Sinking project

I had the opportunity (?) to be closely associated with a sinking project. This project was grossly underestimated by an aggressive manager and architect. Technology combination was unique and not a usual combination.

A team was formed to execute the project. As usual aggressive manager put in a very tight schedule. Unfortunately team was not ready with required knowledge and team did not had the time to get normalized. First blow to the project was architect who had full knowledge of the application and was involved from the very beginning met an accident. At this time top management also realized there is an issue in the project and schedule will not be met.

External people got involved with the project team. Initial recommendation was to scrap the code written till that point, change the design and embrace technology which is proven. This recommendation was shot down somewhere in the management labyrinth. More people got involved and things started getting worse and worse. Everyone was working late. People were not enjoying. An issue fixed will create few more issues. New people refused to join the project. People already present wanted to get out and save themselves.

With lot of effort, headaches, lost faces, loss of reputation and pain for the management and customer finally project was over. Let’s examine four aspects of this story.

How the sinking starts:

It starts by failure to act when

• Someone in team or sales over commits.
• Idea is not practical and you did not highlight it.
•  Not being honest when you give opinions.
• You fail to raise concerns about estimates.

There will be many more reasons for sinking projects. These are the ones I have seen around me.

There is a typical pattern in people’s behavior when a project starts to sink. They start to think:

• We are victims.
• We are hardworking.
• We are in this position since someone else screwed up.
• We are really good at our job, but this one project is going wrong.
• World is unjust towards us.
• Company is Unappreciative towards us.
• Company is Insensitive towards us.
• Company is Inconsiderate towards us.

This is being oblivious to the real problem which is causing the project to drown. Real reason might be anything. But usually people become blind to them. Blame game starts immediately and no one wants to bell the cat with the real reason.

How you sink deeper:

In all the projects which were not going to meet the schedule there is a fool’s hope on the schedule. This works against the goal of completing the project. You can hear people telling you when we finish this task and that one project is over. But these two will not be over soon and there will be many more hidden tasks when come up when these are over.

·         Being in the box takes the project further down into water. But people never realize they are in box. Sometimes management helps by pointing out the box. In some other cases they restrain themselves in bigger boxes.

·         Project manager does only firefighting. This is a indicator of wrong direction.

·         Manager starts dictating deadlines. Team is not given a chance to voice their opinions.

·         All this causes walls to grow thicker.

Symptoms of sinking project:

·         People working long hours. If the team works hard for one week it is fine. But if you need the team working long hours for more than a week then re-plan the schedule and inform everyone. More than a week of long hours burns out people. After that point efficiency goes down so much that 12 hours of work will be worth 4 hours.

·         Team members are not happy with the project anymore. If each and every team member is not happy then it is time to stop and see what is going wrong.

·         When you reach a milestone you feel team is not feeling that they achieved something. Then there is some issue there. Probably you paid too much for achieving the milestone.

·         Manager spending too much time with other stakeholders (customer, top management) than with the team. It is a very good indicator for things are totally wrong.

·         Same issues appear again and again in the project. Don’t try to use a process to fix this. There is a fundamental issue here.

·         Small issues get blown out of proportion. This might be from the customer or from the team. This indicated stakeholders are sensing things are going in the wrong way. This is another indicator for top management to know people in the project are in a box and do not realize it.

·         Team spends lot of time. But there is not enough to show as results. This means project is weighing more than the ship can carry.

How to recover:

When I am telling how to recover I mean how to reach the goal from the point you realize you are sinking. You should not try to recover lost time or money. It will spoil the situation further.

It is the team which delivers a project. If the team is in a box then it is not easy to deliver the results. You need to think of ways to improve team morale.

·         Tell your customer and other stakeholders about the situation. Also tell the same to the team. There will be way to deliver the project which is agreeable and possible. Most projects can be split into two parts and delivered without affecting the customer.

·         Follow strict working hours. If team is spending 12 or more hours per day in office cut it down to strict 8 hours J

·         Encourage team members to take few days off. This will make them happy and results will be better.

·         Start listening to the team. If team is not telling anything then you might be the issue. You will need to build the trust.

·         Don’t try to salvage the work done. IF something is not done right then better to rebuild it.

These are only one aspect of recovery. There are more aspects and more ways to recover. I have seen few teams working 14 hours per day for months. I know many managers will disagree with me about the remedies I suggest. Try them before you dismiss them.