Top 5 Reasons Projects Fail (Part 3)

Is project success or failure solely the responsibility of the Project Manager? In my opinion the answer is NO. This may surprise some but if we don't have involvement, commitment, and bravery by sponsors of the project more than likely a project will fail. Furthermore organizational leadership must create an environment that supports a project environment. 

"Proper scope definition is critical to project success" this is not some quote from a great project manager, rather text that is straight out of the PMBOK.  It Is the responsibility of the project sponsor to set the scope expectations for a project. Driving to fulfillment of expectations is the function of the project manager.  Problems arise when expectations are not clear or informal.  Conversely if expectations and the method of manging them are to complex or rigid it becomes difficult to manage any requests for change.

Failure to set and manage expectations is certainly a major cause of project failure. The practical ones among us know that the reason project management is difficult is that we really need to keep our project artifacts and techniques flexable enough so that we can produce predictable, professional results while at the same time accommodating any necessary change.

No one said project success was easy, what are your thoughts?

The Role Of A Mentor

A mentor is described as an experienced person, who acts as a confidential helper and guide to another to stimulate professional development and make it more effective. Having a breakfast or lunch meeting once month with somebody who just’ s listen to you toot your own horn and tell you how great you are is not what a mentor does. Furthermore a mentor isn't somebody who likes to talk about how great they are and how you should follow in their path.

In the past when I was searching for a mentor I sat down and made a list of what my expectations for mentor would be. Here is what I came up with:

• Formal relationship not just casual conversations, each meeting should have an agenda and defined message or outcome
• Someone to help me strengthen my weakness
• Someone to help build on my interests
• Someone that has had experiences that challenged them to grow and become a better person

Furthermore, I expect my mentor to look at my total body of work.  In that, I don't believe that you can separate who you are in personal life versus who you are in the professional arena. Your mentor should be working with you develop you as a person. 

What is your mentor relationship like, formal or informal? Do you have defined roles and responsibilities with your mentor? How has a mentor benefited you?

Future Blog: How to find a mentor

10 Books That Have Shaped Me And My Career As a Business Consultant

Often who you are as a person is defined by the knowledge you have and the theory and concepts that you live by.  Over the years I have read many books that have helped define who I am both personally and professionally.  The list below is a sampling of some of my favorites. 



Tell Me How I am Doing - Richard Williams
This books describes the importance of providing feedback to those around you.  Williams explains what can happen when feedback is denied, and then offers step-by-step guidance for making feedback an integral part of all working and personal relationships.

No Man's Land - Doug Tatum
This book does a great job explaining how companies end up in an adolescence stage and what they need to work on to move beyond it.  Tatum enables decision-makers to complete a series of reality checks to measure the effectiveness of their business' market alignment, management competence, business model, and allocation of resources which allows readers to understand how to push through No Man's Land.

Freakanomics - Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
This is not your ordinary economics book.  Instead this book focus's on more real-world issues, like whether reading to your baby will make her a better student and analyzing data from a Chicago drug-dealer.

Who Moved My Cheese - Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard
Change is inevitable and can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective.  This book talks about ways of reacting to change, anticipating change, and letting go of the old.

Common Nonsense - Andy Rooney
I have been watching Rooney on TV since I was a child but this is my first exposure to his writings.  Rooney writes about some fascinating ideas that require reflection over time.  Rooney's stories are short, two the point and entirely his opinion. 

The Accidental Leader - Harvey Robbins
What do you do if you walk into work one day and suddenly you are in charge? Robbins gives a checklist and guidance to be able to get organized and set direction for people to act.

Why Teams Don't Work - Harvey Robbins
This book present the real-life lessons of teamwork that most of us have learned the hard way. The book talks about how teams really are, not how they are supposed to be.

Crucial Conversations - Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Life is full of difficult situations that require not-so-fun conversations with the people around us, at work, school or home. This book will discuss how to handle difficult interpersonal situations with poise and skill.

