Which project is the most successful? Fundamental criteria for project success: description, features and recommendations
A project manager always strives to bring his project to successful completion and avoid failure. Successful implementation of projects is an important condition successful career both a professional project manager and almost any manager responsible for certain projects in an organization.
Project success means that all project stakeholders receive results that meet their expectations, formulated in the form of goals and requirements.
At the beginning of the project, the project manager must clearly understand the expectations of key participants and the indicators by which a conclusion about the success of the project will be formed, and during the implementation of the project, monitor and predict the state of these indicators.
The task of determining these indicators should be solved at the project initiation stage. At the same time, each of the interested parties must determine their understanding of the success of the project and agree with the project manager on the appropriate indicators and methods for assessing them.
Project success criteria– a set of qualitative and/or quantitative indicators that make it possible to judge the degree of success of the project.
That is, they reflect the degree to which certain project goals have been achieved or certain requirements have been met.
Basic types of project success criteria:
Traditional: “on time”, “within budget”, “in accordance with specification”;
Compliance with the requirements (expectations) of the customer and users;
Meeting the expectations of other project participants.
For example, the success criteria for a new film project might be:
Delivery of the finished film on time, within the allocated budget;
Receiving a certain profit based on rental results;
Sales of a certain circulation on DVD (or Blu-ray) discs;
Receiving positive reviews from film critics and high audience ratings;
Nomination for one of the prestigious awards.
Note that the concepts of “project success” and “project management success” should not be confused. Successful project management is determined by project management performance indicators (quality and timeliness of acceptance management decisions, efficiency of risk management, optimality of plans and workload of performers, etc.). Effective project management is an important condition for project success, but not the only one. Even a well-managed project can fail.
Let's consider several versions of project success factors.
Project success factors– external and internal conditions on which the successful implementation of the project depends.
For example, Peter Morris divides project success factors into technical and human. As a result, conclusions are drawn about the importance of taking into account factors related to people and the organization of their interaction in the project.
Another study was conducted and described by J. Pinto, during which a survey was conducted of 400 project managers from various fields ( Scientific research, construction, information Technology and so on.). They were asked to name the factors that ultimately determine whether a project can be successfully completed.
As a result of the survey, 10 main factors for project success:
1) project mission (strategic importance and achievability of project goals);
2) management support;
3) quality of development of the project plan;
4) consultations with the client (customer);
5) provision of qualified personnel;
6) technical support of the project;
7) customer approval;
8) monitoring and Feedback;
9) communications;
10) problem management.
Alexey Polkovnikov and Mikhail Dubovik, based on surveys of managers and project participants (on the topic of project success factors), made the following conclusions:
1) critical project success factors include both factors common to all projects and specific ones, characteristic only of certain types of projects. Therefore, the project manager must take into account the specifics of the project and identify the success factors characteristic of his project;
2) different project participants (project manager, project curator, customer, performer) assess the importance and state of success factors differently;
3) for successful implementation The project must achieve the presence of several complementary success factors.
If we summarize and organize the research results, we can conclude that project success factors relate to three main elements of the project (see Figure 1):
1) correct and clear definition of the goals and results of the project;
2) effective project management;
Figure 1 – Factors determining project success
Correct and clear definition of project goals and results.
Even well planned, organized and completed project may be considered unsuccessful if the wrong goals were initially set. For example, an organization may make mistakes when selecting and launching projects (projects that do not correspond to the organization's strategy, projects with opposing or inconsistent goals, as a rule, cannot be considered completely successful).
Project goals are in most cases determined outside of the project. They are formed by the top management of the company (the customer), and the influence of the project manager on the initial formulation of goals is limited. The project manager has the opportunity to participate in clarifying project goals, especially in preparation for project launch and in the initial planning stages.
Critical Success Factors, Related goals may include the following:
1) project mission - the strategic importance of the project for the organization (the prerequisites for initiating the project and its significance for the organization must be logical and clear to all main participants);
2) the goals are clearly defined and equally understood by all project participants;
3) goals are adequate and achievable;
4) support for the project is provided at the level of senior management of the organization;
5) the expectations of the customer, consumers and other key stakeholders are taken into account.
