Projects Are Networks of Commitment

May 26th, 2004 by Hal

This is the fourth in a series of project e-Tips on the five big ideas reshaping project delivery. As you read this ask yourself, what action can I take today? Leave a comment with your answer.

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

027: Projects Are Single-Purpose Networks of Commitment

A project is is a single-purpose network of commitment performed by a temporary social system. Unlike recurring business processes, the network of commitment on a project emerges rather than is designed and refined as performers have experience in the network. Performers in a project get one shot through the network. To complicate this project performers come together as strangers. They often lack experience with each others' reliability to perform within the network. Without the experience with each other, project performers will hold out on making their best commitments.

Your role as project leader is to activate the network of commitment on your project. Here are four actions you can take:

Set an example of making offers (promises) that take care of the concerns and needs of project performers. People will follow your example.
Encourage project performers to make offers and promises that they can reliably deliver. Help them as needed to improve on reliability.
Be a good customer for the promises made on your project by offering your help to performers and announcing your anticipation of completion.
Be quick to show your appreciation for the completion of promises including being notified at completion rather than at the next project team meeting.

These actions begin to bring project performers together as team members who are taking care of each other while they take care of the project. Doing this publicly provides the basis for people to develop trust in each others' competentce and reliability to perform. And it is just the beginning. Your role as project leader requires continued attention on the functioning of the network of commitment.

The Project Leaders' Studio™

I hope you are enjoying this series on five big ideas reshaping project delivery. Only one more to go before I get back to publishing your project e-Tips. And when I do I'll be sending a cereal box as a thank you!

Herrero Contractors — Enthusiastic Lean Construction Leaders

Language Action Perspective

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The Rules of Project Executive Class

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4 Responses to “Projects Are Networks of Commitment”

Lauri Says:
May 26th, 2004 at 3:31 pm
Hal,
I have read your earlier notes on this and heard you speak on this, but here comes the definitive crystallization of the network of commitments issue. Thanks, this is most helpful.
By the way, which are the other big ideas already covered?

Cheers, Lauri
Joe Ely Says:
May 27th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Hal, I ditto Lauri’s comment. This is a marvelous summary of what you’ve been talking about for years. I see application immediately.

Here’s an idea for a follow-up series, Hal, that might really help folks. Can you write a summary of how this fleshes out in a project setting? Even if you disguise the names, show how a PM would actually do this.

I’ll bet you’ve seen this fleshed out and could sketch it out.

Isn’t it great when other people create ideas that you need to do??!!

Thanks! Joe
Says:
May 29th, 2004 at 1:31 am
Lauri,

Thanks for your endorsement. Look back over the last four Projet e-Tips for four of the five big ideas.

Hal
Alan Mossman Says:
April 11th, 2005 at 4:35 am
Hal I’ve been thinking about your openning statement “A project is is a single-purpose network of commitment “. The more I thinik about it the more I feel it is a *multi-purpose* network of commitments.

This doesn’t affect the other 5 big ideas and the rest of what you say about this one applies too.

Multi- purpose because there are multiple projects — the clients’ project, the designer’s project, the main contractor’s and each of the specialist contractors’. It may be ( i’m not yet sure) that in an ideal world they will all be aligned; in reality they are not.

Acknowledging the network of projects is vital to allowing them to be openly discussed - perhaps that is a new project tip?

with best wishes

Alan

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