When you know your project is failing, what do you do ... · When you know your project is failing, what do you do? Project Recovery PMI Westchester Chapter White Plains, NY November

When you know your project

is failing, what do you do?

Project Recovery

PMI Westchester Chapter

White Plains, NY

November 11, 2014

Confidential

Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion LIVE TV.mp4

Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion LIVE TV.mp4

Challenger Disaster January 28th, 1986 at 11:39am EDT - The Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes on its 10th flight during mission STS-

51-L. The explosion occurred 73 seconds after liftoff. Disintegration of the vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its

right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff.

4

FAILURE MODE – WHAT DOES

IT LOOK LIKE FOR OUR

PROJECTS?

5

Learning Objectives

• Remind you about structured problem

solving techniques

• Introduce you to some tools

• Share ideas

Confidential. All rights reserved. Copyright 2014

6 Confidential. All rights reserved. Copyright 2014

Why do project fail?

7

MY PROJECT EXAMPLE



Why was my project failing?

9

HOW DO YOU RECOVER

YOUR PROJECT?

If you are not going to terminate the project…


10

When we don’t know what to do…

11

What is problem solving?


Systematic process

Defines a problematic situation

Identifying a problem as an opportunity

A resolution or solution is needed

Which is worth solving

12

Structured problem solving

• Many variants

• From 4-8 steps

• All basically include the same steps

• PMBOK

– Quality Management

– Risk Management



PMBOK 5TH Edition, P 340

14

7 step problem solving process

1. Find the

right problem

to solve

2. Define the

problem

4. Develop the

possibilities

5. Select the

best solution 6. Implement

7. Evaluate

and learn

3. Analyze the

problem

The happy manager, Apex Leadership Ltd. www.the-happy-manager.com

Six Problem Solving Fundamentals

http://www.qualitydigest.com/sept02/articles/02_article.shtml

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/








15

7 step problem solving process


1. Find the

right problem

to solve

• This step is left out of many problem-

solving methods.

• What problems are worth solving?

• Which problems can be turned into

opportunities?

• Particularly important when selecting

across possible project options.

Tools: interviewing, brainstorming, cause-and-effect diagrams, and voting


2. Define the

problem 7 step problem solving process

• What exactly is the problem?

• Provide the details of who, what, where

and when.

• Try to see every problem as an

opportunity.

Tools: brainstorming, storytelling, Pareto charts, check sheets, histograms

17

3. Analyze the

problem 7 step problem solving process

• What are the root causes?

– See PMBOK Quality Management

Page 239

Tools: interviewing,

brainstorming, cause-and-

effect diagrams, flow

charts, Pareto diagrams, 5

Why’s

18

Side Discussion About Tools

• Google “structured problem solving” – you

can find some really good documents,

small apps, workbooks and guides

• Some that I like and have used are:

– Classic fishbone diagrams

– Guides from thehappymanager.com

– Excel templates (see resource page)


19

Fishbone Diagram

aka Cause and Effect Diagram • A fishbone diagram, also called a cause and effect diagram or

Ishikawa diagram, is a visualization tool for categorizing the

potential causes of a problem in order to identify its root causes.

(Google)


Inability to deliver

Database content being overwritten

Time zone issues

Fishbone for Stacey’s struggling project

Created using Visio 2013

20

The 5 Whys

• Simple but powerful

• Explores cause and effect relationships to

help find the root cause

• Originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and

was used within the Toyota Motor

Corporation


21

The 5 Whys for Stacey’s

struggling project Why did it take 2-4 days to deploy a build?

Because the files didn’t have all of the correct and latest code

Why weren’t all of the files correct in the build?

Because one or more people had overwritten the files

Why had one or more people overwritten the files?

Because developers were simply checking in their files without

integrating their work

Why were developers not integrating their work?

Because they had not communicated that they had new work to

integrate

Why were the developers not communicating that they had

new work to integrate?

Because the current process wasn’t working

22

Problem Solving Check List

• What?

• Why?

• How?

• Where?

• Who?

• When?


Please see the handout

from

“What’s the problem” guide

by The Happy Manager

http://www.the-happy-

manager.com/









23

Check List for Stacey’s Project

• What?

– Every build requires 2-4 days to resolve integration issues

– What’s exactly is each team member doing at build time?

• Why?