Effective project management
Construction effective system project management largely depends on the project manager. And it is the lack of an effective project management system that is often cited as the main reason for problems with project implementation.
Even for projects provided with experienced specialists and all the necessary resources, deadlines are missed and budget exceeded due to the lack of timely coordination of the work of performers, delays in equipment deliveries and many other problems arising from the lack of adequate plans, organization of execution and control of work.
Critical Success Factors, Related management may include the following:
1) availability and quality of plans;
2) adequacy of the organizational structure (clear distribution of responsibilities and powers, effective interaction with departments of the organization implementing the project);
3) the effectiveness of interaction, decision-making and control procedures;
4) the effectiveness of motivation of project participants.
Adequate provision of the project with resources and appropriate technologies
Providing a project with resources, unfortunately, depends only partly on the project manager. But factors related to technological and resource provision of the project must be assessed and carefully analyzed before the project starts. It is better to abandon the project than to take on a project that is not provided with resources and is technologically unrealizable.
Problems with the technological support of projects can be associated both with the use of outdated technologies and equipment that are no longer capable of providing the necessary competitiveness, and with the use of new technologies that have not yet been sufficiently mastered and debugged.
Critical Success Factors, Related resource and technological support project may include the following:
1) quality of development of project documentation (literacy technological solutions laid down at the design stage);
2) technological availability and feasibility of the project (use of reliable and modern technologies and equipment);
3) availability of qualified performers (including adequate qualifications of technical specialists and the ability to attract them in a timely manner);
4) adequate legal support for the project (including support for contract management processes and resolution of other legal issues).
Let's consider goals and content of the project.
Among the most common reasons for failures in project implementation are the following:
The goals and boundaries of the project are not clearly defined;
The strategy and plan for project implementation are not sufficiently developed;
The project's resources are inadequate;
Unrealistic deadlines, etc.
All of the above reasons are associated with insufficient understanding and unclear description of the project as an object of management. The manager and other project participants may have different understandings of the goals and content of the project, and may not understand its real scale and complexity. Without this, it will not be possible to build an adequate organizational structure for project management and ensure the involvement of performers for the implementation of the project.
Thus, the project manager must understand as clearly as possible the features of both the project itself and the limitations and features of the environment in which the project will be implemented.
Let's look at the main project elements that need to be defined.
In Figure 2, the project is presented in the form of a pyramid, in which three main parts can be distinguished:
1) the upper part of the pyramid – project goals(they determine what the project is being implemented for);
2) the middle part of the pyramid – project product(this is what should be created during the implementation of the project);
3) base of the pyramid – tasks and work(which must be completed to create the project product).
Project goals
The concept of goal is one of the key ones in project management, since any projects are initiated and implemented to achieve certain goals.
Figure 2 – Pyramid of project goals and objectives
Project/program goals– desired results (effects, benefits) achieved with the successful implementation of a project/program under given requirements and conditions for their implementation (in accordance with NTK)
Project goals primarily answer the question “why?” (Why is this project being implemented? What primarily does the customer (project owner) want to get as a result of this project?) However, goals may reflect the expectations of other key stakeholders and project participants.
For example,
If the expectations of the company’s shareholders from the implementation of the project to introduce a new information system may be associated with obtaining additional transparency and controllability of the company, then the expectations of the head of the department that will operate the system are associated with ease of operation and reliability new system. Users of the future system expect that the system will be easy to use and will simplify (or not complicate too much) the execution of their production processes.
The goals of the project must be formulated by the customer. The project manager should clarify and, if necessary, refine the project goals.
A set of interrelated goals can be defined for a project. Goals can be structured by levels (hierarchy of goals: from general to more specific). Multiple, complementary goals may reflect the different interests of project participants.
Project mission (or strategic goals project) – These are goals achieved over the long term, aimed at achieving the mission and achieving the strategic goals of the organization.
Project goals (operational, short-term goals) –desired result activities achieved upon successful completion of the project, aimed at obtaining specific short-term effects, satisfying needs or efficient use existing (opening) market opportunities in the near future, indicating general methods, methods and technologies for achieving them.
