Strategies for Rescuing Troubled Projects: Part 1
Highlights
Research shows that problematic or troubled projects are a common occurrence.
Prime 8 is frequently engaged to assess and revitalize problematic projects and deliver positive outcomes.
The first steps are gathering information — analyzing the causes of the failure — and realigning perspectives so all stakeholders are once again on the same page.
Our consultants then use data-driven decision making (DDDM) techniques to get the project back on track.
We all aspire to do our best in situations where “failure is not an option,” but in the everyday reality of the business world, failure is a fact of life. Many projects that start out with bold goals and expectations end up veering off track and becoming problematic.
This two-part series examines Prime 8’s proven method for putting troubled projects back on track and delivering positive outcomes. Part 1 focuses on the initial steps we follow to understand what caused a project to founder and implement data-driven decision making. In part 2, we’ll look at strategies to address specific operational issues and build a foundation for sustained growth.
The High Frequency of Troubled Projects
If your organization has experienced a project where results fell short of expectations, rest assured you’re not alone. Numerous studies have established that underperforming projects occur with surprising frequency.
Over its 30 years of studying the performance of large software projects, Standish Group, a Boston-based research firm, has found that over half of all such projects are either challenged or failed.
Research by McKinsey and the University of Oxford suggests that projects with a price tag over $15 million, on average, run 45 percent over budget and 7 percent over time, while delivering 56 percent less value than predicted.
The Project Management Institute (PMI), a professional organization for project management, reported in its "Pulse of the Profession" study from 2020 that 11% of IT projects failed to deliver any business value, and many organizations saw failure rates as high as 67%.
Prime 8’s Approach to Rescuing Troubled Projects
When Prime 8 is called in to assess and potentially rescue a project that is underperforming, we work with clients through a series of steps:
Gathering information
Implementing data-driven decision making
Building a foundation for sustained growth
As part of this process, we uncover common shortcomings— for example, the need to optimize technology usage, address skill/expertise gaps, or implement better change management. Our goal at every step of the way is to build a culture of continuous improvement.
Here’s a detailed look at the first steps of our approach to troubled projects as well as some examples of how we have taken on problematic projects and produced positive outcomes.
For a deeper dive into how we help build a foundation for sustained growth, see part 2 of this series.
GATHERING INFORMATION
In the midst of a project crisis — with emotions running high and the blame button likely getting a good workout — gathering as much data as possible delivers immediate benefits.
We look to synthesize both objective and subjective inputs — team interviews, project tracking and status reports, data outputs, etc. — to equip leaders at the client organization with enough information to make a responsible decision about their commitment to the project.
ANALYZING THE CAUSES
While every project is different, in this initial assessment we are attuned to what research and our own experience have shown to be primary causes of project failure or underperformance:
Lack of executive sponsorship. According to the Project Management Institute, one in four organizations (26%) reports that inadequate sponsor support is a primary cause of failed projects. Also, our experience has shown that the same executive sponsorship needed to keep a project from failing in the first place is also absolutely essential to its revitalization.
Scope creep. Executive leadership is critical, but it’s not enough to ensure success. The number two cause of projects going off course is the familiar scope creep; a project that started out with a defined set of objectives gradually assumes more, often without any adjustment to time, costs, and resources. In the study mentioned above, PMI found that more than half of all projects completed that year saw significant scope creep.
REGAINING PERSPECTIVE
Through the process of identifying and understanding the underlying issues, we help our clients and stakeholders gain perspectives that will be valuable to achieving consensus on next steps and also start the process of repairing the team relationships that typically become frayed when a project runs into trouble:
Project or program managers. We help project and program managers see situations in a much larger context. In many cases, because they have been in the trenches, sensitivity to criticism about decisions previously made can blind them to logical steps forward. Helping them see the past and future of the project in a much larger context, i.e., the big picture, is a way to overcome these sensitivities while empowering them to function at a much higher level.
Senior executives. In contrast to project or program managers, top management often has a too high-level view and needs to get much more granular. Our detailed information gathering can deliver the detailed insights executives need to address the very real operational issues that can determine the success or failure of a project.
Team relationships. As projects become troubled and run aground, relationships within the project team and its stakeholders suffer and have to get back on track. Through our information gathering, we become the objective third party that can help restore the focus on outcomes and not on casting blame.
Ultimately, this discovery process also becomes the initial step in establishing or re-establishing the data-driven strategies key to delivering positive outcomes.
IMPLEMENTING DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING
The critical importance of data driven decision making (DDDM) — using business intelligence to align strategic decisions with goals and initiatives — is a mantra for everyone at Prime 8.
To implement DDDM capabilities, we typically undertake a detailed operational analysis and look for opportunities to optimize technology usage:
OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS
We make extensive use of process mapping, data analysis, performance measurement, and other tools to identify ways we can overcome earlier problems and optimize operations moving forward. Sometimes this entails rebuilding operating models on top of digital foundations.
A common strategy we use is formal failure analysis, such as a post mortem. Commonly used by design engineers, failure analysis is useful for identifying the knowledge gaps and blind spots that are holding you back, helping to avoid the repeatable mistakes caused by underperforming processes.
OPTIMIZING TECHNOLOGY USAGE
Digging into the underlying causes of a troubled project often reveals the need to help organizations optimize their technology usage, improving the use of systems and applications already in place, addressing skill issues and taking greater advantage of features that may have been overlooked.
We have undertaken this challenge with numerous clients, including the work we did for a global technology company that wanted to increase revenue by expanding its partner program. Because of problems in consolidating data and resources, the client had ground to a standstill on the project. Upon joining the project, our consultants collaborated with individual teams to identify the performance data that needed to be tracked.
In a matter of weeks, we built a prototype business intelligence (BI) dashboard that presented the information in a clear, visual format. The dashboard, as well as a related partner training program, helped increase revenue by 67% year-over-year and resulted in over four hundred new partners achieving top-tier status.
As a result of these and other engagements, we have now come to see the implementation of BI dashboards as being integral to our consulting projects.
How Can We Help You Rescue Your Troubled Project?
These are some of the first steps we take when asked to help a client get a project back on track — but this is just the start. In Part 2 of this series, we’ll look at how Prime 8 works with clients not simply to rescue troubled projects, but also to use the experience to build a foundation for sustained growth.
If you are wrestling with a difficult project, rely on Prime 8 for comprehensive consulting services that have a proven track record of helping businesses implement the data-driven strategies that drive business performance. Reach out to learn more.