– The problem arose when we integrated the new project code into the core platform

• How?

– This is relevant for the on time delivery of the new project

• Where?

– It has impact on the entire current and future distributed development process for the core

product

• Who?

– The company cares because they don’t want to lose reputation and money

– The client has promised their client the delivery within a time frame

• When?

– The problem arose when we added the new team member from a different location

– We needed an immediate remedy

24

Excel Templates

http://www.thinkreliability.com/cmtemplate-

redirect.aspx (This is a nice Excel workbook

template)

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/work

sheets/RCADownload.htm (One page root

cause template)


http://www.thinkreliability.com/cmtemplate-redirect.aspx



http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/RCADownload.htm



4. Develop the

possibilities 7 step problem solving process

• Be creative and generate lots of ideas

• Focus on opportunities

• Bring team members together

Tools: brainstorming, Pareto charts and voting


5. Select the

best solution 7 step problem solving process

• Select solutions that: – Have a strong chance of being successfully

implemented

– Will be accepted by all relevant stakeholders

– Truly address the root cause identified in the previous

step

• Agree upon a solution

Tools: Pareto charts and voting


6. Implement 7 step problem solving process

• Project planning

• Communicating to stakeholders

Tools: project planning, presentations, documentation and pilot runs


7. Evaluate

and learn 7 step problem solving process

• Verify the solution is effective

• Should be a measurable improvement

Tools: auditing, interviewing, documentation, control charts and process capability

29

“RESULTS ARE OBTAINED BY

EXPLOITING OPPORTUNITIES,

NOT BY SOLVING PROBLEMS.”

― PETER F. DRUCKER


30

TEAM EXERCISES


31

32

Problem Statement

• Ebola outbreak in Western Africa

• The fact that Ebola is continuing to spread is a

failure

• We haven’t been able to contain it

• In the US:

– 5 infected people have come into the country (as of

Oct 25) - 1 traveler and 4 healthcare workers

• 2 nurses infected in the US

• NY, NJ and other states have implemented

quarantine policies


33

Structured Problem Solving

Exercise

• Start at the beginning…What’s right

problem to solve?

• Select one possible problem from your list

• Using the tools discussed and any other

tools you are familiar with, do steps 1, 2,

and 3 Confidential. All rights reserved. Copyright 2014

1. Find the

right problem

to solve

2. Define the

problem

3. Analyze the

problem

34

Structured Problem Solving

Exercise

• Break up into groups/teams

• 20 minutes to do exercises

• 10 minutes of discussion

• Tools

1. Problem solving check list

2. Root cause analysis


35

DISCUSSION



Structure Problem Solving Resources Here are some links that I like and use:

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/store/pick-and-mix/whats-the-problem/ (Work book)

http://www.depression.org.nz/ContentFiles/Media/PDF/structured_problem_solving_workbook.pdf (Really nice workbook – can be applied to any project)

http://www.lean.org/FuseTalk/Forum/Attachments/PowerPoint%20-%20Problem%20Solving.pdf (Very nice ppt on structured problem solving)

http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/cla_/lessons/cla_lesson2_problem_solving/cla_lesson2_problem_solving.xml

http://www.thinkreliability.com/cmtemplate-redirect.aspx (This is a nice Excel workbook template)

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/RCADownload.htm (One page root cause template)

http://www.the-happy-manager.com/store/pick-and-mix/whats-the-problem/













http://www.depression.org.nz/ContentFiles/Media/PDF/structured_problem_solving_workbook.pdf





http://www.lean.org/FuseTalk/Forum/Attachments/PowerPoint - Problem Solving.pdf













37

“THE MOST SERIOUS MISTAKES

ARE NOT BEING MADE AS A

RESULT OF WRONG ANSWERS.

THE TRUE DANGEROUS THING IS

ASKING THE WRONG

QUESTION.”

― PETER F. DRUCKER


Thank you!

Contact: Stacey Berlow

[email protected]

About Stacey Berlow

• Was a Westchester chapter member from 2010-2012 when I lived in White Plains

• I live in Austin, TX

• Managing partner of Project Balance, a software project management and delivery practice

• Travel to Africa for public health related, data warehouse and data capture projects

Documents

When you know your project is failing, what do you do ... · When you know your project is failing, what do you do? Project Recovery PMI Westchester Chapter White Plains, NY November