Insights archive

Working the Critical Path back from the Golf Hole

22 Mar 2012
Posted by Steve Grudgings

I may be breaching golfing etiquette with the term ‘golf hole’ but non-golfers like me will understand!

So, what’s golf got to do with Project Management?

A colleague reflected one day that the difference between professional and amateur golfers was that the former “worked back from the green (yes, that’s what the hole is called) to the tee”, not the reverse. When he explained that his observation was in the context of watching good project managers plan their projects, the penny dropped.

My colleague’s view was that golfers’ objectives are clear and professionals visualise the game in reverse as a basis for achieving the objective. Instead of seeing how far they can smash the ball toward the green, they start at the green and plan where they want to be for their final stroke – and continue this process back to the tee.

In project management, much attention is rightly given to defining the critical path and work breakdown structure (WBS) and Chaucer consultants will invariably work these through to build good plans. The point of the golf metaphor is to concentrate on clarifying our end state and the events preceding it – always more difficult to visualise the future than the present!

Standing by the tee, your perspective on the green is obscured by distance and the complications associated with starting – you won’t lose sight of these by going to the green and planning your campaign from there and the result will be a better balanced plan.

We can overdo the golf metaphor, but you should also think about external factors like weather and wind, and check you have the right equipment for all conditions – just as the Chaucer Way reminds you to do.

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Components of Project Risk

10 Jan 2012
Posted by John Murphy

Most people learn about project risk 'on the job' by taking part in risk identification sessions, then assessing, monitoring and controlling them. If the process is handled correctly, the project will succeed and participants will move on to the next challenge. But before we jump into the mechanics, take a moment to think about what constitutes a risk.

In essence, for a risk to exist two bedfellows need to be present. If either isn't, then there is no risk. So, what are these two key components? Quite simply, they are Uncertainty and Constraint. That's it. If both exist for specific events or to the project as a whole, then you need to instigate an appropriate level of risk management.

That's okay, I hear you say, perhaps we are in an ideal situation and our project isn't exposed to any risk. But again we need to think a little deeper. What exactly do we mean here?

Take the case of no uncertainty. If that was truly the case, we could set precise completion dates, exact expenditure and rigid quality requirements because we'd know exactly how to achieve them. All our unknowns would have disappeared and we'd have total control over all aspects of execution, both internal and external. Does that fit the project you're on? If so, you can relax and know success is assured.

What about no constraints? In this case it doesn't matter what we know or don't know. There is nothing dictating what the ultimate deliverable is so we can take as long as we want, spend whatever it takes and end up with something that will probably perform (of course it doesn't really matter if it doesn't, we can just keep trying). Does that sound more like your situation? If so you can watch the world go by without a care in the world, knowing you can never be brought to book.

Looking at risk in this way demonstrates that being involved in a project that doesn't have risks is virtually impossible. That means that however simple a project seems, look closely at the uncertainty and constraints to identify where you need to focus your management of risk.

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Balancing Project Management Delivery

17 May 2011
Posted by Peter Hamilton

As we claw our way out of the recession, there appears to be a degree of nervousness in the business world in relation to embarking on new projects or at least being able to make the right decisions on the direction for new projects. Any failure could have a greater impact than previously experienced. Doesn't this make it even more important to ensure that any project doesn't falter due to poor delivery, poor project management.

No project should  fall off the tightrope in one direction through bad planning or overbalance and fall in the other direction by hesitating too much by over analysing. A good PMO is surely the key to maintaining balance.

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Project Management in a Dynamic Environment

18 Apr 2011
Posted by Richard Huggins

While we all know, love or hate the structure brought to projects by methodologies such as Prince2, it is often the reality that we are not presented with a neatly packaged up project remit, or have time to set up a disciplined regime in order to deliver that perfect project. Instead, we often find ourselves walking into an environment of uncertainty where dead-lines have already been missed and stakeholders are seeing failure looming large.

In such cases, there is no honeymoon period, no period of grace. One is typically swamped with information overload as you walk through the door for the first time. The harassed project sponsor will brain dump all the issues, typically not in order of priority and once finished look at you expectantly and say "well"?

This is a sink or swim moment.

Pragmatically bring structure to the chaos.

The danger here is in trying to be seen as pro-active and getting caught up in the frenzy; dealing with the problems head-on in a linear fashion. Before you know it, you will get mired in the detail and lose objectivity and value to the client.

On the other hand, there is neither appetite nor time for full-on project disciplines such as formal detailed project plans, meeting minutes, lovingly crafted and coloured issues log and risks register and the like. You have to bring structure to the chaos in a fit-for-purpose and pragmatic way by being both flexible and creative.

However quickly the work needs to be done, the basic building blocks in professional project management are still essential to success, they just need to be implemented with a strong dose of common sense, which everyone can buy into.

Here are some alternative deliverables that can be used. Note that over time, once the initial haste is over, it is wise to move the content of the dynamic project tools to standard ones, thus protecting the information and re-establishing the audit trail and a sense of stability.

Chaucer's experienced consulting resources, using pragmatic Chaucer Way - Project Management Process; offer tried and tested, common sense solutions for client's urgent Change and Project Management needs. As such, our consultants are capable of delivering in the most dynamic and testing of environments. Contact us for further information.

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