Define winning?

Winning Definition?

Attainment of object, or of wealth, fame, position, victory, accomplishments, achievement, prosperity, attainment, fruition.

Success in project depends upon who is measuring:

• The customer : The purchaser of the project outcomes or result. This may be internal or external to the organization and represents end users of the outcomes.
• The Sponsor : Individual inside the organization who has accountability for the project. The sponsor drives the project in the right direction to benefit the organization.
• The Project Manager : the individual who has day-today responsibility for project work and is charged with completing this work on time to an agreed budget and cost.
• The Project Team : The people who carry out all the task planned in the project
• The Resource Manager : The department managers who has the direct responsibility for the people who are required to be engaged in the project team to complete the project work. These can be full time, part-time, work on other projects concurrently or dedicated full time to a project for a fixed period.

Watchpoint: Use the reason for project failure as the list of things to avoid.

List the perceived causes of Failure?

1. Poor definition of objectives at the outset.
2. Inability to build a truly cross-functional team
3. Lack of understanding of team member availability and capacity to do the work.
4. Inadequate schedule management leads to schedule creep- elastic schedules.
5. Weak Leadership
6. Lack of Sr. Management commitment
7. Inability to anticipate problems.
8. Poor planning and control
9. Too many uncontrolled changes with consequent scope creep.
10. Resistance to change.
11. Inadequate resources
12. No effective communication process.
13. Assumed knowledge, skill and experience of team members.
14. Confused roles and responsibility – who does what and when?
15. I’ll do it my way- gr because my part is okay.
16. Taking forever to complete the task.
17. Not involving the customer – just tell them when we will finish.

The project process – key steps for winning

Business Strategy: How Strategy and Projects are related.

• Organization Vision
• Business Strategic Objectives
• Business Strategic business planning
  • New Ideas Opportunities → Step change growth → review and priorities → Active Programme/Project Portfolio → business benefits
  • Active Programmes and Projects → Step change growth → review and priorities → Active Programme/Project Portfolio → business benefits
  • Current Operations-> incremental growth → business benefits

The Operating climate for success – key activities

DEFINED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES :

• ALIGNMENT WITH BUSINESS STRATEGY : project and programmes are selected only if they support achieving the business strategy and contributing to business growth. A carefully business case document is essential for supporting the decision.
• FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (Project Funding Budget and cost control): Adequate funding must be available to satisfy the budget of the active projects.
• PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (Active project list, clear priorities, resource deployment)
• FORWARD PLANNING (Business Intelligence reports, market data, risks)
• RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (effective resource planning) : Resource needs to existing commitments must be visible and known and the available capacity t take on more work in the new projects needs to be clear to every one.

Creating this infrastructure ensures all the key players in the organization’s project environment have clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

Important: The relationships in the project environment can only lead to success when there is a clear definition of ownership at each level in the organization with clear roles and responsibilities.

Defined Roles and Responsibilities – The Key Players

For every project, apart from the originator of the idea or opportunity, we need:

• Someone who needs the benefits- company Sr. Management
• someone who wants to use, influence or is affected by the outcome – customer & stakeholders.
• someone who is accountable for achieving the benefits – the sponsor.
• someone who is accountable for the project work – the project manager.
• someone who is responsible for the project work – the project team.
• someone who commits to providing the resources – the line managers.

Together above the whole group creates an infrastructure that is overlaid on a functional hierarchy and their behavior collectively can determine the degree of success that is achievable with all projects.

Influence of organization culture:

• Morale
• mutual trust, support and respect for the decision; openness and integrity – avoiding confrontation.
• risk-taking and optimism – recognition of risk and sharing in the success
• freedom of action -through pride, accountability and participation in decision making
• commitment – a sense of belonging, avoiding confusion with clear responsibilities
• collaboration – shared beliefs, teamwork and mutual assistance, minimizing stress
• training – learn both on and off job.

Important: you must create an appropriate climate to enable your team to achieve success in your project.