Facilitating Project Performance Improvement

Overview

Don't risk project failure: multi-level learning gives any organization a firm foundation for project success—today and in the future.
Waiting until the end of a project to identify "lessons learned? is too late. By that time, the project may be ready for the scrap heap. But if your projects and programs include multi-level learning, you'll not only be fostering continuous improvements for the future, you'll be well-equipped to reduce the risk of failure while projects are "in-flight? so you can deliver maximum value to your client organization. Facilitating Project Performance Improvement helps any organization:

 

• Reduce time to market for new products, systems, processes and technologies

• Improve customer and end-user satisfaction with project outcomes

• Reduce risk of failure, wasted investment, and project runaway

• Improve productivity, quality and teamwork

• Continuously improve delivery both within and across projects.

 

Organizations simply cannot afford to leave learning to chance on their mission-critical investments. Facilitating Project Performance Improvement provides a practical approach to structured learning and reflection that enables teams to innovate and improve, ensuring both immediate and long-term project success.

About the Author

JERRY JULIAN (New York, NY) is an operations and technology performance improvement strategist and is the President & CEO of Julian Advisory Group. His clients have included JPMorgan Chase, GE Capital, Johnson & Johnson, and dozens more. He was previously with Accenture and global management consultants Rath & Strong.

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Cover Copy

As a project professional, you need ways to improve team performance, deliver results faster, and satisfy customers with the technology, people, and resources you already have. Things seldom go as smoothly as they appear in project plans. And if you wait until the end to reflect on "lessons learned,? you could still be trying to figure out why the project flamed out long afterwards, costing you and your team its reputation and your company untold wasted time and money.

 

On the other hand, if you draw on lean and agile principles to leverage the combined knowledge and experience of your team and its key stakeholders, you can not only keep current projects on track, you can shift on the fly, develop improvements while projects are "in-flight,? and continually improve performance from one phase to the next.

Facilitating Project Performance Improvement is the first book to combine lean and agile principles with multi-level learning practices, resulting in a project management strategy that significantly decreases waste, optimizes resources and time, and drives the kind of strong and sustained productivity that most project organizations only dream of—and that client organizations demand.

 

Based on the author's extensive experience in operations and technology strategy, the book highlights the shortcomings of conventional project management and reveals how to make sure every project, program, and strategic initiative is adapted, embraced, executed, and leveraged for immediate project success—as well as for ongoing organizational learning and improvement—in ways that develop significant bottom-line results

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Jacket Copy

In project management, doing "lessons learned? at the end is simply too late. By that time, there's nothing that can be done to improve your results.

 

The key to maximizing the return on any project is multi-level learning, a continuous improvement approach that draws on lean concepts and tools to optimize communication, establish repeatable processes, and leverage cross-team innovations while projects, programs, and strategies are "in-flight.?

 

The results of this approach, as the author has found in studying countless project scenarios, are astounding. Organizations are getting new products into the market faster; processes, software, and technologies deliver value sooner; wasted resources are drastically reduced as quality increases; and (no surprise) customer and end-user satisfaction reach peak levels.

 

Facilitating Project Performance Improvement is based on in-depth studies of 20 project organizations, and combines cutting-edge practices in lean and agile software development with practical multi-level learning tools to help any project-based organization realize drastic and consistent improvements within and across projects.

 

Emphasizing the need for reflection as a continuous process, the book describes learning opportunities throughout the strategic, process, and project levels of your organization's portfolio. The multi-level approach empowers teams at each of these three levels, providing a framework for real-time problem solving and continuous improvement while initiatives are in-flight, rather than relying on project postmortems or "lessons learned" databases that go unused or forgotten.

 

Specifically, the book explains how to deploy multi-level learning to:

• Accelerate the delivery of value, eliminate waste, and reduce risk at the project, program, and strategy levels

• Migrate from the traditional "red light learning? cycle—a mode that leads to continued surprises and blowups—to a continuous learning environment, without having to fully rebuild your existing project methodology

• Improve group processes to incorporate new insights, resolve conflicts, and make better cross-functional decisions

• Avoid the pitfalls associated with conventional project management approaches

• Capture and implement action items that improve team performance

• Deliver cross-project improvements that create a "multiplier? effect across the project portfolio

 

By assessing and learning from project developments in-flight, you will see immediate benefits with direct bottom-line impact, including:

• Reduced time to market for new products, systems, processes, and technologies

• Better and more predictable project outcomes

• Improved customer and end-user satisfaction

• Reduced risks of failure, wasted investment, and project runaway

• Improved productivity, teamwork, and product and service quality

• Continuous improvement in delivery and execution from one process, phase, or project to the next

 

If your projects and programs include multi-level learning, you can stay on top of unexpected challenges, take better-informed risks, and seed continuous improvements that bring maximum value to your organization or your client—today and well into the future.

