Project Planning Blunder #1.
Watch as an organization faced with a serious external threat assembles its senior management to respond with a PM to manage the effort. Watch the video and spot where the PM made his mistakes and decide, just like our 4PM.com students do, what the PM should have done to carry the day.
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Regards,
Dick Billows, PMP
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3 comments:
Okay, first off Dana should take a clue-by-four to each of the other participants. They are aggravating the situation and should be fired without delay. They have no reason to be at that meeting and if they are the department heads then Dana's next project should be to get a new job at a company that is not going to implode under the dead weight. (unless he is a consultant being paid by the hour instead of being responsible for meeting a goal. Then he has found the grail and can ride this project until retirement.) There is no agreement on the "Done" requirements for this project. Nothing else should take place until that is done simply because to do otherwise is to waste time. The person requiring that the project create world class service MUST be forced to define what that is. What criteria are going to be used to measure the quality of service? Should it be world class Good service or the world's Worst service? The other attendees complaints have NOTHING to do with the crisis at hand. Dana needs to take control of the meeting or start printing off his resume on the good printer.
Some thoughts: From my viewpoint (perhaps incorrect as I am just now starting to take PM classes online), Dana is too worried about starting PM implemention immediately without evaluating the situation to determine what the actual project should be.
For example, the newspaper article slamming the company. The VP asks Dana to talk about it. Dana responds "Here it is...", points and tosses it to someone else. Dana should have summarized the article for everyone, breaking it down as to what was bad and good about the company's customer service. The potential exists that the article might be positive on some aspects, and negative on the others. The company should focus on correcting the negative aspects. By just tossing the newspaper out Dana projects the attitude of "..this article on the company is bad, but the newspaper people are goobers.."
Second: Every department head believes that "...the first goal is to increase items in my department (hardware, personnel) to fix this problem..." More than likely this is not the problem. There may be specific items that need to be done for certain groups, but more than likely not all that the individual department heads want.
Third: The VP basically states that "...this is broke. Dana, fix it..." seemingly without giving Dana the authority to fix the problem. She doesn't interrupt the department heads as the interject their opinions into the situation...cutting off Data as he attempts to speak.
Only by examining the situation in detail can one start to formulate what the necessary project is to correct the issue. Dana and the VP should meet privately first and go over the newspaper article, and set a clear goal as to what needs to be improved to get world class service, and then implement the necessary projects in the specific departments and / or divisions to make this happen.
My thoughts. Film at eleven.
Good comments so far. Dana has at least a couple of options, in addition to a new job. One option is to spend the meeting defining world class customer service, using techniques such as brainstorming. The VP will need to let them do it without her direct input so that the energy is right in the group. This also reinforces Dana's authority. As long as the VP is there, the others will be unduly influenced by her. Dana can summarize the definition, and some possible paths to achieve it in six months, and present this to the VP formally, allowing for her feedback and ideas. Until the goals are defined AND agreed upon, in writing (sign off), the project is in serious jeopardy. Secondly, if the people involved are the wrong people, recommend better people - better to assemble the best team up front than to try and fix it later. Despite all of this, Dana should have already updated his resume and have a plan B and plan C for jobs, and to get certified in PM. - Marsh (PM student)
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