Projects are being launched by executive managers every day, often investing a not insignificant amount of their organizations budgets into projects with little or no chance of success simply because their organizations are unprepared to deal with projects. 

tc. have had a positive influence and have reduced the failure rate as seen in table 1.  But the problem is far from resolved. The Standish Group, which authors the survey, estimates that out of the 255 Billion Dollars used on IT projects in the United States alone, more than 25% is burned up by failures and cost overruns. The picture in Europe does not much prettier.

So the increased attention on project methodology has not solved the problem. Several researches shows that an  organizations' maturity level, meaning the level to which it is able to implement and follow a structured project management methodology, will have more impact on the organizations ability to excel in managing its projects to time, cost, quality and scope than e.g. project certifications alone.

When looking into the reasons behind why project fail (Table 2), a remarkable high percentage are caused by external factors on which the project manager have little or no influence.

In the study, conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the executives of the organizations surveyed, estimate that 59% of the impacts causing project overruns lies outside the responsibility and influence of the Project Manger but implicit within the top- and senior managements area of responsibility.

Strategy and project management

The corporate strategy usually implemented by the top management in agreement with the board, is a portfolio of strategic initiatives most of which will be realized through projects.

It has to be clear to you as a manager that while Strategic Planning, Product Development, Mergers & Acquisitions, Organizational Change etc. are all initiatives which will be realized through projects, the thereof resulting business outcomes and business values are depending on the success of these projects - in some cases even with a strong dependency. The results which an executive is expected to produce are in other words to a large extent depending on projects in modern organizations.

But all too often, I am surprised about how unaware executives are of the strategic projects they have running in their organizations.  They have no reliable information about the current status or whether the projects are performing to specifications. No mechanism to measure if the desired business outcome is being produced to specifications are in place.

It is time to get results or get LOST

As initially stated, the executive survival time on the job or in-job time has significantly decreased over the past five years and the trend seems to be moving towards middle management at a rapid speed.

The “Get results or get lost” time is here. Despite that fact, executives are still not placing the necessary value on the projects. We are talking about strategic projects, often supposed to produce business critical results, competitive advantages or cost reductions/productivity increases.

As a result, many organizations are struggling with their strategic projects. The list of problems is long, but the main issues in most organizations are lack of qualified resources, lack of strategic positioning in the organization to ensure smooth sailing, people not turning up for meetings, people not doing the work they are asked to do or fail to meet key deadlines.

To make matters worse, the project manager often have no options but to work with the people they have since replacing non-performers is a no-go.

Meanwhile, the CEO offices and executive floors are changing. The chairs are being taken by people who understands how the classic organization can be aligned with business goals in an organization supporting business goals. The focus is on running projects which produces results while building the organizations project maturity level up to enable the organization to excel in running agile projects.

What you need to do

The way projects are conducted and controlled in organizations have to change. A professional conduct in the area of project management and project control is not enough. The organizational maturity level in how projects are implemented, the project governance, the change management and how they are supported in the organization have to be agreed and the model has to be implemented. On-going work to improve the model and increase the maturity level has to be an integral part of the model.

The correct strategic positioning by the executive management on the importance projects have for the organization and the future success has to be carried out.

As a manager or executive you have to realize that you cannot solve tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s solutions.  A paradigm shift is needed.  

Start working today on building project management skills, change management procedures, project controls and project governance. Make changes to the organization chart to align it with the project organization necessary for you to meet the strategic business goals in your organization or department.

Focus on understanding the dependencies in project to be able to react in a timely manner to changes or delays. The delivery of a new telephone system enabling customer care to implement new customer oriented ways of dealing with the customers may very well be the first step needed in order to launch a new product. This product might be a natural and logical step towards establishing the business as a market leading company in its market segment. The full impact of the strategy will however not be realized unless all of the initiatives are delivering the expected business value or business outcome.

When Senior- and top managers are stating that 59% of the problems in projects causing them to fail lies outside of the control of the project manager, you need to take steps to eliminate the effects of thse 59%. the issues to address include scope creep, scope changes, insufficient resources, budget issues, changes in priorities etc. A strong organizational standard for how projects are conducted and govern will take care of these issues while helping the project managers’ focus on their day-to-day management of the project and delivering the business outcome. Most organizations which have focused on increasing the project maturity level have found that projects can be conducted must faster because the project teams can focus on the actual work. The better the alignment is between the organizational structure and the business needs the better the projects will perform.

Finally, the change management process previously mentioned is an overlooked process in most organizations. Improving the maturity level also mean to focus on change management. Sudden changes to project scope or priorities have an influence on the project. Where are such changes decided, how is the impact analyzed and where are the findings discussed to ensure that all project are aligned towards the strategy? Many managers and executives are not even involved when the strategic future of a project is discussed and changes agreed.

Conclusion