Developing a hierarchical structure of project goals will allow us to determine more precise requirements for the project product, formulate requirements for organizational structure project management and distribute responsibility for achieving goals.
Project strategy– a general vision of the way to achieve the project goal; determines the directions and basic principles of the project; characterized by a system (set) of qualitative and quantitative indicators ( in accordance with the scientific and technical code).
Sometimes the same goals can be achieved different ways. Accordingly, the choice of the main method of achieving the project goal is also integral part the process of defining and clarifying goals.
For example,
Increasing the accuracy of employee time tracking can be achieved as a result of both the introduction of an information system and the creation of a special control service.
Increasing the volume of product supplies can be achieved either by constructing a new plant or by purchasing a finished asset from competitors.
Different project goals may be achieved in different time frames. Understanding the sequence of achieving project goals will allow you to develop a strategy for project implementation and make quite long and complex processes of achieving strategic, long-term goals visible.
Project goals are defined by a set of indicators (success criteria) that the project manager must achieve in order for stakeholders to receive the expected benefits.
Project product
It is not enough for a project manager to clearly understand the goals of the project. It is important to determine and agree with the customer project product(that is, what exactly should be created and delivered to the customer as a result of the project).
Project product– a material or other entity produced during the project, the creation and use of which will ultimately ensure the achievement of the project’s goals.
The product of the project can be created tangible and intangible assets, for example, new products and services, new technologies, buildings and structures, production facilities, trained personnel, organizational changes carried out in the company, etc. Often the project product is complex and includes both tangible and intangible components.
The customer can accept final product in its entirety or accept separately each component of the project's product (i.e., supporting products created during the project to provide the final product).
For example, the concept and prototype of the system, project documentation, report on the marketing research are also project products and are delivered to the customer, but they are developed to support the creation of the final project product.
The initial requirements for the product are determined in the design task (specification, technical assignment). In the future, product requirements can be clarified and detailed during the development of project documentation.
Since goals are determined by the expectations and requirements of the project's key stakeholders, one of the initial processes for defining goals may be the process of collecting and analyzing requirements.
Project requirements– clearly formulated wishes of customers, sponsors and other project participants regarding the characteristics that the goals, products, services, short-term and long-term results of the project must meet, as well as the limitations and other conditions for the implementation of the project/program (in accordance with the scientific and technical code).
Program. Portfolio of projects and programs.
Program is a group of interrelated projects united by a common goal and conditions for their implementation. Unlike an individual project, the program requires special methods of multi-project management (MU coordinates the implementation of all projects carried out in the organization).
Project portfolio– this is a group or many projects unrelated to each other by a common goal, but connected by a common resource base. For example, a briefcase investment projects– the main criterion when selecting projects is obtaining maximum profit.
Elements (components) of a project portfolio- these are the components of the portfolio: projects, programs, sub-portfolios (sub-portfolios). Portfolio elements may be independent of each other, unlike the projects included in the program, and the portfolio itself may include sub-portfolios of projects.
All portfolio components must have the following characteristics:
· Reflect the company's existing or potential investments
· Comply with the company's goals and objectives
· Have such distinctive features, which would allow them to be grouped for more effective management
· Can be quantified
Project Portfolio Management is the centralized management of one or more portfolios, including the identification, prioritization, authorization, management and control of projects, programs and other work to achieve certain strategic goals of the company.
The procedure for managing a portfolio of projects differs significantly from managing a single project; it is, in fact, a procedure for more high level and has other goals and means of achieving them
Project portfolio management processes are divided into two groups: the Aligning Process Group or portfolio formation process group and the Monitoring Process Group.
Alignment:
· Identification of projects,
· Project evaluation (Evaluation),
· Selection of projects,
· Determination of priorities (Prioritization),
Portfolio Balancing
Monitoring and control:
Portfolio Reporting and Review
· Strategic Change
Project goals and strategies. Project success criteria.
The beginning of any project is an idea, the design of the project, which defines its goals and objectives, and the end is the receipt of a specific result: a product, service, technology, etc. Thus, any project begins with defining a goal.
