Barriers to project success - an exercise in found data

I love 'found data'. It's the inadvertent information that gets shared and can reveal something deeper about the world we live in. My annual Christmas card audits (the ACCAs) are an example. It's almost as good as 'found art'.

Some art I found previously...

This found data was from a project management course that I completed this month (June 2022). There were nine students on the course, which was conducted remotely over five non-consecutive days. Seven students were from the NHS, one was from a university and the ninth worked for a public sector body. The project management programme was PRINCE2, which is a methodology that has been widely taught (if not widely followed) for a number of years.

PRINCE2 has seven key principles that every project conducted in line with PRINCE2 is meant to adhere to. They are non-optional. The seven principles are:

1. Projects must have a 'continued business justification' - they need to be checked regularly to see if they are still viable and will provide a useful product and value for money
2. Projects should be informed by experience, incorporating lessons from other projects and ensuring lessons are learned during the life cycle of the project
3. Projects should have 'defined roles and responsibilties' in the project team 
4. Projects should be 'managed in stages' which includes a clear process for starting and ending projects
5. Projects should also be 'managed by exception', so higher levels of management are only really involved if circumstances change and projects are unable to go as planned
6. Projects should 'focus on products' - the result or outcome of the project
7. And finally, project management and design should be tailoured to fit the context of the project

The person leading the course used an interesting approach to get us to discuss (and learn!) the seven principles. He gave all of us seven votes and asked us which of the seven principles we thought were least likely to be adhered to in our workplace. We could assign as many of our votes as we liked to any of the principles, depending how difficult it would be to adhere to particular principles in our workplaces. That was 63 votes in total.

Now, bearing in mind who was on the course, I found the results really interesting.

Top of the pile, with 20 votes - almost a third of all the votes we were allowed - was the first principle: continued business justification. So, basically, the feeling was that once a project got started it was never checked to see if it was still needed. It would just carry on, regardless. It didn't matter if the landscape had changed, new evidence had emerged, technology had advanced or whatever. There was no stopping it. Projects might even get started without a business justification in the first place. It was somebody's pet idea and if that person had enough clout they could make a project happen.

Next in the pile, with 14 votes - which is the rquivalent of two votes from everyone on average - was 'defined roles and responsibilities'. When we discussed this, it was either people not knowing what they were meant to do, people higher up in the system micromanaging and interfering, or trying to get support from the 'not-my-job' brigade who just refuse to undertake roles in projects. 

Both 'focus on products' and 'manage by stages' earned 9 votes each. The focus of projects is often on the process rather than the outcome, and everyone seemed to have a story about a project that started without a defined intended outcome. Manage by stages also seemed to be a difficult one because projects get launched with very little planning and without a step-by-step plan for product delivery. 

Tailouring and learning from experience both earned 7 votes. There is common phrase about reinventing wheels that crops up regularly. I've noticed a reluctance of people in the NHS to learn from other organisations, or even from other teams in their own organisatrion. The default position is that whatever worked up the road couldn't possibly work here because our job doing the same thing is actually so much harder and more complex! It's nonsense, but it's hard to argue with people who find that belief convenient for several reasons.

And then, finally, 'manage by exception' got 4 votes. That seems to indicate that people do bring problems to those above them in the organisations. Mainly that's because they will have run out of money and are asking for more (he says, slightly cynically).

Mathematically adept readers may have noticed that the total adds up to more than 63 votes, so some people obviously got carried away and lost count of their votes. But the general trend feels true to the discussions we subsequently had.

I'm not arguing for the reliability of found data, and I recognise this is a very small sample size. But it does capture the perceptions of people about the barriers to running projects according to an established methodology. And actually, this kind of subconscious sharing of information may be more reliable than if people were asked under formal conditions to give an opinion. This is what people really think about trying to make projects work in these organisations. 

The best company NOT to work for

I was told about this a while ago but forgot to look it up.

The charity which made me and 30+ other people redundant 2 years ago has included a picture of me in its most recent review. I'm on page 8.

The irony is it's about the 'Best Company to Work For' Accreditation that I helped them achieve. No mention on that page or anywhere else that I no longer work for them. Or why I left. Or how many people left with me.

Incidentally, it's not that they used the picture that bothers me so much. It's just I know plenty of people who still work there and nobody bothered to ask if it was okay. Which is a bit insensitive. (But I guess sums up the decision-making and management style I disliked when I was there.)

Ah, well, I've moved on to something better and enjoy my work a lot more now. Things like this encourage me that it was for the best.

This resonates with a dark part of my soul (wait, I have a soul?)

From the awesome nihilists at Despair.com

Limbo like totally sucks

Last week I spent most of the week working freelance in another office. I was set an interesting challenge: write a newspaper in just three days and if I had any time left over proofread some 'How to' guides that were being put together for the same International Forum that the newspaper is needed for.

