Dealing With Troubled Projects

A quick primer in 8 simple steps

What is a Troubled Project?

Any project can get off track

But a troubled project is…

Consistently off track or

So far off track it’s unlikely to recover

What it feels like

Page 3

The ship is sinking

The world is on fire

And things will never get better

Nobody is happy

Step 1: Don’t panic

Skip the Emotions

Emotions don’t solve problems Facts, reason, and commitment solve them Stay focused

Step 2: Get the Facts

Gather information Be a journalist and ask… Who? What? Where? When? Why? And don’t forget How?

Step 3: Put In to Context

Project problems are a disconnect between

expectations and

reality

Solve problems in context of

explicit expectations

Step 3: Put In to Context

Expectations are explicit if they can be traced to contracts, documentation,

requirements, and scope definition

All other expectations may be implied, based

on beliefs, wants, desires, etc.

Step 4: Fix Problems, Not Symptoms

Troubled projects have symptoms of underlying problems

“The customer is unhappy” Is a symptom

Only fixing the symptoms makes the patient

feel temporarily comfortable

Step 5: Prioritize

Develop the list of problems

the effort to fix Evaluate their impact to the project, and

Imp

act

Effort to fix

high

low

low high

3rd

2nd 1st

Step 5: Prioritize

Fix High Impact and Low Effort problems first

Imp

act

Effort to fix

high

low

low high

• Problem 6

• Problem 5

• Problem 4

4th

• Problem 1

• Problem 2

• Problem 3

Step 6: Bring In the Special Teams (if needed)

When fixing problems, limit the impact on the ongoing project

Use budget from risk contingencies

Step 7: Plan, Execute, and Communicate the solutions

Communicate progress • To customers and stakeholders • Frequent, clear and concise • Fact-based • Transparent • Rebuild trust

Step 8: Analyze Root Cause

If a problem is urgent, perform RCA quickly

(detailed RCA can come later)

Use Why? questioning to get quickly to root cause

Step 8: Simple example Problem: The accountants missed their deadline for filing the month’s accounts for the financial close.

Why did they miss the deadline?

Because they didn’t load the system in time.

Why didn’t they load the system in time?

Because they couldn’t log in.

Why couldn’t they log in?

Because their passwords had been reset.

Why did their passwords get reset?

Because the system has a 90-day automatic password reset policy if passwords are not changed regularly.

Why does the system have a 90-day password renewal policy?

Because of internal information security controls.

Solution: Accountants will reset passwords every 80 days.

And always ensure lessons are learned

“Those who don’t know

history are doomed to

repeat it.” Edmund Burke

• Document findings • Share with other teams • Read lessons from other projects

A focused approach will help

• Identify problem root cause • Build and execute action plan • Rebuild trust with stakeholders

Get through the issues as quickly as possible, to the satisfaction of customers and stakeholders

Eight Steps to Handling Troubled Projects

1. Don’t panic, skip the emotions

2. Get the facts

3. Context, focus on explicit expectations

4. Fix the problem not the symptom

5. Prioritize

6. Bring in the special teams (if needed)

7. Plan and execute the fix, and communicate

8. Perform a Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Connect with me on LinkedIn https://cn.linkedin.com/in/doug-ziemke-a75a023

Doug Ziemke deziemke@gmail.com

Other Publications: Separation of Duties (SOD) is a critical part of business controls yet often goes overlooked or is not implemented effectively. Check out my Pocket Guide to SOD - An Overview and Methodology for an easy 6-step method to putting SOD to work.

Photo credits: barnimages.com, shutterstock.com