it's a wrap! Close the door behind you ...

This covers the work to wrap up the project either at its end or at premature closure. Obtain confirmation that the Business Case requirements have been met and all deliverables are complete.

Exceptional Project Management – Closure

As a project manager it is easy to become focussed on the goals of the project and emotionally engaged with the team and stakeholders, such that it is tempting to allow the project to continue on to deliver “additional” value. “If only we had a little more time we could achieve so much more…”

If you are a project manager, then it is extremely important that you retain clarity as to your goals and objectives. In almost all cases, this should be the delivery of the project scope, within a specified time period and budget. Allowing a project to “run on”, no matter how good the intention, is a fundamental failure in project governance.
A project is an investment of a company’s resources, in terms of people and money, which needs to have a predictable outcome. The business case is built on the assumption that a certain investment will deliver a specific return. Once a project is completed the organisation may decide to invest further resources to achieve additional outcomes, however this decision needs to be made with a full understanding of the costs and impacts along with the alternative investment opportunities that exist.

So, how then do you ensure your project achieves a graceful and timely completion?

1. Stick to the plan. Keep track of key milestones and ensure everyone on the team stays focussed, especially during the latter stages of the project.
2. Make sure you have a plan…
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Keep reminding the team and key stakeholders of the project’s timeline and budget and how the project is tracking against plan.
4. Keep in mind the Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule). Sometimes, achieving a key portion of a deliverable can achieve most of the desired outcome, so look for opportunities to sign off deliverables and avoid unnecessary effort.

deliver, deliver, deliver

During project execution products/deliverables are usually designed, integrated, tested and delivered. Depending on the nature of the project this would normally be subject to major stage/gated reviews. Regular reports are produced and reviewed describing the status of the project and when applicable financial statements.

Execution is the Key to Success

The conclusion drawn from this data-and a lot more-is that poor execution causes more failures than poor strategies. To many experts, execution is the key to success in the business world today.”

Execution flaws that plague many projects include: Decision latency (slow response); Lack of feedback (assumptions), Unknown inter-dependencies (surprises), and Failure to deliver results (promises made, but not kept).

In an on-going survey of the challenges confronted by project teams in Silicon Valley, the top four have not changed in eight years; they are:

1. Lack of commitment.
2. Defining project scope and managing change
3. Lack of resources
4. Unrealistic schedules.

Given this backdrop, what can a project leader do to deliver predictable results?

First Step

Become a strong advocate for your project. (See No. 1 in this series, “Getting the Resources to Succeed”)

Second Step

Focus on Action, Deliver Results. A project’s “right actions” are contained in the schedule, but they are not what most team members might expect. Right actions are not doing what you know. Right actions are doing what needs to be done. This difference requires, for some, a profound shift in perspective in how to go about achieving project success.

Right actions are defined by the project’s deliverable results (DRs), not by tasks or activities. DRs are the tangible, measurable results that drive the project. Success is measured by counting planned v. actual completed DRs.

When a team member is asked, “Are you done?” what’s the correct answer? (“My DR is done.”) When a project team leader is asked, “Are you done?” what is the correct answer? (“Our DRs are done.”)

Identifying and assigning DRs to team members is the instrument for achieving predictable results in a project.

DRs consist of three elements: a tangible result + action + date.

Examples include: Business case approved (by date); software coding begun/compiled/tested/approved (by date); beta testing completed (by date); contract signed (by date); user manual approved (by date).

Tasks or activities describe individual efforts to produce a DR.

Examples for a user manual (or any document) include: Prepare first draft; submit artwork; review draft with supervisor; meet with (name) to gather requirements/information.

DRs provide the following benefits:

• Context for results by (a) breaking-down requirements into right actions for each team member and between team members; and (b) specifying the tangible, measurable criteria for success
• Ownership and accountability for right actions to measure commitment
• Collaboration and alignment of right actions to complete a specific DR and between interdependent DRs
• Feedback and visibility on right actions across the project
• Better decisions to prioritize right actions and allocate resources to achieve them

The project is a chain of DRs. The project end result is the last DR in the chain.

Third Step

Help others do their DRs.

Fourth Step

Acknowledge others’ successful completion of DRs.

Fifth Step

Do your DRs.

Know more about Project Kickoff and Project Execution Training. Visit us at: www.lsaglobal.com
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The Business Case

Preparing and agreeing the Business Case provides documented reasons and objectives for the project and the justification for undertaking the project, based on the estimated costs of the project, the risks and the expected business benefits. The Business Case must describe the key objectives and requirements, high level schedule and deliverables, major risks, opportunities and issues, budget, responsibilities and resource requirements.

