Recently, it was estimated that 36% of business projects fail. Trillions of dollars are invested into projects every year, so that’s a lot of money being wasted. Most projects run into trouble towards the end of the project and it becomes challenging to right the ship. When it’s realized that a project is going off track, how do you recover it? Read on to learn the important steps for project recovery!

Back on Track: 4 Steps to Project Recovery

1. Create a Special Team

The first step is to create a special team tasked with recovery. This is a team composed of folks outside of the current project. Think of this team as an internal audit. Their goal is to do an independent evaluation of the project, conduct critical assessments, and execute the recovery process. As they will be stepping on toes, it’s important to have a good mix of personalities to minimize personnel issues. Buy-in from the current project team is key.

2. Start From the Top

Projects that follow the methodologies outlined by the Project Management Institute generally have a project charter with an outlined mission, objectives, and success criteria. These project artifacts must be reviewed and validated. It’s expected that some elements may need to evolve to match any new learnings since the project started. It’s also anticipated that any modifications will require approval.

3. Perform a Critical Assessment

A well-thought-out assessment is efficient, accurate, and minimizes project distractions. During the assessment, all critical project artifacts will need to be reviewed and project team members will need to be interviewed. Project artifacts in this step usually include the project plan, budget and associated metrics, estimate and pricing details, contract, and project organization chart.
The employees critical to the interviews include the project manager, sponsor, stakeholders, members of the project management office (if applicable), contractors, vendors, customers, and project team members. The goal of these interviews is to determine the exact status of the project, as well as any risks, issues, and opportunities. Interviews should emphasize confidentiality and open-ended questions.
Once the assessment is complete, the data should be analyzed and a list of findings and action items must be created. Then answer the most important question: is recovery possible? If so, move on to the next step.

4. Plan and Recover the Project

Once recovery is deemed possible, an extended team will need to be curated and the recovery process will start. It’s expected the focus now is on not failing. In addition, the recovery process will be subject to intense scrutiny, tight controls, and higher frequencies of communication and monitoring. The recovery plan must also take into consideration employee morale, personnel problems, and leadership issues. Patience, constant monitoring, and regular feedback are significant events during recovery.
Failing projects are recoverable. However, experience is necessary to turn them around. Do you need assistance in getting your project back on track? Check out Project Genetics today and meet with seasoned experts who can recover your troubled project! We help customers every day with project delivery. We are 100% committed to project success and can help you get your project back in line with your organization’s goals.

Recently, it was estimated that projects have only a 64% success rate. In Australia alone, an average of $5.4 billion was being wasted on abandoned and poorly executed projects. The warning signs are there when a project is on rocky grounds. Yet, management is often the last to know that a project is headed for failure. What are the signs of project delivery failure and what can be done to stop this situation? Read on to learn more!

5 Signs Your Organization Is Failing at Project Delivery

1. Poor Communication

If core project team members aren’t talking to each other, that’s a bad sign. And if the project team is not talking to leadership or the stakeholders, that’s an even worse sign. Project status meetings and steering committee meetings can be scheduled to enforce communication.

A project manager with excellent meeting management skills is also key. In addition, it’s important to create an environment where negative news is accepted so participants are not fearful to relay issues and risks.

2. Disinterest

Does this sound familiar? People are late to or absent from meetings. Meeting attendees are quiet. People aren’t paying attention or distracted by their phones instead of focusing on the meeting. This is one of the earliest signals that your project is doomed to fail.

Healthy projects have active engagement, high participation, and a generally positive environment. This can be accomplished through robust project management and strong support and buy-in from leadership.

3. Overtime

A direct sign that a project is failing is when employees are working too much overtime. This indicates that the project has not been estimated correctly, too many unanticipated issues have been encountered, and the current project management style is not a good fit. A side effect of overtime is a decline in employee health.

A smoothly running project should have little to no schedule overruns. A change in project management and well-thought-out mitigation plans for project issues and risks will help resolve this issue.