 

Jerry Julian is an operations and technology performance improvement strategist and the President & CEO of Julian Advisory Group. His clients have included JPMorgan Chase, GE Capital, Johnson & Johnson, and many others. He was previously with Accenture and global management consultants Rath & Strong. Dr. Julian lives in New York City.

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Excerpt

INTRODUCTION Does your or your organization's success depend on the ability to deliver successful projects? Are you interested in helping project teams, project managers, and senior executives improve their ability to execute mission-critical projects and programs? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then this book is for you. It provides a practical guide to facilitating business transformation and performance improvement for project organizations that's grounded in cutting-edge research in the fields of project management and organizational learning. The goal is to equip you, the reader, with the knowledge, skills, and tools that will enable you to engage people and teams in a process of continuous learning, innovation, and performance improvement. The goal is to ensure success in the implementation of new organizational strategies, the development of new products, the rollout of new systems, and the management of mission-critical programs. Multi-level learning is an approach that focuses on helping organizations deliver rapid results, learn, and deliver again, providing value to customers, eliminating waste, and delivering increasing levels of value as projects and programs proceed through their life cycle. By deploying the techniques and practices in this book, you will be positioned to help your project organization: + Reduce time to market for new products, systems, processes, and technologies. + Improve customer and end-user satisfaction with project outcomes. + Reduce the risk of failure, wasted investment, and runaway projects. + Improve productivity, quality, and teamwork. + Continuously improve delivery from one project, phase, or iteration to the next. Let's face it, project environments require learning on the job. Every new project requires project managers and teams to plan out their approach, even if it's only slightly diff erent from the one they used the last time. Every new project and every phase of every project presents new challenges and opportunities. There aren't always established routines for solving every problem or seizing every opportunity that surfaces on a project. Moreover, organizational priorities can change and markets can shift while projects are "in fl ight.? Thus, every stage of every project or program provides new experiences that require managers and teams to learn, adjust, and take action. As a result, project organizations need mechanisms that enable them to continually adapt to ensure that they are focused on the right projects at the right time, that their processes are agile and eff ective, and that project teams are continually innovating from one phase to the next and from one project to the next. There are companies that have found great value in combining the concepts of lean operations with structured learning and refl ection to deliver faster results that enable them to transform and continuously improve. They've built these practices into their ongoing project and program management approach. Agile software development practices are breaking new ground on this front. These approaches engage team members in structured retrospectives after each iteration (lasting from a few days to a few weeks). The retrospective focuses on what's working, what's not working, and what needs to improve for the next iteration. The U.S. Army has been using a similar approach in its training of combat teams in the deserts of California (Darling, Parry, and Moore, 2005). Units huddle after simulated battles to refl ect on the original intent, what actually happened, and what can be improved for the next battle. The insights are then spread around the world to fi ght new enemies, who are themselves adapting to changing conditions. The computer chip maker Intel has adopted the use of retrospectives to improve its product development practices around the globe (Lavell and Martinelli, 2008a). Retrospectives have been so successful there that the company now has more than 65 people who are trained to conduct these sessions on a regular basis, leading to improvements not just on a single program, but on others that can use the innovations to improve quality and reduce development time. Clearly, reflection is not just for philosophers, poets, and academics. It has been built into the way work gets done to improve performance in some of the best learning organizations in the world. Yet while many organizations have adopted high-performing learning practices, structured reflection most often occurs in a postproject review or "lessons-learned? session at the end of a project—if it happens at all. Intel and many other companies have found that this practice isn't working. By the time the session takes place, it is often too late to allow teams to improve, and the team members may not remember everything that happened over the course of a multimonth or multiyear program. The result is that structured learning and improvement are deferred until it's too late—or avoided altogether. Because of this, learning remains informal and incidental in most project organizations, and, as we shall see later, this type of learning creates undesirable surprises, blowups, and embarrassments for senior managers and teams alike. Organizations simply cannot aff ord to leave learning to chance on their mission-critical investments. That's because without mechanisms for systematic learning, problems continue to remain under the surface, perhaps without being addressed at all, until they snowball into larger issues that trigger a "red light? on the project status reporting system (Julian, 2008). Monumental failures can occur, leaving a wake of damaged reputations, blame, and losses of both time and money for the organization. Leaving learning to chance not only can lead to outright failures, but has huge opportunity costs. Improvements that could shorten project delivery time, improve productivity, reduce cost, or improve quality can go unexploited and forgotten. As a result, the organization winds up spending countless more time, dollars, and personnel on future projects. In the extreme, each project team reinvents the wheel every time it starts a new project. It is even more likely that this will happen in environments with poor cross-project communication and stressed- out project managers and teams. MULTI-LEVEL LEARNING: AN APPROACH TO IMPROVING PROJECT AND PROGRAM PERFORMANCE Multi-level learning helps to overcome many of the problems that project organizations face. It helps to reduce risk, deliver faster results, eliminate waste, and improve teamwork on mission-critical