Although I’m not a great fan of taking concepts from the manufacturing sector and bending them so they can be applied to the IT sector, the idea of “push” versus “pull” processes is one that is worth considering. The concept of push versus pull comes from the field of lean manufacturing and is used to identify who in a chain of manufacturing processes is requesting work to be done. In the factory environment work is broken down into discrete processes which are linked together in a chain. Raw ma...
More
Rickety Retrospectives
Lesson learned: Seek out root-causes of project failures, not just surface symptoms.
Category: Retrospectives / Organizational learning
The following post is a “Lesson Learned” that comes from the analysis of the failed projects documented in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” or from the experiences the editorial team have had working with clients around the world. The post is published here to spark discussion and help individuals and organizations think about what it takes to improve project ...
More
Template Tunnel Vision
Most organizations have templates for creating project proposals, project plans and other project deliverables. There’s no doubt that templates are a useful starting point when creating documentation. They help ensure consistent presentation and in theory, prompt people into thinking through the different issues relating to the project.
Unfortunately, in practice templates sometimes have the opposite effect. Rather than prompting people into thinking, templates sometimes lead to a pattern of ...
More
And “Voila”
Implementing a process improvement initiative within an organization is an activity fraught with difficulty. On paper it sounds easy. Define the new process, document it, publish it, do some training and voila. In practice, most organizations struggle with the “voila” stage.
Of course the problem comes down to culture change. Culture change is the dark place where deeply entrenched patterns of behavior do battle with the concept of change. Unfortunately, in most cases “entrenched patterns” t...
More
Bottom Fed Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Bottom Fed Failure
In brief :
Substandard work at the implementation level results in poor quality deliverables that lead to project failure
Description :
A product is only as good as its implementation and bottom fed failure occurs when the quality of the deliverables being created is allowed t...
More
Transitional Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Transitional Failure
In brief :
Deliverables are created, but the value the project hoped to create is lost due to an ineffective transition into the operational world and a failure to track outcomes
Description :
Rather than creating direct business value many projects create "enabler deliverab...
More
Schedule Pressure Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Schedule Pressure Failure
In brief :
An excessively aggressive schedule results in mistakes being made from which the project never recovers.
Description :
Excessive schedule pressure can cause an otherwise capable team to make mistakes that ultimately end up causing serious damage to a pr...
More
Focal Imbalance Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Focal Imbalance Failure
In brief :
Project team focuses their energies into certain parts of the project while paying insufficient attention to other critical aspects of the project.
Description :
Project success requires all critical aspects of the project be addressed. Failure to address one o...
More
Top Led Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Top Led Failure
In brief :
Strategic blunders by Senior Executives at the start of the project put the project on a course to disaster. Because the flawed decisions were made at the most senior of levels, the problems is never corrected resulting in a project pursuing a path that will eventual...
More
Disconnect Failure
The following entry is part of the Pattern Library. The Pattern Library records the common patterns of behaviours and events that have the potential to lead to project failure.
Pattern name : Disconnect Failure
In brief :
Project loses sight of its overall business objectives and ends up implementing a system that fails to meet the originally intended business objectives.
Description :
Disconnect failures occur when the project's intended business benefits fail to materialize beca...
More