The USS Arizona Memorial is the #1 visitor attraction in Hawaii. Alas, the memorial closed on May 6, 2018 because the moorings under the unloading platform had begun to shift, creating a significant safety issue. On Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 2018, the National Park Service announced good news – they had a repair plan in place and were targeting the end of March 2019 for completion. Happy news for the 2 million annual visitors.
Unfortunately, the repair project experienced a phenomenon that occurs altogether too often – the dreaded “Showstopper.”
Just four weeks from reopening, the Park Service surprised us. The plans to reopen at the end of March were torpedoed and there is NO new target date. Uncertainty happens, but this particular Showstopper incident is particularly unnerving because of the timing of the revelation.
Here’s what we’ve heard about this project. The Arizona Memorial closed “indefinitely” in early May. After nearly six months (late Oct), a plan was shared announcing that the memorial would be re-opening at the end of March, 2019. One month before that scheduled opening, hopes were dashed and the memorial is once again closed “indefinitely.”
How does a project get within four weeks of completing an 11-month effort and then declare “oh well, back to square one”?
While catastrophic to projects, this Showstopper malady occurs even more often with simple task updates. Here’s one example that left scars. These are the weekly updates for a six-week task:
Week 1: “We’re 17% complete.” (I was naïve and didn’t catch that the precise “17%” should have been a clue.)
Week 2: “We’re 33% complete.” (Two weeks of progress for a six-week task is indeed 33%.)
Week 3: “Halfway home” (I’ll bet you see where this is going. Let’s jump ahead)
Week 5: “We’re 80% done” (Another clue. After being mathematically precise, we’ve moved to round numbers. The “mathematical” answer should have been 83%.)
Week 6 (the due date): “90% of the way there.” (Ok, we’re going to be a bit late. Certainly we can finish off 10% in another week!)
Week 7: “95%” Week 8: “97%” Week 9 “98%.”
Week 10 was special. “We’ve run across a problem with completing our task. We really don’t know how or when we can fix it.” Oh, Sh. . . . . owstopper.
Unhappiness reigned. The project staekholders and sponsors reacted badly. “Couldn’t you have told us that in week 1 or 2?!”
Honest and accurate task updates are essential to minimizing the adverse effect of Showstoppers. Uncertainty happens – so expose it and publicize it as early as possible! It’s likely that project sponsors can provide help with nasty surprises, but only if they know about them. Too many project teams and managers conceal bad news, hoping to overcome it themselves before bosses find out. That’s bad practice and results in a potentially lethal credibility hit for the project manager.
Consider this. At some point the Park Service will announce another target date for reopening this Memorial. But given the above track record, should we believe them?
To try a system designed to escalate Showstoppers as quickly as they emerge, check out the RISK-FREE GPS Challenge.
