4 ways to re-scope for project perfection

You’ll have seen the YouTube ‘challenge’ videos. People pouring freezing cold water over themselves. Playing music for weird dances alongside moving cars. People of all ages getting swept up in attempts to go viral with seemingly pointless challenges

Imagine if we began a safe and useful #PerfectProjectChallenge addressing the problems we often face – and that it went viral. We could transform the world of project and programme management. What form would our challenge take?

1 Re-scope for value, not just benefit (value = benefits – costs)

Programme and project leaders are all too willing to accept the brief they’re given. We frame their success within the brief and get to work.

I once politely refused to lead a workshop to support a major ongoing UK infrastructure project. The excuse I gave was that I didn’t want to support a project that destroys some of the oldest trees in the country. Without missing a heartbeat, the reply was that they planned to plant thousands of new trees – as if the ecosystem of 100-year-old trees could be replaced. The focus on benefits and not on value meant they had ignored the ecological costs.

2 Change the context, don’t work within it

In a radio interview I did recently, the interviewer, from a business school, had studied the ‘World After Midnight’ model – why, despite people apparently doing the ‘right’ things, the results their leaders envisaged didn’t materialise. He told me about a government initiative for preventing officials misappropriating funds, and asked me what I would do in their situation. I responded by suggesting that their solution was too far ‘downstream’. Funds can only be misappropriated effectively when the hierarchy is too dominant – allowing the most powerful person to act without checks or balances. In short, the project they needed was different from the one they were pursuing.

3 Match your leader and governance to the type of project

In the same interview, the interviewer asked me why government projects so often fail to deliver. I gave him a systemic answer and added that few political leaders have any project experience, so they often don’t specify the right project scope. The most important projects to deliver these days tend to be ‘foggy’ – with unclear goals and methods. That is exactly what few government officials relish.

4 Match your method, team mix and coordination to the type of project

“We’ve been told we must be agile,” was the first thing I heard when I asked why a client was making such a meal of a routine mechanical upgrade project. The team of skilled experts was bewildered by the frequent and constant reviews and meetings, at which they learned nothing useful from the other team members. But the project had a clear goal and method that were unlikely to change.

What would it take to re-scope a project perfectly and then deliver it perfectly? And what would you contribute to the Perfect Project Challenge? Perhaps you might record yourself engaging with two really horrible stakeholders. Or you could show how you have created a super team out of geographically dispersed members. Or how you persuade people to honestly share what goes wrong.

Don’t worry about freezing cold water ruining your expensive outfit. Challenge yourself to re-scope, to execute differently and record and share what you learn. Our project challenge is much drier, much safer and much more valuable.

My challenge to you…

Make a one-minute video with one useful project point to share, and post it online using @APMProjectMgmt #PPC and @EddieObeng

Professor Eddie Obeng is an educator, TED speaker and author of Perfect Projects and All Change! The Project Leader’s Secret Handbook