ICYMI: Community Event with Tim Rumbaugh
Our latest Wellingtone Community event took place looking at why projects fail and identifying a new way of thinking about projects that can rid the world of project failure. Tim Rumbaugh from Edwards Lifesciences explained that first and foremost we need to simplify our thinking.
Enablers to Rid the World of Project Failure
Tim introduced us to a new mindset of using the business, technical, and project crafts to support:
Collaboration is key to success. As Tim reminded us, you can only take innovation and projects so far before you need to collaborate. If not, you risk the quality or even achieving the goal.
“Speak like an expert, listen like a novice.”
Design Thinking and How It Fits into Project Management
Respondents were asked, "How often do your projects reach their intended destination?"
Design thinking across people, ideas, and tools. Designing a user-centric problem-solving approach emphasizes creativity, hones in on the user experience, and better understands our stakeholders.
The problem of not doing this was demonstrated by all who attended the event: only some of our projects reached the intended destination. The good part of this message is that no one felt their projects never got there. So, there are some things we’re doing right.
Tim provided sound advice on identifying expectations and introduced the point of view that project failure means not meeting our stakeholders’ expectations. Simple as that. Do you agree?
It makes sense when you consider that without expectations there can be no failure.
The key to understanding expectations is that they are much wider than we are used to looking. They go much deeper and include the expectations of input, and activity. Product, project, and provision.
Where’s the Focus?
Respondents were asked, "What is typically the focus of your projects?"
Whereas most of us focus on the outcome and delivery of projects, we must consider other facets as part of any project–including impact.
The fact that all of these focus areas and expectations are connected creates a much more complex environment for our projects to thrive. In organizations, there is often no system specifically designed to enable project success.
Systems thinking helps with this. It is an analytical approach to address problems by looking at them as a whole not individual parts. Once we create this, we also need to enable humans to work with and use the system through education and support.
One solution is to consider all methods and standards that we have in organizations and identify the best practices to adopt.
The latest PMI Pulse of the Profession report encourages this approach of bricolage (picking the right tools for the job). The report discusses the decline of pure Agile approaches for more commonly adopted hybrid approaches.
Progress thinking enables ridding the world of project failure. Acknowledging that project reality differs from the project plan allows individuals and teams to work smarter.
Tim also reminded us not to get bogged down in risk management. We must look much broader because improving one part of the system does not necessarily improve the whole.
Tips from the Community
Considering the above, and the unique way that Tim talks about these concepts, there are things you can do today to help rid your world of project failure.
- Understand the perspective of your leadership team. Changing an organization’s culture with the project management practice takes time, and knowing where there are areas open for evolution will be a key to success.
- Use Change Management practices to support the evolution of your particular reality. It helps to define the current state, envision the future state, set the course for the ideal state, and measure progress.
- Changing the mindset of the organization starts with you. As Tim Rumbaugh stated, “It’s not about being perfect. It’s about progressing.”
Final Thoughts
The Wellingtone Community encourages members to learn, share, and grow. Additionally, we offer free monthly learning and sharing events, access to our Dr. PMO Clinic, and opportunities to get involved in the industry’s evolution. Join us on your journey.
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