Three Circles Consulting Ltd

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Exposing the broken bones

Are any of the following familiar?

  • Have you ever had a feeling that another scope change would be the straw that broke your project?
  • Did your project team seem to be working in a vacuum, isolated from other parts of the business - especially the eventual customers?
  • No matter how closely you were following the prescribed methodology, were people pulling in different directions?

 

These are all symptoms of the vulnerabilities that can exist in a project. If left untreated, these symptoms result in breaks which can be painful, perhaps invisible, and surrounded with infection.

One example of such a fracture resulted from a critical change, the project was about to deliver a product that no longer fit with the way the business worked. The change in a business process was communicated to the project just prior to launch, despite project participants being aware of the change occurring some months earlier.

Healing this fracture required a major re-working of the project deliverables, resulting in upwards of 12 months delay, unplanned costs in excess of £100,000 and eventual delivery of a much smaller set of requirements than needed to provide a return on the not inconsiderable investment.

Understanding and taking action to mitigate vulnerabilities may have prevented this break from occurring, or promoted rapid healing.

 

Use of a diagnostic tool can greatly aid understanding of vulnerability to project fractures, and identify actions to take. Teams who have followed this approach have found benefits such as;

  • Reducing the risk of project failure,
  • Early warning of potential trouble spots,
  • Feedback on the effectiveness of actions taken to address issues,
  • Multiplying the return from corrective actions, across projects,
  • Low-risk way to check project health,
  • Engages people in recognising and resolving problems.

 

Take this opportunity to assess your project for vulnerabilities. Download a FREE Project Vulnerability Assessment diagnostic and access your copy of the research results from www.projectfractures.com.