A Temporary Endeavour called Project !

Project Definition per se is a temporary endeavour and a journey having a fixed start date and end date. These two dates ensure to make a bold letter statement for the teams, Project Managers , Management and the customer at the same time and any deviation of these dates normally end up in volatile meets and discussions for cost vs revenue, scope creep, delays in product launch, identifying the root cause bottlenecks and sometimes impacting the brand value of the service provider. However there is much beyond these two dates which in any case are pre-decided and mutually agreed and assumed and understood to be adhered to by relevant stakeholders.

This article (Blog) tries to look beyond the two magical dates and the factors impacting the project delivery and its life-cycle taking into consideration the human side of the teams.

Handshake :

One of the earliest but most critical step is partner’s handshake with the customer. The two hands when they meet should have the same strength, equality in power, stand at the same podium level, see an eye to eye with each other and have an aim to form a firm fist to achieve each other’s goal. If one of the hands have weaker agility and ability , the fist of hands can easily turn out in opening the fingers and pointing when the same dates in a beautiful journey called ‘Project’ come across the table for discussions.

Leader and Leadership :

A Leader by its role is a chosen one to drive the project to make sure the milestones on the road have its flags posted as required. Howsoever it might appear to be a very small thin line but the Leader has to notch up few extra miles to go beyond and establish himself in a Leadership role. This transition may not be a Himalayan but for sure is a Herculean task.

Leadership styles have changed over the years. It has neither remained autocratic nor become democratic but has in real sense become pragmatic. Leadership role is a gateway for building teams, trusts, deliverables and bring in that neutrality which forms the basis of any project ownership and holding the project stakeholders together.

As they say Leader without Leadership qualities is like heading a ship without a captain !

I, WE or US Project Teams

Basic thumb rule through which any project team operates is on a simple fundamental, “Whoever is in (the project) is the best”. To take out best out from that one source is the ultimate aim of any project. To make this happen, Leadership has to look and work upon 3 major compartments of any team, ‘I’, ‘WE’ and ‘US’.

The ‘I’s are a bunch of high potential Individual contributors who have the capability to be part of crucial ‘WE’(Independent and close knit teams of partner or customer) but lack capacity to overcome that extra obstacle which sometimes make them obsolete and can impact the project in overall perspective. Unless this ‘I’ and ‘WE’ collaborate to form ‘US’ (high collaboration between partner and customer teams) the project is never going to succeed.

Leadership role forms the crucial part of the ‘US’ initiative.

Communication:

Individual, Group or across the teams, communication is the key. Talking to contributors, sharing the positives, addressing the failures and revisiting milestones at periodic appropriate time keeps the project and those bold lettered dates under control.

Reviewing the scope, Raising an alarm, identifying the bottlenecks as ‘US’ is the most simplistic and ideal approach to keep project on track.

No day is equal and identifying those ‘LOWS’ is necessity for any Project. The ‘LOWS’ could be individual setbacks, technical glitches, funding or in an extreme situation solution failures too. 

However being alert on ‘Mitigation of Risk’ and proactive communication will help reassessing the progress of project in long run. 

Scope and its ‘Delta Ghost’:

Saying ‘NO’ is easier than accepting ‘YES’ and faltering. Scope unless and until documented is a virtual reality and make you traverse a path which was never a destination. When one looks at scope as project, the intensity of creep gets multi-fold with addition of each Delta. No Delta can take place until a thorough ‘Change Management’ process is evaluated and constraint on ‘D’ dates is adhered. Else the ‘Delta Ghost’ shall ensure big-time failure for any project.

Ownership, Closures and Lessons learnt:

‘US’, ’WE’ and ‘I’ sometimes need to be in reverse order as unless ‘I’ am successful ‘WE’ will not succeed and it will be a collective failure for ‘US’. Each individual needs to understand his/her responsibility in the project and work on specifics to ensure timely closure of the milestones attached with each sundry task.

Each phase of the project teaches lessons, good or bad ones. Documentation and mutual acceptance on a formal note is a must to close the milestone which helps look forward for the next achievement of the project.

All in all, any temporary endeavour thy name is ‘PROJECT’ in professional life is a journey wherein group of people come together to achieve certain personal and professional goals, work with a purpose to serve a common cause and enable an organization to be more transparent, robust and Future Ready ! If one understands the purpose of the project, it can turn out to extremely challenging and the same time most fulfilling temporary phase for any individual.

Keep the cause ! Keep the principles ! Keep Delivering Projects !

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P.S. The article (blog) is written in a personal capacity based on the author’s perception having been part of various projects in different capacities and does not point towards any specific project or individual.

Jayawant