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Kliem, PMP</h4> <p class="text"> There are five key actions for turning around projects in trouble, called the five Es: Energize, Envision, Explore, Evaluate, and Execute. </p> <p class="text"> Energize is providing the spark for making change happen. The premise is that change will not occur unless someone motivates people to act. Without that spark, the project in trouble will continue to go downhill. </p> <p class="text"> And what is the source of that spark? You, the project manager. You are the one who takes the first step to get people to move in a new direction. This spark can have the explosive effect of a big bang or the click of a cigarette lighter at a natural gas plant. The magnitude of the effect depends on the circumstances and your style and capabilities as a project manager. </p> <p class="text"> Envision is revisiting the vision and developing a new or revised vision. When a project continues to face trouble, the likelihood is that the project vision is no longer relevant, is nonexistent, or is off-base partially or totally from what key stakeholders had originally intended. It is critical that a project have a solid vision of what is to be achieved because this provides the basis to develop subsequent plans and to make decisions throughout the project life cycle. A vague vision, or no vision, leads to inefficient and ineffective activities that inevitably lead to a project in trouble. It is critical, therefore, that a vision be clear, accurate, complete, and understandable to enable good project management throughout a project&#039;s life cycle. </p> <p class="text"> Explore is looking for all the options that are available to execute the new or revised vision. These options may be major or minor, meaning they may span a whole replanning effort or simply involve making slight revisions to the vision for the project. </p> <p class="text"> Regardless of the option, the key is to remain as objective and independent as possible when determining options. To act otherwise would open the way for a project to get in trouble once again in the future. The goal is to identify options that can lead to lasting, meaningful change so that a project does not get in trouble once again. Remember, the idea is to achieve Management by Effectiveness, and to achieve that is to identify options that further the new or revised vision. These options can take any form related to improving cost, schedule, and quality performance. </p> <p class="text"> Evaluate is choosing the appropriate option. Like Explore, Evaluate should be as objective and independent as possible. In some cases, this should be even more objective and independent. Again, the idea is to embrace an option (or several options) for a lasting, meaningful change in the approach to a project. Once the option or options have been selected, there is one more step. </p> <p class="text"> Execute is turning the vision and roadmap into reality. Here is where project managers and their teams apply all the relevant, adjusted-to-scale, project management tools, techniques, and disciplines. This not only includes schedules but also other topics like status collection and assessment, change and configuration management, and communications management. </p> <p class="text"> A discussion of the interaction of the five actions is shown in Figure 1. </p> <center> <img src="http://www.ittoday.info/ITPerformanceImprovement/Images/2011-09KliemFigure1.jpg" border="0"> </center> <p class="text"> <b>Figure 1.</b>Overview of the Five Actions </p> <p class="text"> The five key actions are nonlinear and nonsequential. However, they can occur linearly or sequentially, but that may not necessarily be the case. In many situations, these actions may occur concurrently, that is, at the same time, because they are interrelated and interdependent. Many project environments do not lend themselves to a sequential approach due to lack of time, money, or some other constraint. </p> <p class="text"> Note that Energize is a critical action. The assumption here is that the project manager and the core team are the ones who initiate the need to act to turn around a project in trouble. This spark kick-starts a project into action, and other necessary actions are performed. The additional assumption is that nothing will change without exhibiting the necessary energy; otherwise, a project, like all systems, will either maintain equilibrium or run down. </p> <p class="text"> One of the biggest dangers confronting a project manager when dealing with a project in trouble is to fail to take a holistic view of project management. Basically the project manager either sides with the art (i.e., the soft side), or the science (i.e., the hard side). Often, the latter predominates. </p> <p class="text"> The art of project management depends on the right side of the brain. It is tied to the critical thinking aspects of the project, such as asking the question ìWhy are we doing this?î or ìIs there a better way?î Examples of the art of project management include leadership, coaching, negotiating, motivating, and creative problem solving. </p> <p class="text"> The science of project management deals with the left side of the brain. It is tied to applied thinking, such as applying a methodology and using a tool. The fundamental question is ìHow is this done?î Examples include schedule calculation and earned value. </p> <p class="text"> A project needs both left-brain and right-brain thinking. Too often, however, the emphasis is on the science. This lopsided perspective can be the source of many problems that often center around people, communication, conflict, and much more. </p> <p class="text"> To effectively energize a team into action, the science of project management needs to be an output of the art of project management. Project managers cannot disregard one without imperiling the other. Therefore, Energize relies heavily on the art of project management, so that a project manager can turn around the project. </p> <p class="text"> Each action results in some output that feeds at least one other action or multiple actions. These outputs are often a transformation of inputs into some request, information, or signal that eventually feeds other actions. </p> <p class="text"> The kickoff and final ending points of the entire process are two entities: management and