This week I'm back in my regular office, where in the past month:

• 30+ people have been made redundant and told they will be leaving at the end of April (I'm one of them, although I opted for the voluntary redundancy package)
  
• It's been revealed that this has been on the cards since July last year
• Senior managers keep saying things like how they want to remain on good terms with everyone and make sure that events unfold in a spirit of Christian kindness (whatever), but then get arsey when anyone raises questions about their projections
• The people who are left are slowly beginning to panic about how things are going to work in the new structure
• Faith and confidence in the people at the top has been eroded to virtually nothing
  
• There are rumours that senior people have opted to quit than try to make the new structure work
• Rumours have just started the organisation is being audited this week ahead of a pending takeover by someone else (with no idea who that would be) [NB - I think this is just people making up rubbish, but who's to say]

Of the two offices guess where I enjoyed working most. Go on, guess!

So, anyways, on Monday we get to find out what the new structure will look like. Basically a zillion managers and no one to do any actual work, judging on who is leaving. There is a big emphasis on out-sourcing, so my entire team has been keelhauled. I give it a month before someone up top thinks 'Oh, shit, I've just realised how much they used to do...'

In one sense this situation works for me, because I wanted to leave. But truthfully I didn't want to go like this. Who would? There is a level of rancour and distrust building up and things are only going to get worse. The 'official' consultation period only starts on Monday. We have another 30 days of putting on brave Christian faces and swallowing cursewords in the presence of people who raise hackles or bile.

Inside, I've disinvested. I spent most of today shredding six years' worth of notes. I'm gone mentally already. I am counting the days until I go physically.

I don't want to get bitter. But already the defensiveness of senior managers and the fact that most of the workforce have been kept so much in the dark for so long about such severe cuts are beginning to get to me. Hence this blog post. I feel I have to say something. And maybe if you read this you'll get how I'm feeling and you won't have to ask me. We can talk about football, or the weather, or Nintendo Wii games, or anything really.

Of course, some people reading this might get mightily stroppy about it. The sage advice from my head of department was "Don't burn any bridges you may want to walk across later." Hmm. Well, I haven't said anything people who know me don't know about. And if you don't know me, I haven't told you where I work.

There have been three occasions when I have very nearly just walked out on this job. Each time I relented and gradually the feelings have ebbed. But this time I have this feeling when I leave it will be with a sense of relief not regret. And I won't look back. My departure will be final.

I never wanted to leave in bad blood but sometimes other people make life bloody.

Insightful

One of the pleasures of my job is interviewing people I’m writing articles about. The other day I spoke to a chap called Oliver Nyumbu, who’s an expert on work-life blend. One of the things he said resonated particularly with me.

He said:

“When I ask people how they’re doing in their job, they tell me they’re very busy. Somehow we’ve confused being busy with being effective.”

I see that all the time in my office, but also outside it. I think one of the reasons church attendances are always reported as declining is because churches are so busy trying to keep the church going, they never stop to ask ‘is this actually effective?’

Another aspect of my job involves me choosing to carve out head-space. I do this in a number of ways, including going for a wander round the building and chatting to people, doodling in an old diary, and writing non-work things to get the words flowing out of my brain and onto the screen.

I was asked today how I can write in a limited time; how do I manage to produce stuff on demand. I can’t really answer questions like that, but I think a lot of it is to do with being honest about needing a bit of creative space. You can’t run a machine at maximum productivity at 100% of the time. It needs downtime or the whole thing will blow up in your face. So why do we think we can operate our cranial processors at maximum, every single working minute of every single working day, without the system crashing?

I guess one reason why people in charge like to see everyone busy is it gives the (sometimes false) impression that stuff is getting done. On a personal level, make-work bores me, and when I’ve had managers who think their effectiveness is measured by how busy everyone is and so start allotting random tasks, my effectiveness tends to go out the window.

At the risk of sounding big-headed, I can write to order, and produce under pressure. And the reason I can do that is because I don’t care so much whether I look busy, but I do try to ensure I’m effective. That’s one of the reasons why ‘management-by-making-you-do-stuff’ doesn’t inspire me at all. I like to be told what’s needed, and when it’s needed by, and then sent off to do it. And then I do it.

I knew this was coming

A new project looms...

Three months ago in a meeting
"What are we going to have to in media?"
"Oh nothing, nothing, the publishers are handling that..."

Three months ago in a different meeting
"Should we put something in the magazine?"
"No, it's too soon..."

This afternoon
"The big boss has decreed that we have a week to come up with a campaign and write/design something to slot into the magazine before it mails on Monday 30th." No pressure then.

I tell you, there's nothing like good, strategic planning from the very top (and this is nothing like...)