It hits the fan
Reflecting on recent media stories, we examine the options when faced in an impossible scenario.
The Scenario
Project: You are creating a music festival, for example, or any other project such as a new train line
Budget / Resources: Are fixed, products have been pre-sold and investment resources have been maximised
Scope: Is fixed, setup by marketing promises and customer expectations
Time: Is also fixed, with products pre-sold customers are expecting delivery in a short time frame
Quality: Could be varied, but you are gambling with future revenue streams
Technology: Complex, but experts and professional people are available
Status: Delivery work has not started, the plan and your heart has a RAG status of Green, in your head it is flashing Red.
The Options
Option 1: Honesty
You cut your losses, step back and are able to fight another day. You pull the plug citing operational challenges and apologising to stakeholders. Losses are limited to the short amount of time you have spent apologising.
This is the hardest option to take, it goes against your heart, your ego and optimism. But it’s also the option that hindsight, the project retrospective, and even the criminal justice system will later tell you that you should have taken.
Not enough projects take this option, so you go ahead with hope in your heart to…
Option 2: Managing Expectations
Your team are privately telling you that this project is impossible and questioning your leadership. You engage contract lawyers and marketing to understand what is the minimal viable product you can get away with. You start to descope internally without engaging stakeholders.
You start to cut Quality around the edges too. No one has seen the product yet so they can’t complain. You start setting arbitrary milestones to build confidence. If we can get this little bit done by Friday then we can deliver everything else next week.
Your fingers aren’t in your ears, you are just focused on the challenge!
Option 3: Self Protectionism
Realisation is starting to hit, you head is shouting stop but your heart still wants to go on. Over half the budget is spent and you can’t afford to compensate stakeholders.
You and the team start updating LinkedIn more frequently. They are disappearing for coffee with headhunters whilst you set more deadlines and try to push people harder.
You implement a policy of fix-forward. Minor defects will be handled by the unlimited budget that is in support and customer services. The project just needs to deliver.
Bonus Option: Delegation
You cash in your reputation credits on a promotion and handover the project to your new team member. The constraints still don’t change.
Option 4: Release Management
Launch is imminent, you scale back the publicity in the hope that it tapers out the bad press after release. Major defects are now likely to leak into production and you are only able to apply tactical fixes now.
Decisions are being made now not by process but by senior individuals alone. Firefighting is in full swing and the personal effects are showing. Reputation is hanging by a thread, but if you can only just pull this off then you will be unstoppable for Phase 2.
Option 5: Go Live
You are too late. Products have been dispatched with your brand all over them. The twitter storm kicks off as Influencers attack both your brand and yourself. Impact hits not just this product, but your other revenue streams. Share prices slide and you start thinking about a career change.
It’s too late, you start promoting yourself for your work on other projects. Stakeholders won’t forget what you have done.
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” — Benjamin Franklin
Option 6: Retribution and Resurrection
You surprisingly are not dead. Your few loyal stakeholders who are in the same boat still support you. You have left your previous brand due to ‘creative and operational differences’ but there are opportunities in the market that will turn this project into a ‘learning opportunity’. Following the retrospective you vow to take Option 1 next time. But that will be different circumstances wont it?
In time, the project becomes an anecdote for usage at interviews and dinner parties. Your wronged stakeholder’s memories dwindle and you later see in the media that someone else is trying the same thing.
So which Option did you take? Option 1 right? or did you hang on until Option 6 and see it through? A good captain always goes down with their ship!?