eff orts. Its focus is on facilitating systematic refl ection at three levels: strategies, processes, and projects. In larger organizations, these levels of learning may also reflect levels of the organization. Senior teams may be primarily responsible for developing strategy and structuring a portfolio of projects and programs that will enable the organization to carry out that strategy. Program managers or project management office (PMO) leaders may be charged with sharing practice knowledge across projects to streamline processes, reduce waste, and shorten delivery time. And project teams may be charged with the primary responsibility for achieving objectives that deliver results for external and internal customers (to distinguish internal from external customers, in the rest of this book, the former will be called internal clients). In multi-level learning, teams at each of these levels are empowered to take primary responsibility for their own learning. And if you've worked in project- intensive environments, you know how important it is to engage teams at all levels in order to effect meaningful improvement. After all, decisions made at each level affect the others. Achieving business transformation success means not only delivering successful projects, but also selecting the right projects to begin with. It also means supporting teams by providing approaches and methodologies that help them carry out their work in the most effective way. Multi-level learning is a closed-loop system that directs actionable feedback to the way work gets done at each of these levels. It is not just bottomup nor top-down; it is both. Nor is it an end in itself. It is a vehicle for achieving the organization's strategic goals, for transforming the way in which business gets done, and for generating better outcomes on mission-critical projects and programs, from one phase to the next and from one project to the next. Figure I.1 shows the multi-level learning framework. Beginning with Level 1, project teams are the core driver of innovation, learning, and improvement. The focus at this level is on continually innovating and improving projects as they progress, not just reflecting at the end to develop "lessons learned? that get stored in databases and don't get used. Instead, project teams stop and reflect at regular intervals while the project is in flight so that they can define improvements and tangible action items that can be actively applied during the next phase. The result is learning and performance improvement as the project progresses, reducing the risk of project failure, improving team effectiveness, and providing real-time feedback and development opportunities for project members. In Level 2 of the multi-level learning framework (the cross-project improvement level), project managers are enlisted, perhaps by a project or program management office, to improve processes that span multiple projects and programs. At this level, project managers team up and tackle specific cross-project problems and opportunities that, when adequately addressed, will improve delivery effectiveness across the many projects in the portfolio, creating a "multiplier? effect. Process improvement is at the core of this approach, in which project managers actively reflect on mission-critical organizational processes, develop specific strategies for improving these processes, and test and validate these strategies as projects progress in order to implement improvements that break down bureaucracy, reduce waste, eliminate delays, and unlock innovation. This kind of improvement process is much more powerful and practical than simply hosting knowledge-sharing sessions or reporting lessons learned among project managers. The result is real improvement across projects and buy-in from those who need to implement the change. Engaging project managers to improve cross-project processes can reduce costs, improve productivity, and cut down on the time required to deliver results. At Level 3 of the multi-level learning framework, senior managers and sponsors play a pivotal role. Their decisions about strategy and project selection have wide-ranging implications for the organization. Therefore, they themselves also engage in periodic reflection on the organization's overall project portfolio and its ability to achieve the organization's strategy. Rather than focusing on a specific project, the strategy retrospective is focused on broader programs and strategies, of which projects are only a part. Questions include: Are the projects in the pipeline enabling the organization to achieve its intended strategy? What adjustments need to be made to ensure that we achieve our intended results? Which projects need to be initiated, cancelled, or repurposed? What actions need to be taken, and at which levels of the organization? Learning at all three of these levels is a necessary and critical principle of multi-level learning. Underpinning the learning at each are individuals who learn collectively on behalf of the organization. It is individuals and teams who press their talents into service in solving the organization's most critical challenges. And it is individuals and teams who are able to learn, adapt, and improve, carrying out work that meets the needs of customers and key stakeholders. Each of the three levels of multi-level learning provides individuals and teams with opportunities for reflection on not only the content of problems, but the processes by which these problems get solved, as well as whether or not the right problems are being addressed in the first place. Through these levels of learning, individuals give and receive feedback that, when facilitated by a multi-level learning coach, can lead to high-impact professional development and performance improvement for the organization overall. You may be wondering by now about the overhead required for this approach. Does this mean that the organization will require a dramatic cultural shift in order to make it work? The answer to this question is no. Multi-level learning can be viewed as an "add-on? to a firm's existing project management approach and organizational routines. If anything, multi-level learning helps to streamline, synchronize, and accelerate work, not add unnecessary processes. Effective multi- evel learning provides members of the organization with the structures and space that they need if they are to learn, reflect, and improve effectively—even if this is not already part of the organization's cultural fabric. If these practices are effectively introduced into the organization, and if senior managers believe in their benefits, then it's possible, and maybe even likely, that a culture change will emerge as a result of continued deployment. But such a change is not a requirement for the introduction of multi-level learning. The most critical requirement is a willingness to learn and improve. If there's a will, then this book can help to show you the way.