Objective of the project- this is the desired result of activity, achieved as a result of the successful implementation of the project under the given conditions of its implementation. The main indicators here are obtaining a result, a given level of quality, within time and cost constraints.
Strategy is a way to achieve a goal.
A goal is what we want to achieve. A strategy is a statement of how we are going to achieve a goal.
Cost constraints exist in any project; their scope is largely determined by the chosen strategy. If the main thing in the project is time (getting results as quickly as possible), then choosing this strategy will lead to an increase in the cost of the project. Another strategy may be chosen - to obtain the desired result with minimum costs. This choice is appropriate when the time factor is not so critical.
After completion of the project, a general assessment of the achieved results is given, and the project, based on a set of indicators, can be classified as successful or unsuccessful.
If, due to ongoing changes, the project loses its relevance, it is necessary to consider options for making changes to the plan or decide to close this project.
The main criterion for success the project is the relevance of the result at the time of its achievement.
At the very beginning of the project, it is very advisable to analyze the reasons for possible project failures (potential risk areas).
The main reasons for project failure can be:
Unclear goals;
Insufficient funding;
Changing business priorities;
Insufficient support from senior management;
Ineffective team (project staff qualifications);
Insufficient effective interaction in the project;
Lack of self-government;
Not enough effective communications;
Lack of motivation (refers to internal risks);
It is necessary to test the project for “reasons for possible failures”: are the project goals clear enough? How reliable are investors? Is the project team qualified enough? Is her motivation sufficient?
The criteria for success and the criteria for failure are interconnected. But they may change over time, particularly as market conditions change.
24) Cost planning methods.
There are several methods for project cost planning:
· Similarly,
· "top down",
· by parameters
· "down up".
Similarly(analogous estimating) can be used when the planned project is similar to a number of others previously carried out in the organization. In this case, the total cost of the project is determined based on the accumulated experience, and then the total cost is distributed among the tasks.
This method is the least accurate, but it takes the least time to use. As a rule, the cost of a project is estimated in this way only at the initial planning stage, when the scope of work has not yet been finally determined and more precise methods cannot be used. To use this method in MS Project, you just need to manually fill in the appropriate fields in the table.
Determining the cost of the project by parameters(parametric modeling) is a fairly popular technique. A typical example is to estimate the cost of a house under construction by area or determine the cost of furniture by linear meters
The accuracy of this method and, accordingly, the labor costs for its use depend on the number of parameters being estimated. You can use primitive techniques, like those given in the example, in small projects, especially if you have accumulated a lot of experience in their implementation. For large-scale projects, techniques that use a large number of parameters can be used. The accuracy of such methods is much higher, but their application also takes more time. To apply parametric techniques in MS Project, you need to take advantage of custom fields and functions.
Methodology for determining project cost "down up"(bottom-up estimating) consists of calculating the cost of individual project tasks and forming the total cost of the project from the total cost of all work. It is this technique that is the most accurate, and it is precisely its use that the MS Project program is focused on. True, its application requires the most time, since its accuracy largely depends on the degree of detail of the work and resources.
The method of determining costs is exactly the opposite. "top down", in which the total costs of a project or phase are calculated, and based on this, the possible costs of the components of the project or phase are determined. Typically, this technique is used when the project is limited by budget or in combination with the analogical estimation method.
Question 3 - Project goals and strategy.
Project goals– the desired result of activity, achieved as a result of the successful implementation of the project, under the given conditions of its implementation.
Project strategy– describes the results that must be achieved to achieve the entire set of project goals.
Project objectives describe the full range of key issues associated with the project across all functional areas.
Project goal indicators:
1. These are the results of a product or service of the required quality;
2. Time (duration and specific date);
3. Costs.
The definition of a project describes the tasks facing it and the main conditions for its implementation. A goal becomes a task if the deadline for its achievement is specified and the quantitative characteristics of the desired result are specified.
Finding project goals is equivalent to defining the project and is an important stage in developing the project concept. After finding the project goals, they begin searching and evaluating alternative ways her achievements.
