Gail, the Project Manager was apoplectic. “How could this happen? This project has gone right into the loo.” (This was a European-based project.) She showed me the project status chart. Even a novice could readily see the project had tanked, suddenly and severely.
“Do you have a sponsoring steering committee?” I asked.
“Of course!” She exclaimed, almost indignantly. “That’s one of the most essential steps to a successful project.”
“And what did they do when the metric turned bad?” I asked.
Gail’s tone softened. “Well, there’s more to that story….”
Attain Executive Sponsorship! This ubiquitous project execution ‘best practice’ is SO common that it’s actually easy to overlook. After all, have you ever heard of any initiative where people said, “at least we don’t need leadership sponsorship for this one.”
So what exactly does “executive sponsorship” mean? One consultant says the executive must send out an email supporting the project and telling the audience “why” the project is being done. Another says the leader must deliver a PowerPoint presentation that does much the same. These actions are undoubtedly helpful, but are just starting points.
GPS mandates these two rules:
- Establish a Project Steering Committee that meets regularly.
- Ensure the committee responds to the metric.
Before creating a new committee, look at existing forums, such as regularly scheduled staff meetings. In many instances the steering committee commitment can be fulfilled by simply adding the topic as an agenda item to an existing meeting.
Next, make sure the committee is paying attention. Perhaps obvious, but meetings get cancelled, agenda priorities change and leaders must sort through a lot of ‘noise’. A top project manager must pass along the relevant information to the Steering Committee/Sponsor AND make certain the message was received and understood. Let’s pick up the story from Gail:
“The Steering Committee meets every two weeks,” Gail explained. “They saw the first turn towards the red, but the project team assured us it was just a bad two weeks and that they were forecasting a turn around. That turned out to be an Optimism Bias. The project worsened, as you can see from the project control chart.”
“And how did the steering committee react” I asked.
“Well the next meeting was cancelled. And the meeting after that the sponsor was out sick. And then August arrived.”
“So what’s wrong with August?” asked the American.
Gail explained. “August is THE big holiday month for Europe. Two more steering committee meetings were cancelled.” She was now downcast. “I guess we needed to make arrangements to get our information to Steering or the Sponsors regardless of Murphy’s Law.”
Lesson: Establish your sponsorship AND ensure they respond to the metric!
Excellent lesson, Rich. I like the “bonus” lesson of appreciating cultural differences too as these seem to have contributed to the project performance gap.