the customer. The assumption here is that the request for turning around a project in trouble is based on a decision made by management and the customer. </p> <p class="text"> The actions all result in providing these same two entities, management and customer, with results. These results are twofold. The result for management is a new or revised approach to managing the project with the goal of achieving the success criteria related to cost, schedule, and quality. The other result is to the customer, and that is delivering a product or service that satisfies expectations or needs. </p> <h3>Overview of the Turnaround Approach</h3> <p class="text"> Here&#039;s an overall description of the approach to turning around a project in trouble; be advised that this is a sequential discussion, which in reality may not be the case. </p> <p class="text"> Both management and the customer have concluded that a project is in trouble, for whatever reason; they have also decided that terminating the project is not an option. They have decided to reverse the project&#039;s fortunes by assigning a new project manager, you. </p> <p class="text"> Right away, you need to energize the existing team, especially the core team, to change the way of doing business. This action will require collecting data and information and making various assessments. </p> <p class="text"> Once your team has been energized, you can revisit the project&#039;s vision. This entails looking at the current vision (if one exists), taking a global perspective of what&#039;s happening, and diving into more details about what has and has not happened. You and your core team can then develop a new or revised vision for the project. This vision is based on the consensus of key stakeholders, such as the core team, key management, and the customer. With a good vision in place, the groundwork has been established for the other actions that need to be performed. </p> <p class="text"> The next action is to Explore. The whole idea here is that you and your core team find out what aspects of the new or revised vision have been achieved and what aspects need correction or improvement. It entails collecting additional facts and data, obtaining ideas from others, and determining what activities add value to the attainment of the vision. The key is to capitalize on the resources available to you right now to develop a meaningful, reliable new approach to executing the project. This action includes developing one or more options for doing so. </p> <p class="text"> After Exploring, the next action is to use information and data to evaluate the options for improvement. This action involves looking at the pros and cons of each option, which includes looking at the risks. The key here is to remain as objective as possible while at the same time maintaining a global perspective of the project. The options chosen will be what will lead to improving project performance to achieve a new or revised vision for the project. </p> <p class="text"> The final action is to Execute. This action involves applying the project management disciplines, tools, and techniques to make the new or revised vision and selected options a reality. This entails activities like developing or revising a work breakdown structure, schedule, responsibility assignments, risk management, change management, and much more. The keys here are to implement the necessary changes with the participation of the team. </p> <p class="text"> The final results are then shared with management and the customer. This sharing includes their review and approval of everything deemed critical to the success of the project. &#9830; <br> <br> <b>Read more <a href="http://ittoday.info/ITPerformanceImprovement/index.htm"><i>IT Performance Improvement</i></a></b> </p> <!--DISCLAIMER NOTICE AND COPYRIGHT--> <p class="copyright"> <br> <br> Certain names and logos on this page and others may constitute trademarks, servicemarks, or tradenames of <a HREF="http://www.crcpress.com" TARGET="_parent">Taylor & Francis LLC.</a> Copyright &#169; 2008&#151;2011 Taylor & Francis LLC. All rights reserved. </font> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> <td width="300"> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> <table style="background-color:#E0E0D1;" cellpadding="10" margin="5" border="0" valign="top"> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan=2> <h3>This article is an excerpt from the book:</h3> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td> <center> <img src="http://www.ittoday.info/catalog/images/covers80w/K12412.jpg" Border=0> </center> </td> <td> <h6> <a href="http://www.crcpress.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?isbn=9781439852460&AF=WAUER" target="blank"><b>Managing Projects in Trouble: Achieving Turnaround and Success</b> </a> </h6> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <p class="text"> Supplying step-by-step guidance through each phase, the book explains how to spot the symptoms of troubled projects early on and arms you with time-tested techniques to address the problems that will inevitably emerge. Each chapter includes a case study that illustrates real-world implementation of the actions and steps discussed as well as a checklist to help ease the transition from project failure to surefire success. Learn the five secrets for turning troubled projects around detailed in this book or continue what you re doing at your own peril. </p> <h3>About the Author</h3> <p class="text"> <b>Ralph L. Kliem, PMP</b> is founder and president of LeanPM, LLC and has over 30 years of combined experience in the private and public sectors as a project manager and internal auditor. He has authored more than 15 books with major publishers and over 300 articles for leading business and information technology magazines. <br> <br> He is a frequent speaker at PMI chapters and other events. He has developed and delivered project management courses for Cascadia Community College and Bellevue College. He also delivers seminars and workshops for corporate clients through Key Consulting, Inc., and the Business Productivity Center, Inc. throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. He is an Instructor at City University of Seattle and a former adjunct faculty member with Seattle Pacific University. </p> <br> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </table> </body> </html>