Writing an Unbeatable Business Case

A Project Brief describes what needs to be done. The Project Plan explains how you are going to do it. The Business Case gives the reasons why.
In PRINCE2TM terminology, the Business Case is the ‘driver’ of the project. Senior Project Management review the Business Case before authorising the initiation, and each subsequent stage, of the project. The Business Case is used as a yardstick to measure project progress. Before allowing any change to the Project Plan, the Executive must consider the impact that this change will have on the Business Case.
In other words, without a Business Case, no project would ever get off the ground.
The Business Case justifies the investment of time, money and resources into a project by outlining the benefits that the project will bring. It is made up of eight key sections:
• Reasons
Why is the project necessary?
The reasons you give must conform to corporate/programme strategy. You’d have a hard job convincing a clothing manufacturer that an advertising campaign persuading people to recycle last year’s clothes instead of buying new ones would be an appropriate project to undertake.
Another way of thinking about the reasons for a project is to consider what need the project will address. Is customer satisfaction low? Do your profit margins need a boost? Are you still using the same, snail-paced computers you acquired in 1983?

• Options
What different options are available for addressing the identified need? Why is the option you have chosen (the project) the best of the bunch?
Showing that you have seriously considered all the possibilities will strengthen your Business Case. Providing Senior Management with all the available information will also maximise the chances for somebody to suggest an improvement. It is much better to change your Project Plan now than to watch it all collapse halfway through.
• Benefits
This is where you persuade your audience that your project is worthwhile. Every possible benefit can be considered, tangible and intangible. Just make sure that you justify the benefits that you project.
If your project will increase profit, then present detailed figures as evidence. If the primary benefit is improved customer care or staff efficiency, then explain how this will happen and what the effects will be.
• Risks
What are the main risks to project success? Be frank. Transparency will gain the confidence of Senior Managers and will demonstrate your foresight, realism and capability.
• Cost
The Senior Project Managers need to know the total projected cost before they can authorise the project. Justify each area of expenditure, so that nobody is in any doubt that the budget you have forecast is as accurate as possible.
• Timescale
How long will the project take? Detail the activities and goals of each stage, and explain why the specified length of time is needed.
• Investment Appraisal
This is where you pit the cost and beneits against one another in order to demonstrate once and for all that your project is a worthwhile investment. Before Senior Management can authorise your project, they need to know what they are getting for their money.
The Investment Appraisal, by detailing the costs and benefits over a fixed period of time, is the most direct way of quantifying ‘value for money’.
• Evaluation
Consider your own Business Case in an objective light. What are the strongest and surest benefits that you have promised? Why are they necessary? Why is your project the best way of achieving them?
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Project Kick Off

The scope, plans and resources are refined and/or defined according to the Business Case to ensure successful achievement of the project.  All activities necessary to ensure that the Stakeholder requirements are correctly captured and agreed, properly documented and traced through the project.The key outputs are the planning documentation, system requirements and a Requirements Review.

Project management kick off meetings – what is the point?

I was asked during a meeting with a client what is the point of a project kick off meeting? Apparently, the sponsor (who I was meeting with) was being pressurised by a project manager to hold such a workshop.
I suggested that the project manager should be congratulated for the suggestion.
I explained that the workshop could be two people meeting for 30 minutes to the whole team going away for the week. I went on to suggest that they were essential for the modern day project where speed seems to be of the essence.
This may seem strange; the workshop slows down the project initiation process while at the same time helping to deliver the overall project a lot quicker! How so? Rather than rush in and start to plan the project you have the opportunity of ensuring:
* there is clear understanding to the background of the project
* check that what you have is a project through the development of a business case
* identifying project roles – project board, sponsor, project manager

Of course, the workshop can be used in many different ways and you can have more than one. Some clients have one at the start of each stage of their projects.

I told the client about a project management training course we ran for a specific group of staff. This was a team of 7 people who were delivering a key strategic project and wanted to develop their project management skills.
During the morning of the first day it became obvious that the team were not aware of the background to the project nor what was expected of them in terms of delivery – was it a report or a training programme. There was confusion. The group were able to able to get hold of the sponsor who came along and talked through the project in more detail.
This was the start up workshop. It should have taken place at least two weeks prior but it did not. By asking the sponsor to come along and explain the background the team soon developed a business case, which was agreed by the sponsor. The group were able to use the course to produce a project plan. They arranged a meeting to check that the work done so far was worthwhile and to look at the monitoring and control aspects as they realised they needed sponsor input. They speeded up the project management processes by holding, via the training event a start up workshop.
My client? When I explained all of this the project manager he arranged a date to hold a meeting, and they decided which of the key stakeholders should be invited.
Result? The project manager and sponsor were clear what they needed to achieve. The stakeholders were engaged and understood their role in the project and they had a clear mandate to proceed.
Yes, start up meetings take time to arrange, time to hold but if run successfully make a really significant impact on the project.
Good luck with your next meeting!

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