4. Missed Milestones

One of the clearest signs that a project is in trouble is when a milestone is missed. Unfortunately, by this time it’s too late. While due dates can sometimes be missed, missing them in a big way (weeks off track) or missing too many milestones indicates the project is on the wrong path. If the first milestone is missed, it’s time to evaluate the current project management and leadership to see if a change is required.

5. Scope Creep

Another warning sign of project failure is when the project scope expands with no realignment to the project plan. This impacts project deliverables, due dates, and execution details. Scope creep is a common issue on projects and can quickly lead to other warning signs like overtime, poor communication, and missed milestones. It’s important to have an experienced project manager and effective decision-makers on the project to keep scope creep in check.

Are you concerned about your organization’s ability to execute on projects? Visit Project Genetics today to learn more about successful project execution! Our proprietary process puts the right person on the job from day one. Clients love our no-nonsense approach because we are 100% committed to project success. We get things done on time, every time, and on every project!

Recently, it was estimated that projects have only a 64% success rate. In Australia alone, an average of $5.4 billion was being wasted on abandoned and poorly executed projects. The warning signs are there when a project is on rocky grounds. Yet, management is often the last to know that a project is headed for failure. What are the signs of project delivery failure and what can be done to stop this situation? Read on to learn more!

5 Signs Your Organization Is Failing at Project Delivery

1. Poor Communication

If core project team members aren’t talking to each other, that’s a bad sign. And if the project team is not talking to leadership or the stakeholders, that’s an even worse sign. Project status meetings and steering committee meetings can be scheduled to enforce communication.

A project manager with excellent meeting management skills is also key. In addition, it’s important to create an environment where negative news is accepted so participants are not fearful to relay issues and risks.

2. Disinterest

Does this sound familiar? People are late to or absent from meetings. Meeting attendees are quiet. People aren’t paying attention or distracted by their phones instead of focusing on the meeting. This is one of the earliest signals that your project is doomed to fail.

Healthy projects have active engagement, high participation, and a generally positive environment. This can be accomplished through robust project management and strong support and buy-in from leadership.

3. Overtime

A direct sign that a project is failing is when employees are working too much overtime. This indicates that the project has not been estimated correctly, too many unanticipated issues have been encountered, and the current project management style is not a good fit. A side effect of overtime is a decline in employee health.

A smoothly running project should have little to no schedule overruns. A change in project management and well-thought-out mitigation plans for project issues and risks will help resolve this issue.

4. Missed Milestones

One of the clearest signs that a project is in trouble is when a milestone is missed. Unfortunately, by this time it’s too late. While due dates can sometimes be missed, missing them in a big way (weeks off track) or missing too many milestones indicates the project is on the wrong path. If the first milestone is missed, it’s time to evaluate the current project management and leadership to see if a change is required.

5. Scope Creep

Another warning sign of project failure is when the project scope expands with no realignment to the project plan. This impacts project deliverables, due dates, and execution details. Scope creep is a common issue on projects and can quickly lead to other warning signs like overtime, poor communication, and missed milestones. It’s important to have an experienced project manager and effective decision-makers on the project to keep scope creep in check.

Are you concerned about your organization’s ability to execute on projects? Visit Project Genetics today to learn more about successful project execution! Our proprietary process puts the right person on the job from day one. Clients love our no-nonsense approach because we are 100% committed to project success. We get things done on time, every time, and on every project!

Organizations are adopting the Agile project methodology to accelerate delivery and improve project outcomes. However, Agile can be difficult to learn and conquer without the correct training. It’s been told that up to one-third of small companies fail with Agile. And that number can increase to two-thirds with larger-sized companies and more complex organizational structures. Luckily, an experienced coach can be the key to success! Read on to understand whether Agile coaching is a good fit for your organization!

5 Signs Your Organization Could Use Agile Coaching

1. Your Team Is Stressed Out

The symptoms are obvious. People are griping, working overtime, unsure of their roles and responsibilities, and not communicating. And it seems like the entire team is running to stand still. Employees are ready to throw in the towel. Don’t give up! This is completely normal as a team learns the Agile ropes and adjusts to the process. A coach can step in, identify the gaps, and right that ship!