Requirements for formulating project goals:
1. Clear definition and clear meaning;
2. The results obtained when achieving the goal must be measurable;
3. The specified constraint and requirement must be met (time, budget, resources and required quality of result).
Goal setting– this is a continuous process in which the current situation and trend are analyzed and, if necessary, goal adjustments are made.
The project strategy determines the direction and basic principles of the project, and is characterized by a set of qualitative and quantitative indicators by which the project’s implementation is assessed.
Requirements for formulating a strategy:
1. Must be developed at the initial stages of its implementation.
2. Must be comprehensive.
3. All major aspects of project execution should be covered.
4. As the project develops, the strategy should be updated and revised accordingly.
The criteria for project success and failure are a set of indicators that make it possible to judge the success of the project. The main requirement and criterion is their unambiguous and clear definition. For every project and every customer, success criteria must be defined, assessed and analyzed.
Main types of criteria:
1. Traditional - “on time within the allocated budget in accordance with the requirements for quality and project results”;
2. Specific - leading in the organization’s project;
3. Benefits for project participants.
Examples of project success criteria:
1. Providing the required functionality;
2. Fulfillment of customer requirements;
3. Benefit for the contractor;
4. Satisfying the needs of all project participants;
5. Achieving a pre-set goal.
Examples of failure criteria:
1. Exceeding the cost and time limit;
2. Non-compliance with quality requirements;
3. Ignorance or ignorance of requirements or claims.
What is a project? Organizing a business from scratch? Or maybe just his separate division? Creating a brand or one product? Holding a celebration for commercial gain or just organizing a party with friends? How many of us know how to measure the success of a project? The criteria for success, how many there are and how they are determined - for many these concepts are also an unsolved mystery. There are a lot of questions, aren't there? To get answers to them, read the article.
Classics of the genre
In managerial management it has a completely logical and understandable definition. This is any time-limited undertaking that has the goal of creating a product, service, or other clear result. That is, the project itself will not be entrepreneurial activity, but only its start or reorganization. Not the creation of an idea, but its implementation.
If this is all clear, then the question of how the criteria for project success are determined is not so clear. Let's start with the fact that it is not always clear what is meant by success. Management specialists believe that a business can then be considered successful when its initiators met the deadline and budget allotted for its implementation, and the quality of the created good corresponds to what was stated in the plan. However, there are several parameters that also conditionally indicate the positive implementation of the project or its failure.
Unspoken criteria for project success
Let's start with the fact that everyone sees the very definition of success in their own way. According to statistical data, not all enterprises reach their logical conclusion the first time, but only a third of them. In all other cases, some adjustments need to be made to the work as the order progresses. But again, if you believe the numbers, the profits of businessmen who sacrificed increased expenses to speed up the pace of work increase almost one and a half times (by 140%) compared to those who decided not to inflate the budget, but extended the deadline for realizing their goals.
Therefore, in addition to the above measures in the form of money, time and quality, two more parameters need to be taken into account:
- New positive experience gained as a result of the team’s work.
- Satisfaction with the results of the task for all participants in the enterprise.
It cannot be said that these are fundamental criteria for the success of a project, but they are important and must be taken into account by those managers who strive to develop their brainchild, and not stagnate in one place all their lives.
What you can't touch
The difficulty in determining the two parameters presented above is that they cannot be calculated. Their results are quite subjective. The experience gained primarily concerns the order executor, and with the solution of each new task the company becomes stronger and more successful. This is important for the future activities of the business, because rich experience helps in attracting clients and makes it possible to successfully implement new projects.
But achieving comprehensive satisfaction with the results of your work is almost impossible. There will always be someone who will not like a business partner. This happens especially often in cases where the goals and criteria for success of the project are not initially defined. Project management is a separate direction in the science of enterprise management, and it should be given special attention. As practice shows, a business ends in success if the following factors favor it:
- the project manager and his team are ready for changes, have flexibility and the ability to quickly redirect the vector of their activities;
- each of the participants in the enterprise is assigned its own share of responsibility;
- there is no hierarchy in the team or it is reduced to a minimum;
- the company implementing the project promotes the principles of a culture of trust between employees; it is also important to respond to conflict situations and avoid tension in the team and between the contractor and the customer;
- the last factor is the development of information and communication culture.
