What if we did something different?
THOUGHT
Evoker
A mini white brief to trigger thought and discussion.
Your comments, reactions, thoughts, etc. are welcome. We would like to hear from you and share them with
fellow business professionals. You can respond via the blog found on our website – www.HECHTBA.com.
The OASIG Study in 1995 stated “… 7
out of 10 IT projects failed…”. The Standish Group Chaos Report of 1995 found “ …
31.1% of projects would be cancelled before they ever got completed.” A Butler Group Review in 2008 stated “… project failure rates
remain frustratingly high…”. And, the last time The Standish Group released its CHAOS findings in 2006, “…35 percent of projects
were successes, 19 percent were failures and 46 percent were challenged.” *
(* Failure is defined as cancelled or stopped before implementation. Challenged means the project was over
budget, behind schedule, or delivered less that expected capability or quality.)
WOW!! After spending millions of dollars on improving project management, we now can say 6.5
out of 10 projects failed.
“INSANITY: Doing the same thing over and over
and expecting different results.” A. Einstein.
Is this where we are with project management? Improving what we are doing, but essentially doing the same thing over
and over and expecting different results – expecting to succeed? If we wanted to do something different, what could
it be?
Answering the second question is difficult. It requires us to open our minds,
challenge core fundamental beliefs, and be willing to experiment and change.
For example:
HECHT Business Architects
is a consulting and software
company focusing on Strategic
Evolution ttm – a three step
method to realize managed
change that achieves the
strategic
intent
of
your
enterprise. 360o of DONE tm is
the fundamental approach used
in step 3 – Make the desired
changes a reality. For more
information
on
Strategic
Evolution tm or 360o of DONE
tm, you can contact us at
moreinfo@HECHTBA.com.
 What if we discovered that work/effort is a terrible metric to measure real progress?
Could we imagine a project plan that did not have “tasks”?
 What if we discovered that a hierarchical WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) process
produces unrealistic and constraining work plans? Could we accept a different
framework to define projects, work, outcomes, etc.?
 What if we had a collaborative, clear, and comprehensive definition and
understanding of DONE? What would that look like? What would it take to produce
it?
 What if the decision was SCOPE, COST, SCHEDULE – PICK ALL THREE? How
could this be? Is this possible if we applied innovation, creativity, and true
productivity improvement?
 What if we had a clear understanding of failure? What if we spent as much time
insuring we do not fail as we do trying to convince others what we did is success?
 What if we could stop Management & Control of projects and move to Leadership &
Inspiration? Would this make the project experience better for all – stakeholders,
project managers, team members, users, and management? Would this empower us
to produce more, stress less?
It is time to question what we are doing and start doing something
different, not focus on improving what we currently do. It is time to change your
mindset, – it’s time to cross the line.