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Table of Contents

CONTENTS

 

Foreword xiii

 

Introduction 1

Multi-Level Learning: An Approach to Improving Project

and Program Performance 4

How This Approach Differs from Conventional Approaches 7

Project and Program Management Offices 8

How This Book Can Help You and Your Organization 9

Who Should Read This Book 9

How This Book Is Organized 10

 

PART 1: FOUNDATIONS 13

 

CHAPTER 1: The Need for Multi-Level Learning 15

Red- Light Learning 17

Defensive Routines 19

Problems with Traditional Approaches to Learning from

Project Experience 21

From Red-Light Learning to Continuous Systems-Level Learning 24

Conclusion 25

CHAPTER 2: Foundations and Principles of Multi-Level Learning 27

Reflection on Action 27

The U.S. Army's After-Action Review Process 30

The Emergence of Agile Software Development Practices 31

Action- Reflection Cycles: The Foundation for Multi-Level Learning 34

Principles of Multi-Level Learning 35

Satisfy the Customer 35

Eliminate Waste 36

Welcome New Insights 36

Deliver as Fast as Possible 37

Empower Team Learning 37

See the Whole 38

Use a Third-Party Coach 39

Reflect at Multiple Levels 39

Conclusion 40

 

PART 2: ROLES 43

 

CHAPTER 3: The Multi-Level Learning Coach 45

Overview of the Multi-Level Learning Coach Role 45

The Importance of Neutrality and Objectivity 47

Skills Required of the Multi-Level Learning Coach 48

Three Core Values for Effective Facilitation 51

Models for Effective Group Process 53

Goals, Roles, and Procedures 54

Communication 56

Problem Solving 60

Decision Making 61

Conflict Resolution 62

Boundary Management 66

Diagnosing and Intervening 68

Ground Rules for Groups 69

Conclusion 72

CHAPTER 4: The Project and Program Management Function (PMO) 74

The PMO 76

Brokering and Communities of Practice 77

Research Methodology 78

How PMO Leaders Facilitate Cross-Project Learning and

Continuous Improvement 79

Brokering 80

Boundary Practices 84

Boundary Objects 88

Boundary Encounters 90

Reflective Practices 93

Formal Training 94

Personal Experience as Project Manager 95

Personnel Selection 96

Enablers and Barriers That PMO Leaders Face in Facilitating

Cross-Project Learning and Continuous Improvement 96

Enablers of Cross-Project Learning and Improvement 97

Barriers to Cross-Project Learning 103

The Challenges of Brokering 109

Conceptual Framework for the PMO Leader Role 113

The PMO and Multi-Level Learning 117

The PMO Leader as Knowledge Broker 117

Transferring Improved Practices via Organizational Routines 117

Legitimacy and the Need for Social Capital 118

Defensive Routines Undermine Improvement 118

Lack of Awareness of the Importance of Productive Reflection 119

Recommendations for PMO Leaders 119

Conclusion 122

 