Now we will discuss in more detail the main criteria for success and failure of projects.
Time and planning
Anyone who has ever been involved in the implementation of a project knows how important it is to draw up preliminary plan future enterprise. However, not everyone knows how to do it correctly. When planning an activity, it is necessary to describe each step in great detail, allotting a realistic amount of time for its completion. It is time management that is of fundamental importance in the implementation of the project. The success criteria for any business include this parameter as mandatory for a reason.
If the contractor cannot complete the work on time, and the deadline is constantly delayed, there is very little chance of successful completion of the project. At the same time, you should not work quickly, but at the expense of quality. Often, even those projects in which all deadlines were missed ultimately show good results and bring in solid profits.
Price and resource reallocation
There are often situations in business when a project is in danger of failure due to insufficient funding. Money may be lacking for various reasons - change regulatory framework, miscalculations when drawing up a plan, changing a supplier or contractor, etc. The decision to overcome the crisis falls on the shoulders of investors, the head of the company or the project manager.
In the case where additional financing for the enterprise is not predicted, the project manager must decide to optimize costs. This is a completely logical and reasonable step, but, as practice shows, a business in which the staff is at risk (laying off people, refusing to train new employees, reducing the overall level of employee competence) is unlikely to achieve much success. Therefore, it is better to go over budget than to later pay even more to correct your own mistakes.
Quality and Reduced Requirements
Time frames and budget are the criteria for project success that allow for corrections and deviations from the original plan. Most customers agree to pay extra and give more time to complete the project, but no one, we repeat, no one, will agree to receive a low-quality product as a result of the work. You can’t save on either raw materials or human resources. Such “optimization” rarely leads to success. Exceptions can only be made for truly worthwhile changes, which can simultaneously reduce the costs of implementing the project, but do not detract from its prospects.
Is the project manager the criterion for its success?
No, rather it is a factor in the success of the enterprise. Proof of this is more than one life example. The criteria for project success do not relate to a specific person, but to his organizational activities and his leadership qualities. However, even an extremely experienced and otherwise good project manager will not be able to achieve the goals he has set for himself if he cannot cope with a lot of bureaucratic delays and the incompetence of his subordinates.
Any specialist can easily prove his professional suitability in the field of activity with which he is familiar, but as soon as he finds himself in an unknown environment, he is likely to fail. But, as they say, those who do nothing make no mistakes, so go ahead and achieve success!
To be continued...
Today I want to briefly talk about the criteria for the success of projects and project managers.
But first you have to answer the question “what is a project” :)
What is a project
This is the first question any manager needs to answer.
Not obvious, but project management more difficult than “ordinary”, so-called “regular management”. Managing a department or subordinates is one thing. Managing a project is completely different.
Most project management methodologies are extensive. For example, the latest edition of the “managers’ bible” PMBoK is almost 1000 pages, the Prince2, IPMA and other manuals (about them some other time) are also not small.
In the life of a manager, it is important to learn to quickly understand “the project is in front of you or not,” so as not to waste energy (and attempts to pull up 1,000-page methodologies where you can get by with little loss).
One of the first discoveries to be made is that senior management itself, as a rule, has a poor understanding of where projects are and where they are not. Those. There is no point in hoping that you were assigned something, called it a project and have already thought about it thoroughly. In practice, projects are called just anything; it is you (the project manager) who needs to check what has been said for adequacy.
We need a definition that will help sort the tasks at hand into those that require a project approach and those that (fortunately) can be solved more easily by using the “regular management” that most people are more familiar with.
Definition of the term
Let's remember or google a more or less classic definition. We will come across something like: “A project is an event to achieve a goal, limited in time, resources and associated with achieving a unique result.”
Similar formulations are found frequently. Including in PMBoK itself. Problem: they are unsuccessful. Of these, the main thing is unclear - how a project differs from a “non-project”.
Don't believe me? Try to find at least one example of any activity that does not fall under this definition?
Let's explain with an example
You go to work or cook yourself scrambled eggs for breakfast in the morning.
Are these activities to achieve a goal? Of course, the goal is quite specific (arrive at your destination, get enough).