2. You Spend More Time Fixing Than Building

We’ve all heard the story. The fix list continues to pile up and there’s no end in sight. The development list falls to the wayside as the priorities shift. If you find yourself in a situation where you’re constantly delaying the delivery of new development, then something needs tweaking. An adjustment in work quality is needed to reduce the number of breakages. An Agile coach can help!

3. You Keep Missing Deadlines

Perhaps you missed one deadline. That’s fine, but then another one gets missed. And another. And pretty soon, you’ve failed to meet your customer’s or stakeholders’ expectations. Bring in an Agile coach! Usually, this can be fixed by creating better collaboration and matching proper skill sets to roles. An outside perspective can assist with these sensitive areas and put you on the right path.

4. Everything Seems to Be Moving Too Slowly

With Agile sprints, it can almost seem like everything is moving too fast or too slow. The Agile methodology is intended to tap into deep work and focus. Progress will seem to grind down as this happens, creating tension. This is normal. Agile requires a gradual adoption of the new mindset. An Agile coach can renormalize the team to move you towards a better cadence.

5. Your Team Feels Disconnected From the Bigger Picture

One of the goals of Agile is to break bigger project work into smaller chunks. This falsely puts the perception of work on a smaller scale. It can be hard to connect to the larger vision and strategy. If the team is asking questions that indicate they don’t understand the why of what they’re doing, then it will be hard for them to make good decisions about their work. Utilize an Agile coach to reconnect the team to the bigger picture!

Are you struggling with the Agile methodology or attempting to scale with Agile, yet running into roadblocks? Take a look at Project Genetics today to connect with an expert on project delivery! We’re a proven leader in project implementation and committed to your success. We’re passionate about project victory and can help you feel more comfortable with Agile!

Mergers and acquisitions are an excellent opportunity to improve your processes and streamline your operations. However, if you aren’t careful, confusion can consume both organizations. Process optimization during M&As is critical as it will determine the future of both organizations. How can you ensure that your M&As actually result in improvements for everyone? Here are some of the steps we take at Project Genetics to get the best results possible.

4 Keys to Process Optimization After Mergers and Acquisitions

1. Quantify and Contrast

Before you can even think about optimizing processes, you have to first understand how both organizations handle a given task. If both organizations involved have a similar process, you should quantify each step taken and map out the path each process takes through each organization. You may find that one is more efficient than the other, or you could discover an ideal middle ground that gets the best of both strategies.

However, you might be acquiring a company specifically because they can do something you cannot. In those cases, you should still break down the process to its key components. Perhaps there is something your existing infrastructure can do to improve it. You cannot transform what you do not understand, so process analysis is always an important first step.

2. Cull Unnecessary Redundancies

Optimization means you need to eliminate any unnecessary steps. In most M&A scenarios, there will be redundancies that can be removed. This could mean letting go of positions that no longer serve a clear purpose. You may need to reallocate human resources to other areas where they can be more useful. However, you need to be careful to avoid removing critical knowledge from your newly expanded organization.

Oftentimes the larger of the two companies will keep most of its personnel while shedding a significant number from the acquired organization. This may make sense if you intend to rely more on your organization’s processes. However, if you see value in the other company’s approaches, make sure you keep people who know that process inside and out. They will be valuable as you look to optimize later.

3. Implement Better Technological Solutions

M&As are the perfect moment to sit down and evaluate better solutions for your problems. Could your processes be improved by better tracking with data analytics? Has your merger necessitated cloud storage as a means to ensure smooth operation over long distances? Would a change in collaboration software help your new team integrate and speed up processes? Again, it’s important to take stock of what both organizations use and identify weaknesses that could be bolstered by a change in tools.

4. Unify Team Members

When two organizations merge, each knows something that the other doesn’t. In order to truly optimize your processes, the people on both sides need to come together and work in unison. Try to integrate new team members and encourage them to share knowledge with one another to reach that middle ground faster.

Projects depend on processes. Mastery of each small step in a larger process will lead to success for your grandest projects. If you need project delivery solutions and a more comprehensive understanding of your processes, contact Project Genetics to schedule a meeting. We’ll help your organization emerge stronger from M&As and prepare you for much greater success going forward.