Reforming Project Management

Vroom and the “Capability Principle”: from sharing the project vision to successfully delivering projects

Claude Emond — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:52:55 +0000

I still meet many project managers who just state that sharing a project vision (if ever there is one) is a waste of time and that the project team should just concentrate on what they are asked (told ?) to do. This always reminds me of my first project management courses, more than 30 years ago (dinosaurs were still alive), when I was told that: "The more information people have about a project, the more veto power we are giving them…so, it is important to keep information sharing to the strict minimum, using as a strict yardstick of information distribution direct-task-oriented need-to-know information."

I am appalled to see that this primitive belief still endures today, since it shows so little understanding of how human minds and hearts really work. I am also appalled that, each time I ask about Vroom's Expectancy Theory of Motivation (dating back from the early 1960s) and it's significance to project management audiences (including many PMPs), I find out that it is still mostly unheard of or, when it is known of, it rings no bell about the relationship between sharing a project vision and mobilizing project teams to ensure project success. This is very unfortunate since Vroom's simple theory:

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Humility Makes Toyota Different

Hal — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:52:11 +0000

From the Lean Insider: Speaking to Toyota employees at the Detroit Auto Show President Watanabe asked that they take responsibility for recent quality problems.

"I do not regard the problem as something that suppliers are responsible for. We must work together so that we are fully aware of where suppliers are."

Bernstein closes saying, "At Toyota, they know that doing the best job of serving the customer is what makes the company profitable."

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Lean Project Management

Hal — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:27:32 +0000

Brad Appleton reviewed Lean Project Management, by L Leach concluding, "I found Lean Project Management to be a fairly quick read providing a good overview of some TOC and CCPM fundamentals and how they align with Lean thinking."

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Please Welcome Alan Mossman

Hal — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:31:13 +0000

We have another new blogger at RPM, Alan Mossman, Director of Lean Construction Institute UK. He trained as an architect and then worked as a socio-technical systems consultant. Returning to construction in 2000 he is co-editor of the Lean Construction Journal and from 2005-07 was Director of Constructing Excellence South West. Alan will be contributing articles every few weeks, or so. Please welcome him with your comments and questions.

When you're done reading the following post, head over to ChangeThis to vote on his manifesto proposal Together at the Workface: Improving Construction Logistics.

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Have You Enjoyed Yourself this Week?

Alan — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:28:03 +0000

Hi. I’m Alan Mossman, a consultant based in the UK. Hal has invited me to contribute occasional posts to RPM in the areas of design, safety and collaboration.

One of my profs at Uni, Stafford Beer, asserted "A system is what a system does". So why would anyone create a system that in Hal’s words “turns strangers into enemies”.
Will Lichtig addressed this issue in an article for the Fall 07 American Institute of Architects Practice Management Digest. In Projects as Patients, Will suggests a scoring system for project health — should we call it the Lichtig Score? Four of the categories - Collaborative Planning, Reliable Promising, Unaccounted-for Constraints, Safety - have clear criteria.

The questions for the equally important fifth category, Mood, are not so straight-forward to answer:

To what extent is the team positive?
To what extent is honesty and trust evident?
To what extent is the team learning and improving?
Is morale improving, steady or declining?
To what extent are team members being open and honest with each other?
Are there barriers between trades and professions and if so How high are the silo walls?
How long or short are tempers?
To what extent are team members collaborating?

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The Proximity Principle and Project Success: Revisiting Project e-Tip 016

Claude Emond — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:43:20 +0000

In my first guest-blogger entry, I mentioned the importance of managing perceptions. I wrote that not doing so was the main cause of why only one project out of three was considered successful by major stakeholders, according to the Standish Group's Chaos Report¹. I concluded that "not managing perceptions" could be considered the 10th waste of ill-managed projects.

It is easy to say that we have to manage perceptions. But where and how should we start doing that? The Chaos Report gives us pretty good leads on that. The report identifies the involvement of end-users as the No.1 in its Top Ten List of project key success factors. I talked about that also when Hal gave me the opportunity to contribute a project e-tip back in 2003 (e-tip 016: Keep the Customer/End-User Involved). After all these years, this e-tip is still relevant and I propose to rename it The Proximity Principle and to revisit it as it pertains to fighting the 10th waste.

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AIA “Hot Topic”: Target Value Design

Hal — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:34:29 +0000

Back in the fall 2007, the AIA Practice Management Digest asked Greg Howell, Executive Director of the Lean Construction Institute, to convene a panel of design and construction lean thinkers to write on lean design (for construction). I was one of the invited essayists. I wrote a paper with Greg and John Barberio. Our topic was Target-Value Design.

We proposed that Target-Value Design (TVD) turns the current design practice upside-down.

Rather than estimate based on a detailed design, design based on a detailed estimate.
Rather than evaluate the constructibility of a design, design for what is constructible.
Rather than design alone and then come together for group reviews and decisions, work together to define the issues and produce decisions then design to those decisions.
Rather than narrow choices to proceed with design, carry solution sets far into the design process.
Rather than work alone in separate rooms, work in pairs or a larger group face-to-face.

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Claude Emond, Guest Blogger

Hal — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:21:27 +0000

I'm glad to have Claude posting at RPM. It was Claude who gave name to these wonder filled times — the project age. Please welcome him with your comments.

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Not Managing Perceptions: The 10th Waste of Project Management

Claude Emond — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:17:34 +0000

"Project Quality Management must address the management of the project and the product of the project"

(p.180, PMBoK, 3rd edition)

In an earlier blog entry, I presented the Nine Wastes of Mismanaged Projects, according to Lean Project Management gurus (Howell, Macomber, Koskela, Bodek). I said then that I saw a 10th waste adversely affecting project success: Not Managing Perceptions. Today, I will briefly explain why I believe that not managing perceptions is a major project waste, and why it has to be taken care of for our projects to be successful.

The sentence from the PMBoK quoted above is one of the most important messages on successful project management. It means that project quality, a strong indicator of project success, does not only depend on the physical characteristics of project deliverables, it also depends on HOW they were delivered. It means that a project is not only a destination, it is also a journey. It means that in matters of quality, BOTH the journey and the destination are important.

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Ease into (Lean Project) Cold Water — Not!

Hal — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:20:40 +0000

Our inclination is to ease into new situations. We take baby steps thinking that it is the safe way to engage in something new. Two of my sons just went sky diving. There's no reasonable way to ease out of the plane…particularly when you are jumping tandem. There's no reasonable way to ease into cold water. How do I know? I've tried it. I suspect many of you have tried it too!

"…incremental change promotes a parochial outlook and attitude"

Lean practices are as shocking as cold water. There's no sense easing into lean. It only extends the pain. We know that lean thinking is superior to conventional wisdom. What most people don't know is how to engage in the new lean practices. Jump in!

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10 Ways for a Project Manager to Get Fired

Hal — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:53:03 +0000

Don't you just love Industry Week? Whether you work in manufacturing or you do projects for manufacturers you gotta pay attention to IW stories. In the December 2007 issue there was a sidebar on careers. IW quoted from John M. McKee's book, Career Wisdom: 101 Proven Strategies to Ensure Workplace Success. McKee offered these 10 ways to get yourself fired:

Don't have a clear life plan.
Don't keep your skill set current.
Never deliver results.
Confuse efficiency with effectiveness.

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Toyota Bests Ford in 2007

Hal — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:33:09 +0000

WSJ reported, "Ford and GM reported lower December sales, capping off annual declines of 12% and 6%, respectively. Toyota's 2007 sales (in US) rose 3.1% even amid tough competition and signs that the U.S. consumer is beginning to labor in a slowing economy."

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