The thin red line of my project
Many articles and tips on the skills needed for a successful project, but almost always, especially in sports, we hear that the maximum levelup gives us - DEFEAT! I want to share my "failure" and how I acted according to circumstances, but you might think that you should.
Perhaps someone more experienced or quick-witted has come across this and will comment on how to avoid any of the listed problems.
I am the most ordinary person (2 arms, 2 legs), with a small background and minimal experience in project management (1 year), and in general not even knowing who I am and why in this world.
')
And yet, all restrictions (that is, the conditions specified, but not described their occurrence) are considered a priori accepted by the reader. Consider this as a task from a chess textbook, where the alignment of figures is given in a task and you have to win or draw to a draw, and who and why have “squandered” all the other pieces and cornered the rest, it doesn't matter. We work with what we have.
How often it is said that you first need to do TK. And even better to do it not for free, but for the money of the Customer.
It happened to me too, there are TK (and not just TK there, but a set of different specifications, all in full), the preliminary budget and terms are voiced to the Customer (yes, sometimes you just “arrive”).
I quickly looked at what had halt (the quality of the TZ) - everything is very bad, but so far I still do not realize the scale of the disaster. My instinct tells me - run Forest, run! But there is nowhere to run, the company cannot afford to take the project (many reasons). What to do? Are you the leader? - think this is your job! And so it is - the impossible is possible.
It is received quickly from the currently available “Arsenal”, the timeframe and budget of “x2”, and then we'll see)
The customer, of course, to say the least shocked, is not happy about the deadlines. Okay, the deadlines are doing “x1.5”, but the budget is left “x2”.
“An insurance agent should be able to do two things: first - scare, and then reassure.”
Everything is always so cool and cool to talk about the team (often with pictures of Ocean's 11 friends) that ALL can. Alas, but sometimes the “team” at the start of a project is available (sometimes on an unopposed basis) company employees with the minimum appropriate knowledge and maybe even not knowing each other. And to make it even more fun, “resources” are added to the dream team - gradually, as they are released from other projects.
Time is tight, the team is distributed, so the solution is complex:
The worst nightmare in the project in my opinion - the problem with the salary!
All probably know such a turn as - cash gap. But it's getting worse. Real problems. There are prospects for getting out of this, but fact is fact. No money left.
And then there may be a solution?
I do not know what can be done here. All gathered. Everyone understands everything. I asked if there was an opportunity to warn about my departure as much as possible in advance and that I would understand everything, but at least I will have time to think “how to live further” I knew someone personally, so I knew that they would stay. The rest could not affect.
In the future, everything was corrected, but not all survived until the bright days: (
We all know that appetite comes with eating. Therefore, the new requirements at the beginning and in the middle of the project are sacred.
There were no buffers for this, so immediately only one path was designated - expansion of the scope and cost of work.
But there was a trick - if the new works are not paid for X days, the same works go up by Y% (voiced after the fact - since this idea came when it became clear that the situation had a tendency to delay). It stimulated to immediately determine whether this work will go on or not.
One of the risk management techniques involves solving by creating buffers. But where to spend this "money" if time cannot be bought? I honestly still do not know how and where people gather their teams, especially in a short time.
I tried to find the first half of the project to find someone on the market and increase the team, but it was useless, there were not even any options I was ready to call. Further, the introduction of new people would only increase the deadline for the delivery of the project, so this idea was eliminated.
Further buffers were spent on processing by those who were not against it and were postponed until then clearly realizing that in time we would not complete the work.
Classics analytics says that first of all at the beginning of the work the criteria necessary for the successful completion of the project are determined: a list of features, what needs to be done to pass each of them, who will receive it, on what equipment.
But we immediately have a TZ (list of requirements) - and it was a trap. To be honest, sometimes the absence of TK is better than its presence.
The worst possible solution. We do as we see ourselves. If this contradicts the TK, then we break it.
The most interesting part of my problems with the most classic human solution.