Time-limited? Undoubtedly! You can’t have breakfast half the day or spend a day on the road.
Are resources limited? Again, yes. You have a clear amount that you don’t mind spending on travel. Or in the case of scrambled eggs, just a dozen eggs in the refrigerator. If you use them up, you will be left without breakfast.
Should such work be called a project? Of course not! What 1000 pages of methodologies are there to fry eggs. You can cope with just intuition and common sense.
If you were not cooking scrambled eggs alone, but with your family, passing each other a frying pan, then cooking breakfast would still not turn into a project; intuition would still be enough.
About the pathos of coaches
Many project management coaches love pathos and tend to exaggerate. Sometimes they say “everything in the world is a project.” Or “project management is a very ancient skill, the first projects are thousands of years old - look, the Egyptian pyramids...”.
I dare say that the construction of the Egyptian pyramid by the ancient Egyptians was not a project, just like cooking scrambled eggs. In general, there are much fewer projects around us (fortunately) than it seems. And in the normal, modern sense of the word, full-fledged project management was formed about 50-70 years ago (hardly more).
However, let's get back to the scrambled eggs.
Now imagine that you have a more difficult task ahead of you. Cook more than just scrambled eggs for breakfast for yourself (or your family). Some event is coming (child's birthday). If you want to make a surprise, try scrambled eggs from an ostrich egg.
The stakes are rising sharply. There are still deadlines (for example, a birthday is coming soon). There is only one egg, you bought it at ostrich farm. You know very little about ostriches and are not sure whether you can fry it properly. It’s not even clear whether it will fit in a normal frying pan and whether the shell will break correctly. You really don’t want to make a mistake and ruin your child’s surprise.
And in such a situation, your activity begins to resemble a project more and more. You begin to plan more carefully (compared to your usual breakfast) - go online, find out “how to fry”, “how to break”, select a special frying pan (or even buy a suitable one in the store, calculate the time. Not necessarily all 1000 pages of PMBoK will be used in this approach. But many elements that you would not even think of using for a regular breakfast or traveling to the office you will use here.
What changed
Let me offer my definition.
We will call a project work on a task that is characterized simultaneously by:
- limb,
- high uncertainty.
Finitude is a “framework”, limited time and resources.
High uncertainty indicates that the task at hand is not completely clear how to solve it. Only when BOTH conditions are met, use project management.
Think about the major industries and sectors in which project management is common: for example, IT or applied science. When does a development and implementation project start? software product or on introducing a new pharmaceutical to the market. drug - they, as a rule, have a framework. The company has a certain budget and can afford to invest in development for certain time. But then the money must come back. At the same time, the problem that software engineers, technologists and scientists will solve often does not have a clear algorithm, it is poorly predictable, and many risks can be triggered (we have to partly adopt the principle “let’s get into a fight, we’ll see”).
It is at this “junction” that approaches from regular management work very poorly. When there are both very strict boundaries (finiteness) and high uncertainty at the same time.
That's why (in my opinion) construction Egyptian pyramids by the ancient Egyptians - not a project. At least one of the parameters is missing. And this is a limb.
Building the Egyptian pyramids is not a project
Construction of the pyramid began when the pharaoh was born. It had to be completed by the time of his death. If there was no death in infancy, then, most likely, at least 20-30 years were allotted for construction. Resources (people, materials) were also not scarce. Opinions differ as to whether the pyramid was built by slaves or free mercenaries, but, in any case, the principle worked - “did something go wrong? Let's bring more people." If you do not have limited deadlines and/or budgets, then sooner or later you will cope with any task. Even with a very difficult one. And very incomprehensible to you. From the fifth, tenth, twentieth time, after huge expenses, you will succeed.
An example of the “Egyptian pyramids” in modern world- some state projects. Or the work of some product companies (usually in the IT sector). When a company has made a certain IT product and then refines and improves it over the years, selling more and more to new clients, expanding the number of services. While such a company has not reached a new level of development, it is already very rich - it does not need project management (think Google or Facebook). Now these are giant corporations engaged in a variety of projects from creating cars and satellites to medical and financial startups. But once they had 1 very successful product (search engine or social network), and their only task could be its development (for which they could spend at least an unlimited amount of money). This Google and this Facebook would not need project management.
