Three topical perspectives
on project development
The latest news in project management were presented in October at the Project Days 2019 seminar, Finland’s largest professional event for project business and management. I will sum up the offerings of Project Days in three aspects of project management: communication, agility and people-centred management.
Is project communication working?
Successful projects highlight the importance of communication. Communication must cover not only the core project team but also the internal and external stakeholders. If a project faces challenges in achieving its defined objectives, the role and importance of project communication becomes even more important. Examples of this are Olkiluoto 3, Länsimetro and many system reforms, starting with VR ticketing.
There is rarely too much communication. Most messages do not usually reach the whole target group the first time. Nowadays, people receive so much communication that messages have to be sharply worded. Repetition is often necessary, especially if the project affects a large number of people. It is worth combining several communication channels so that at least one of them will eventually reach the target audience.
Communication pitfalls can include unfamiliar concepts and difficult language, poor timing, conflicting messages and messages that are not well adapted to the needs of the audience. It is important to identify the different groups to whom you are communicating. For some, basic knowledge is sufficient, while others need to know the smallest details.
Communication should continue until the end of the project. For example, the benefits of even a technically successful project will be meagre if the end-users do not even know what is new, even for free.
Agile development is becoming more common
Agility is a topical issue. Methodologies that originally started in soft development have spread to other areas of business. Now projects are being implemented in an agile way across a wide range of industries.
On the agile development front, the term MVP (minimum viable product) is used, meaning that a model product is created first and then refined based on user feedback. Sometimes it’s worth starting with a MDP, minimum desirable product, because a karsvalak version is not always the best option for dealing with customers. The aim is not to create a fully refined product from scratch with your own, often incomplete, initial data, but to take the product or service forward with your customers. In this way, the customer and his priorities are taken into account and the product is refined step by step, typically over a period of a few weeks.
Practical challenges include budgeting, scheduling and also contractual issues. In agile development, it should be noted that the budget is usually not fixed, as in many projects using traditional methods. Similarly, there may be problems in defining the outcome to be achieved, as the outcome may not have been firmly defined before the project was commissioned. In agile development, the end result of the implementation and often the workload are refined as the work progresses.
The agile model of development thinks that contracts should not fix both time, price and content, but only two of these. Research found that agile projects were significantly more successful than traditional waterfall projects, with a success rate of 42% for agile projects and 14% for waterfall projects (Source: The Chaos Manifesto, The Standish Group). The remaining percentages were split between failed and challenging projects. However, agile is specifically suited to complex projects; it is not necessarily appropriate for all simple projects.
In an agile approach, product owners are tempted to start listing everything they can do in the development queue. However, the best product owners are minimalists. They let only the most essential things into the development queue, and only the simplest versions of those things. This enables fast value creation, fast learning and minimizes development costs (Source: Teemu Toivanen, Triari, kokonaisketterä.fi).
The people who make the project - how to motivate them?
Projects are always carried out by people, not computers, so it is important to take the psychological aspect into account to make them successful. It is good to have complementary personality types in the project team and it is important for the project manager to take into account the different working styles of people.
Project meetings can be made more effective by, for example, discussing issues in pairs and small groups, thus involving everyone in the meeting. This also allows those who normally keep quiet to have their voices heard. This improves group relations, reduces cliques and gets people to know each other.
Recent research shows that an emotionally intelligent project manager is more than twice as likely to get his or her team to commit to objectives than an “emotionally unintelligent” one (source: Adeptus Partners Ltd).
In both communication and motivation, cultures are changing. The traditional emphasis on the need and necessity of change is exemplified by the Nokia burning oil rig letter, which I’m sure many will remember. Today, the trend is to dispel fears of change. There is also a shift from emphasising the technical impact of a project to highlighting the social impact of change (source: Driving Excellence).
Lastly
For new projects, it is therefore worth considering implementing the project using agile methods. On the one hand, the communication of the project should be well thought out and take into account all stakeholders. Thirdly, it is worth considering improving the motivation of project participants, remembering, for example, emotional intelligence skills and participative meeting practices. In this way, an essential part of the common pitfalls of projects can be overcome.
Timo Lintunen
The author has been leading product development and project activities in software companies for more than 20 years.
At Lintunen Consulting, Timo provides services for, among other things, the implementation of IT projects.