PART 3: IMPLEMENTING MULTI-LEVEL LEARNING 123

 

CHAPTER 5: Facilitating Level 1: Continuous Project Improvement 125

Overview of Level 1: Continuous Project Improvement 125

Step 1: Plan and Conduct the Prospective 127

Step 1a: Determine the Goals, Roles, and Deliverables 127

Step 1b: Identify the Participants 128

Step 1c: Establish the Agenda, Date, and Time for the Prospective 128

Step 1d: Conduct the Prospective 129

Step 2: Execute the Plan 129

Step 3: Plan and Conduct the Retrospective 129

Step 3a: Collect Performance Feedback 130

Step 3b: Assess Team Members' Perceptions 131

Step 3c: Establish the Agenda, Date, and Time 132

Step 3d: Conduct the Retrospective 135

Step 4: Update Project Plans, Issues, Risks, and Lessons Learned 136

Conclusion 137

CHAPTER 6: Facilitating Level 2: Cross-Project Improvement 138

Overview of Level 2: Cross-Project Improvement 139

Step 1: Plan and Conduct the Prospective 140

Step 1a: Identify Cross-Project Improvement Opportunities 140

Step 1b: Recruit Participants 141

Step 1c: Draft an Improvement Charter 142

Step 1d: Establish an Agenda, Date, and Time 142

Step 1e: Conduct the Prospective 143

Step 2: Pilot Improvements 144

Step 3: Plan and Conduct the Retrospective 145

Step 3a: Meet with Participants Individually 145

Step 3b: Gather Data 145

Step 3c: Establish the Agenda, Date, and Time for the Retrospective 146

Step 3d: Conduct the Process Retrospective 147

Step 4: Transfer Improvements to New and Existing Projects 148

Conclusion 148

CHAPTER 7: Facilitating Level 3: Strategic Portfolio Alignment 150

Overview of Level 3: Strategic Portfolio Alignment 151

Step 1: Plan and Conduct the Prospective 153

Step 1a: Identify and Clarify Strategic Objectives 154

Step 1b: Develop a List of Investment Priorities 154

Step 1c: Identify the Participants 156

Step 1d: Assess Team Members' Readiness 156

Step 1e: Clarify Decision-Making Roles and Responsibilities 157

Step 1f: Obtain the Project Dashboard 157

Step 1g: Establish the Agenda, Date, and Time for the

Strategy Prospective 157

Step 1h: Conduct the Prospective 160

Step 2: Execute the Strategy 161

Step 3: Plan and Conduct the Portfolio Retrospective 161

Step 3a: Collect Project and Program Performance Data 162

Step 3b: Meet with Team Members Individually 163

Step 3c: Establish the Agenda, Date, and Time 164

Step 3d: Conduct the Retrospective 166

Step 4: Update the Project Portfolio and Capture Action Items 167

Conclusion 167

CHAPTER 8: Conclusion 169

 

APPENDIX A: Problems with Traditional "Lessons-Learned?

Practices 171

The Role of Social Practices 172

Process vs. Product Knowledge 174

Project Organization and the Dilemma of Process Knowledge 175

Summary 176

APPENDIX B: Situated Learning and Communities of Practice 178

Situated Learning and Legitimate Peripheral Participation 178

Apprenticeship 179

Situated Learning 180

Legitimate Peripheral Participation 181

Communities of Practice 181

Practice as the Basis for the Production of Meaning 182

Practice as the Source of Community Coherence 183

Practice as a Learning Process 184

Practice as the Source of Boundaries Between Interlinked Communities 185

Project Environments and Communities of Practice 188

Limitations of Communities of Practice in Relation to

Cross-Project Learning 189

 

References 191

 

Index 197

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