I think everyone always has some kind of internal reporting. Any company has its own KPIs or artifacts that judge the situation on the project. Since from the very beginning everything was bad on the project, I tried my best to reflect this in the reporting. But ... nothing happened. As I thought, nobody could help me with anything. Then why should I still have problems?
I began to lie! Without any remorse. I lied to all who need it, if it interfered or distracted me from the project.
But I didn't lie to some people - to the team. I didn’t even tell them that I’m lying upstairs about how we are doing. It was probably dangerous. But I was part of the team - and you can't lie to yourself.
In some comments here on Habré, I read that the most important task of PM is to get rid of the legal requirements of the customer (the phrase is not exact, but it conveys the essence). So, this magic is still beyond my power. But something tells me that all projects somehow deviate from the original requirements. Especially if such things as productivity or abrupt change in the “acceptor” of works pop up.
My possibilities were not unlimited. Solving legal, technical and organizational problems took a lot of time. Most of the requirements in the TOR were changed to correct formulations and agreed. But there are conditions that have not been met. What I reported on the delivery of work. I did not see the point in reporting this earlier, since it could not help the delivery of the project on time.
I deliberately did not give an assessment of the outcome of my decisions, since it would still be subjective.
Objective picture - the deadline and scope of the project are not met, part of the team is lost.
There is only one amendment, for the purposes of the project there wasn’t - create a team.
Here is the story of some of my problems in managing the most ordinary project.
"All events and characters are fictional, any coincidences are random."
Perhaps someone more experienced or quick-witted has come across this and will comment on how to avoid any of the listed problems.
I am the most ordinary person (2 arms, 2 legs), with a small background and minimal experience in project management (1 year), and in general not even knowing who I am and why in this world.
')
And yet, all restrictions (that is, the conditions specified, but not described their occurrence) are considered a priori accepted by the reader. Consider this as a task from a chess textbook, where the alignment of figures is given in a task and you have to win or draw to a draw, and who and why have “squandered” all the other pieces and cornered the rest, it doesn't matter. We work with what we have.
1. We choose - we are chosen.
How often it is said that you first need to do TK. And even better to do it not for free, but for the money of the Customer.
Fear your desires!PM is the same appointed position in the projects as all the others, so it’s quite a working situation that the project already comes with the TK and responsibility for its implementation.
It happened to me too, there are TK (and not just TK there, but a set of different specifications, all in full), the preliminary budget and terms are voiced to the Customer (yes, sometimes you just “arrive”).
I quickly looked at what had halt (the quality of the TZ) - everything is very bad, but so far I still do not realize the scale of the disaster. My instinct tells me - run Forest, run! But there is nowhere to run, the company cannot afford to take the project (many reasons). What to do? Are you the leader? - think this is your job! And so it is - the impossible is possible.
Decision
It is received quickly from the currently available “Arsenal”, the timeframe and budget of “x2”, and then we'll see)
The customer, of course, to say the least shocked, is not happy about the deadlines. Okay, the deadlines are doing “x1.5”, but the budget is left “x2”.
“An insurance agent should be able to do two things: first - scare, and then reassure.”
2. People - they are not resources!
Everything is always so cool and cool to talk about the team (often with pictures of Ocean's 11 friends) that ALL can. Alas, but sometimes the “team” at the start of a project is available (sometimes on an unopposed basis) company employees with the minimum appropriate knowledge and maybe even not knowing each other. And to make it even more fun, “resources” are added to the dream team - gradually, as they are released from other projects.
Decision
Time is tight, the team is distributed, so the solution is complex:
- Having spat on everything there are plans for tasks, at the entrance to the project everyone is given 1-2 weeks to dive without tasks in Jira.
- Show current status. That is, all indicators of the project should be in the most conspicuous place (the start page of the project in Confluence), it should be updated and there should be an understanding of where all this comes from and why. Everyone should understand what we are in and how quickly we go deeper and deeper. Previously, it was my internal reporting on the project within the company to the management, but then I changed the policy and sent the reporting on the project back to the team.
