I shivered in the cold air as I watched Tiger Woods
swing back the golf club, pause for an instant, then uncoil his body to
whip the club round and hit the bright white ball, which flew off into
the grey morning mist. He had been repeating exactly the same shot for
the last twenty minutes, as he prepared for the first round of the Open
Golf Tournament. Each time the ball had followed the same perfect
trajectory. As I was herded by a steward towards the spectator stand, I
began to think, if only I could manage my projects at work with the
same ruthless, repetitive efficiency.
The pro's perfect golf
swings are, in effect, a best practice. In theory, anyone with
reasonable dexterity and physical prowess could be taught the same
sequence of movements. In practise, as any amateur golfer knows, this
is very difficult to do. No matter how much coaching you have, it still
takes enormous dedication to consistently hit the perfect shot.
And
so it is with our project management methods, whether they are Prince2,
the PMI's PMBOK, or any of the other recognised approaches. On initial
inspection the theory looks easy to apply. Prince2, for example, tells
us that our projects should have a controlled start and end, that we
need a business case to justify them and after things have finished we
should review the outcome to see if we have achieved the benefits we
expected. This seems easy to understand, so why is it then that we see
best practice often implemented badly? Why is best practice so hard to
practise?
In my own experience with Prince2 and the PMBOK I have
seen some places really boost project performance by using the methods.
Other places have used them in a way that has not helped at all and
even been detrimental to the outcome. Why should that be? In my opinion
this is because in the former case the organisations have taken into
account key guiding principles in the application of the methodologies.
I think exploring what these are is an important area for project
management. Over the next few paragraphs I have highlighted four points
I have found useful.
One of the first challenges for the project
manager, when implementing the theory, can be the attitude of the
senior management above them. Too often I have seen project management
methodologies disregarded by directors. On reflection this seems
strange; surely senior management want profitable projects that achieve
their aims. Best practice should ensure this happens. The problem is
frustrating for new project managers, but with the benefit of
experience I think it is caused by a lack of understanding within
senior management on how to use these approaches within their
departments. The solution may be to educate them on how the methods can
improve their organisation's project performance.
A good start is
to arrange a short training session with the senior managers involved.
Obviously they do not need to be taught the whole method. But they do
need to understand when their involvement is needed, what information
they should expect to see and what are their responsibilities. They
also need to "buy in" to the best practice, so part of this session
should focus on how the approach will help the project run smoothly and
how they can control things without the need for a lot of their time.
So guideline number one is:
ENSURE SENIOR MANAGEMENT UNDERSTANDING AND INVOLVEMENT
One
of the other major challenges with Prince2 is its complexity: the
manual is four hundred and forty pages long and this is typical of many
of the methodologies. I am a Prince2 trainer and during a week long
course I see the pain on the delegates faces as they realise how much
they have to know to pass the exam. During the five days most of them
do gain a good understanding of how to apply the theory but the problem
really occurs when they get back to work. Within several months the
information, unless used immediately and rigorously, is gradually
forgotten or confused.
Making sure that those using the
methodology have the opportunity for regular coaching is critical. Nick
Faldo would not dream of having a week's training on his golf swing and
then have no follow-up coaching. Most of the top golf professionals
will have daily instruction. Daily Prince2 courses might be a bit much,
but scheduling in regular sessions can be of enormous benefit,
especially when they allow project managers to talk through the
difficulties they might be having in applying the methods.
So guideline number two is:
REGULAR COACHING ON HOW TO USE THE BEST PRACTICE
Many
of the people working on the project will not have done any training at
all in the best practice. Indeed it is usually only the project
managers who will have been taught. Team members, who do not know why
the approach is being used, particularly if they are only a small part
of a large project, can view the method as an irritating overhead on
their time. They may question why they have to fill out all these forms
or produce these reports and stop doing them.
So we need some
tailored training for all those who will work within the methodology.
This does not have to be a big event. It might be just a half hour chat
with a handout. Also people are much more likely to do something if
they are motivated by self-interest, so we should show them how they
will benefit from using the approach. So guideline number three is:
TAILORED TRAINING AND SELLING OF THE BENEFITS TO ALL THOSE WHO WILL BE WORKING WITHIN THE BEST PRACTICE FRAMEWORK
Perhaps
one of the biggest misunderstandings of best practice approaches is the
fact that they can be flexed depending on the situation. An example of
this confusion is when, on a small project, reams of management
documentation are produced and people are constantly going to
interminably long meetings. What many organisations fail to count is
the cost of actually implementing the method itself.
Think back
to the golf analogy: if Nick Faldo were playing in a friendly match,
each time he played a shot he would probably make a quick estimate of
which club to use and bang, the ball would be next to the hole.
However, take the same shot if he was playing in the Open. Firstly the
caddy takes out a sheet of statistics showing what clubs Faldo has used
here before, they look at the course map for an estimate of the
distance to the hole, Faldo picks up some grass and throws it up to
estimate the wind strength and direction and so on until eventually the
process produces a club selection. Then Faldo makes a practise swing
and finally hits the ball. The risks and benefits are higher, so the
best practice is applied to the full.
So the key here is to apply
the best practice to the extent that makes sense for the situation. Be
flexible in your approach and understand how the method can be tailored
to the size, complexity and importance of the project.
So the last guideline is:
ALLOW FLEXIBILITY IN HOW THE BEST PRACTICE IS APPLIED
For
me following these simple guidelines has helped to take the theory of
best practices and use them pragmatically to make a significant
contribution to projects. Gary Player once said about golf, "Its funny
the harder I practise, the luckier I get". Well maybe the more best
practice we can implement into our projects the luckier we can become
as project managers!
David Hinde is a recognised expert in management and leadership development. He is a member of the PMI, a Prince2 accredited trainer and carries out Project Coaching with Organisations such as Citi, the British Army and the BBC. He founded Orgtopia in 2003. This article can be reprinted royalty free without the author's permission - however please include this bio with the html links.
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