Questions for Project Repair
Periodically, I get a call to help a project that has derailed.
Now being just slightly experienced in this field (28years in IT, + 10 in construction), I know that projects USUALLY don't get derailed. If managed reasonably they take exactly the length of time the product needs them to take.
Projects (usually) get "derailed" either because the original concept was out to lunch , the original estimate was out to lunch or because the people involved are working on a different project than what management thought they were working on.
So I've started asking before I even start - "Are you prepared to cancel this project?". If the answer is no, then I know that they aren't really interested in saving the project -- just their face. And I turn the contract down (with a suitable explanation of why I ask the question -- and the comment that if they are not prepared to accept bad news I probably can't help them since they are unlikely to be willing to make the hard decisions which may be necessary).
It's amazing how many companies answer no - even after the explanation! (And of those that do say "yes" the number who refuse my (typical) first recommendation of putting the project on hold long enough to redesign the project).
Glen Ford