- No rallies! The knight's move) Only one planning meeting jointly on Mondays for the cape of new immediate tasks or a joint decision on the fact that they are stuck. The concept is simple, if we do not contact each other on our own, we have no chance at all. So why seduce people with rallies, to which you can postpone the discussion of the problem. There is a problem - we call right away, at the same time we begin to communicate with each other. And this is already there - glimpses of the team.
3. In the morning, chairs - money in the evening!
The worst nightmare in the project in my opinion - the problem with the salary!
All probably know such a turn as - cash gap. But it's getting worse. Real problems. There are prospects for getting out of this, but fact is fact. No money left.
Decision
And then there may be a solution?
I do not know what can be done here. All gathered. Everyone understands everything. I asked if there was an opportunity to warn about my departure as much as possible in advance and that I would understand everything, but at least I will have time to think “how to live further” I knew someone personally, so I knew that they would stay. The rest could not affect.
In the future, everything was corrected, but not all survived until the bright days: (
4. New requirements
We all know that appetite comes with eating. Therefore, the new requirements at the beginning and in the middle of the project are sacred.
Decision
There were no buffers for this, so immediately only one path was designated - expansion of the scope and cost of work.
But there was a trick - if the new works are not paid for X days, the same works go up by Y% (voiced after the fact - since this idea came when it became clear that the situation had a tendency to delay). It stimulated to immediately determine whether this work will go on or not.
5. Money is everything.
One of the risk management techniques involves solving by creating buffers. But where to spend this "money" if time cannot be bought? I honestly still do not know how and where people gather their teams, especially in a short time.
Decision
I tried to find the first half of the project to find someone on the market and increase the team, but it was useless, there were not even any options I was ready to call. Further, the introduction of new people would only increase the deadline for the delivery of the project, so this idea was eliminated.
Further buffers were spent on processing by those who were not against it and were postponed until then clearly realizing that in time we would not complete the work.
6. Who are the judges?
Classics analytics says that first of all at the beginning of the work the criteria necessary for the successful completion of the project are determined: a list of features, what needs to be done to pass each of them, who will receive it, on what equipment.
But we immediately have a TZ (list of requirements) - and it was a trap. To be honest, sometimes the absence of TK is better than its presence.
Decision
The worst possible solution. We do as we see ourselves. If this contradicts the TK, then we break it.
7. Big Brother is watching you
The most interesting part of my problems with the most classic human solution.
I think everyone always has some kind of internal reporting. Any company has its own KPIs or artifacts that judge the situation on the project. Since from the very beginning everything was bad on the project, I tried my best to reflect this in the reporting. But ... nothing happened. As I thought, nobody could help me with anything. Then why should I still have problems?
Decision
I began to lie! Without any remorse. I lied to all who need it, if it interfered or distracted me from the project.
But I didn't lie to some people - to the team. I didn’t even tell them that I’m lying upstairs about how we are doing. It was probably dangerous. But I was part of the team - and you can't lie to yourself.
8. Now we need a miracle or soft skills.
In some comments here on Habré, I read that the most important task of PM is to get rid of the legal requirements of the customer (the phrase is not exact, but it conveys the essence). So, this magic is still beyond my power. But something tells me that all projects somehow deviate from the original requirements. Especially if such things as productivity or abrupt change in the “acceptor” of works pop up.
Decision
My possibilities were not unlimited. Solving legal, technical and organizational problems took a lot of time. Most of the requirements in the TOR were changed to correct formulations and agreed. But there are conditions that have not been met. What I reported on the delivery of work. I did not see the point in reporting this earlier, since it could not help the delivery of the project on time.
PS
I deliberately did not give an assessment of the outcome of my decisions, since it would still be subjective.
Objective picture - the deadline and scope of the project are not met, part of the team is lost.
There is only one amendment, for the purposes of the project there wasn’t - create a team.
Here is the story of some of my problems in managing the most ordinary project.
"All events and characters are fictional, any coincidences are random."
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/450350/
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