and find solutions to these problems. This process should include input from all of the following stakeholders:
According to Paul Sorenson, classic mistakes related to people include:
Any good recovery plan should include a section on restoring the original project team’s morale. Some suggested ways include team-building exercises, lauding any positive aspects discovered during the assessment phase or allowing some “comp” time before the recovery phase launches.
Classic mistakes that Sorenson cites project teams usually make when implementing processes and tools include:
Classic product-related mistakes identified by Sorenson include:
There are four fundamental approaches for recovering a project.
The team can reduce scope by identifying and cutting features low on the stakeholder priority list.
This scope reduction may enable the original project team to finish within time and effort planned.
The second option is to increase process productivity by focusing on short-term improvements.
The third option involves recognizing that the project will not be ready on time. The team will slip the schedule and proceed with damage control.
The fourth, and most preferable, option for recovery involves a little of all three of the above options. By dropping only a few features, increasing productivity as much as possible and slipping the schedule as needed, the project should be back on track.
During the development of the recovery plan, the recovery team will produce the following deliverables:
Figure 1 one shows an overview of the recovery plan development process. The steps are as follows:
Just as during the assessment phase, all stakeholders need to attend the kickoff meeting for developing the recovery plan. Stakeholders may include the sponsor or customer, the recovery team, the project manager, key project team leaders and anyone else upon whom the recovery team may depend.
When developing the top 10 threats, opportunities and problems (TOPs), it’s important that all stakeholders be interviewed to ensure a complete and thorough list.
The detailed inchstone plan should be used frequently to monitor progress and can be modified as necessary.
Since the recovery itself is a project, a project plan will be needed.
Control processes, such as weekly progress reports, will keep the newly recovered project on track.
When the preceding steps have been completed, the recovery team will have a cohesive, workable recovery plan and can move on to the final step of conducting the recovery.
The team can now use the plan to conduct the recovery.
Figure 2 outlines the recovery process and includes the following steps:
It is important to continually monitor inchstone plan execution. Early detection of slippage during this phase can lessen the impact of missed deadlines and help to readjust the inchstone plan as necessary.
In an iterative project management process, the inchstone plan can be continually updated as needed. This close scrutiny of the plan helps to detect problems early and makes recovery easier and more efficient.
Baselining the plan helps to readjust schedule, cost or performance goals.
As with inchstones, the team should continually monitor baseline plan
execution.
Based on the findings, the team should update the plan as necessary to adjust for any slippage.
An exit review helps to pass the newly recovered project off to the original project team for completion. During this time, the recovery team can also close out the recovery project. Closeout should include documenting lessons learned, which can be used for any future troubled projects.
The best way organizations can ensure success is to prevent projects from getting into trouble in the first place. Following are some suggested techniques to help ensure projects meet budgeted costs, forecasted schedules and expected requirements.
The old Army saying, modified slightly, “Proper planning prevents poor performance,” perfectly sums up how to help prevent projects from getting into trouble. One of the best ways to ensure a project meets the triple constraint is to define requirements in detail before the project ever starts. This requirements process should include all stakeholders — project sponsors, customers, end-users — to prevent scope creep, a big reason for troubled projects.
Another, often overlooked, way to ensure more successful projects is to foster a good working environment. Happy employees make productive and enthusiastic team members.
Project managers shouldn’t be afraid to say no. The old adage of “under-promise, over-deliver” works well in a project setting. The schedule and budget should be carefully developed after all available resources have been considered. A detailed risk management plan is also needed.
The development of the recovery plan must focus equally on people, processes and products. Also, the recovery team, as well as the organization as a whole, needs to implement a comprehensive project management information system for tracking and controlling the status of work packages — now and for future projects. Comprehensive recovery plans, commitment to these plans and meticulous control will help ensure successful recovery.
ESI International. Rapid Assessment and Recovery of Troubled Projects. Arlington, VA: ESI International, 2003.
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