Is my project out of control?
I’m afraid that ‘out of control’ projects are so common, that we as project leaders accept them as the norm.
Spending a decade in wireless project management, here are some common symptoms I observed in struggling projects. You can see many of these signs before your first missed milestones. The last sign is more of a lagging indicator:
1. Email overload.
If project work is done primarily over email, your teams run the risk of missing key steps, under-communicating, and losing track of key decisions. There are tools already baked into your MS Suite that can keep your project from drowning in emails. Keep an eye on this one early.
2. Clogged calendars.
If you’re a Senior Executive who’s required to be on a daily invoicing call at 7 pm every day, your project might be out of control (real story!). As issues arise, calls get set up. If issues are allowed to pile up, calendars get blocked and all of a sudden, your whole team is just bouncing from one fire to the next. This is a death spiral.
3. Unclear expectations.
As fire drills take over, the original project expectations can start to fade into the background. What happened to the cycle time standard we had at the project kickoff? If the focus wanes on those key objectives, they’ll just become another fire drill later on that will perpetuate the cycle.
4. Fraying relationships.
Everyone is all smiles at the beginning of a project. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take but a few missed expectations for trust to erode. If you’re getting CC’d on more communications to your project teams, it may be a sign that trust is waning.
5. Burned-out project leaders.
If you’ve been there, you know. Working on a project in a death spiral is a miserable existence! It’s only a matter of time before your best project leaders begin to disengage.
It may feel like your project is struggling, but it’s not too late! You can regain control.
I was once part of a program that failed in its first iteration. Fortunately, we recognized the trajectory and our C-suite green-lit a significant reorganization to regain project control. We put those resources in place, developed a recovery plan alongside our customers, and watched wounds heal!
You can right the ship, and I can leverage my experiences to help you win.