First Break All The Rules - Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
In this book will explain why exceptional managers select employees for talent, not experience, intelligence, or determination. Effective managers define the right outcomes for people, not the right steps; they focus on developing employee strengths, they find the right fit for employees in the organization.

The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas Stanley & William Danko
Financially successful people choose to do work that is economically rewarding. Rather than spending their money on expensive cars or designer clothing, they choose to save and invest it, focusing on relationships with family and friends.

When Motivational Factors Don't Exist

In most organizations there are traditional motivational factors that exist such as a monetary performance bonus, job title recognition, promotion into a different role, etc. When managing projects a key to success is having motivated project team members.

In my experience when the the standard motivational factors don't exist, you need to get personal with project team members.  You need to find out what motivates each individual on your team and then find how you can create the motivational situation.  Unfortunately, in some instances you just wont' be able to accommodate everyone and that's when other the other skills of a project manager will need to be engaged to ensure the success of your project. 

What do you do when the traditional motivation factors don’t exist on your project?

I have also started a discussion this topic on the Inside Consulting group on LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Project-Manager-Network-1-Group-37888?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

Passion Is Everything

The Leadership of an organization can only do so much. We are all responsible to ourselves for invigorating passion into our line of work. How is passion defined? Passion is when people discover the work that motivates them to achieve their potential by seeking extreme performance improvement. Passion makes our job become more than a mode of income.

Why is passion so significant? Because it drives a questing character that is essential to employee performance as they react to the inevitable unexpected challenges/opportunities in today’s work environments. Passionate workers tend to participate more in the life and growth of an organization. If an organization can create an environment that encourages passionate workers, the organization will surely benefit.

Let's see some passion!

What Is The Million Dollar Question When Implementing Change?

Throughout my career I have been involved in projects that affect people and processes in many different ways. During project initiation the project requestor or manager would talk about all the great things that the project was going to do to benefit the organization. But often there was one thing that was lacking that should have been prior to initiating the project. In my mind that one thing is the million dollar question, “What is going to motivate people to get on board with this project?" If that question has not been answered, then without a doubt there will be an uphill challenge for the project to be successful.

So to sum it up before I start any project and preferably before the project request is submitted for approval from a sponsor or governance team, I always ask the million dollar question.

Should Hope Be Your Strategy For Success

On several occasions I have been in a meeting with clients and/or colleagues who defined their execution plan using the words hope or hopefully .  From my perspective hope really shouldn't be part of your strategy  for success.  Instead, I believe a person should be clearly articulating the objectives, deliverables, scope and change management plan that will be used to execute on the project.  Having an effectively planned strategy will allow a person to deliver a project without using words like hope or hopefully. 

What are your thoughts on hope as a strategy?

You Can't Make Everyone Happy

Several years ago I learned a valuable lesson which is that you can't make everybody happy. Now that doesn't mean that I go through my days looking to disappoint others, rather I know that at the end of the day someone will not be happy with the actions that I have taken or result that I provided them. Personally I have found that if you can go about your day without worrying about the little things you will be more successful in meeting expectations of the big picture.


What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you wake up in the morning knowing that you are going disappoint someone? How do you rest at the end of the day knowing that you may have failed to meet someones expectations?

Employees Are One of Our Top Priorities

Ask any executive of an company what their top priorities are and inevitably you will get a response of employees are top priority. If this is the case, how do we explain the enormous popularity of the comic strip Dilbert and television show The Office, which often tend to mock how companies don't create environments to build or develop employees. Companies will often focus on acquiring the best employees in the marketplace but once they have arrived don't spend much time to continue developing them. Furthermore when it comes to developing in house talent, companies will focus on developing training classes and programs for employees, while those are all fine I don't believe it is enough. From my perspective what companies should be doing is developing environments to enable development. Similarly to the theory of motivation, individuals are motivated by conditions of their environment not by words of encouragement. This motivational environment often leads to employees feeling fulfilled by what they do which drives better performance in the work place.