Operational activities - what is it?
Sometimes so-called “operational activities” are mentioned. This is the most obvious example imaginable where project management is not required at all.
Operational activities are characterized by a violation of both principles: (infinity) and (lack of) uncertainty.
An example is the work of a car assembly plant. A factory where a conveyor belt operates. Cars move along it. Someone is engaged in painting the body, installing wheels, headlights, seats, and so on. This activity is conditionally endless (it will be repeated day after day until the plant is closed or production of this brand of car is curtailed). It is extremely predictable (it is well known how many cars can be produced per shift, what the “exhaust” will be at the end of the day, week, month, year). Applying the principles of project management in such conditions will not provide any benefit (it will only complicate and confuse everything).
Another example of an operational activity is work technical support in the IT field. A call center or website accepts requests; they are distributed according to a certain algorithm among employees who either give verbal recommendations to the user or eliminate minor defects. This kind of work is very reminiscent of an assembly line: small, most often similar input requests, a predictable algorithm for processing them. At least until we talk about large-scale restructuring of the system. In such conditions, project management is also useless.
However, when you are faced with both a task that has high uncertainty and finiteness (scope), project management is the best way to solve it today (with some reservations).
Project Success Criteria
When talking about defining a project, it is important to mention the criteria for success. Who is a “successful manager”? What's happened " successful project"? And what is considered a failure?
The answer has long been developed by methodologists.
A successful project is one that meets the deadline in advance. certain deadlines, cost (and other resources), provided the customer with what he asked for and at the same time, key stakeholders were satisfied.
It sounds cumbersome, but is easily conveyed in one picture. Imagine a triangle (they stopped drawing it in PMBoK for some time now, but the essence remains the same). The triangle has three sides = deadlines, money, content. In the center is a smiling emoticon. All.
These are the criteria for your successful project.
The boundaries are what was agreed upon with the customer before the start of the project. Usually, such agreements are high-level, in general terms, but they are also inviolable. They promised to build a 9-story brick house within 12 months and with a budget of $1 million? Do it!
What this house will be like, what the balconies will look like, what company elevators will be installed in it is the second question. This remains to be agreed upon, perhaps as the project progresses. But framework agreements - immediately. Before the project starts. Usually they are recorded in a hyper-laconic document called “project charter” (more on that some other time).
So, you must define the three facets of the project BEFORE you start working. Deadlines (“we’ll finish no later than”), money (“the project budget is no more than...”) and content in 2-3 sentences (“what we do and what we don’t do”). These edges are symbolized by the triangle in the picture.
They need to be achieved in such a way that the key (not all, but key) stakeholders of the project (key users and customer representatives, your management, key regulators and some others) are satisfied. This satisfaction is symbolized by a smiley face inside a triangle.
How to become a good manager
The difference between a good project manager and a bad one is that he gets to the triangle at completion and the key stakeholders are happy.
All methodologies, by and large, are focused on how to form a triangle at the start of a project with sufficient accuracy and what to do along the way when deviations arise (missed estimates, new requirements appeared, customer representative changed, etc.).
A manager is not successful if he does not know how to keep the project in a triangle (which he himself agreed upon at the start). Or if his projects are completed “on budget and on time and strictly according to the specifications,” but the customer remains deeply unhappy and disappointed (emoticon in a triangle with the corners of the lips down). Another example of failure: the project was completed within the initially defined triangle, the customer was satisfied, but the team was overextended - people in it were demotivated, many, having received a project bonus, submitted their resignation. The company's internal reputation has been damaged; looking for new specialists on the labor market is difficult and expensive. In this case, the company's top management will likely be unhappy. And these are also interested key parties (after all, the project was done with their money - they were the ones who paid the salary to you, as a manager and all full-time employees).
Project management is a balancing act: how to define and not fall short of the triangle (time-money-scope) and achieve the satisfaction of key project stakeholders. This is the key thing to remember about the criteria for project success.
The article was written based on a training course on project management.
