Mistakes get made. Things go wrong. Regardless, when dealing with 6-and 7-figure projects spanning many months or years, you want to minimize the errors and ensure a successful outcome. In the world of digital enablement for enterprise companies there are processes and procedures for just about everything. But do you have a process to assess project health and success probability? Do you have a procedure to mitigate failure if a project starts falling apart?
If you’re developing these tools – or happily working without them – we at TMG still want to provide you with a guide for red flags to watch for that may signal that your engagement is going wrong. We’ve worked with enterprise B2B companies for a decade and know not every project is smooth sailing, internally. Read on to discover six signs our experts check for, and what you can do to turn red flags to green.
1. There is no buy in from senior management, lack of top down communication, or sponsorship.
This leads to unclear business objectives, lack of chain of command when it comes to major project-advancing decisions, and does not line up future strategy for related initiatives.
If no one understands or values the impact this project will make, how can it be construed as a success? If those responsible or accountable are not informed or deeply attuned to the work, they won’t make the right decisions when questions arise. Make sure you have a project plan that clearly identifies the top business objectives your work is charting against, and make those visible and available at every step of the process. Take the time to engage senior leadership with an executive summary or make sure they’re included in critical project milestones.
2. There are unclear project goals and definitions that lead to several changes in scope, budget, timeline or all three.
These items are usually interrelated, but scope that is constantly changing demonstrates lack of planning – and potentially – a bare minimum of a product vision and a lack of user input from the initiation of the engagement. This is a red flag for overall loss of value and budget for the organization.
When there are changes proposed that are big enough to alter the course or outcome of the project, it’s time to pause and evaluate what the value of the initial project is to the organization, and how any proposed changes deviate from that set standard. Was the project approved in haste before the true vision was uncovered? To get to the heart of the project, understand what (or who) is driving this initiative, and by what metrics success will be gauged.
3. Too many competing priorities across functional teams.
This typically reflects poor understanding of the project goals, ineffective backlog management, resource management, and misaligned stakeholder vision.
Having the correct staffing and understanding of who establishes priorities from project initiation helps mitigate these issues, and in turn ensures teams are focused on the highest priorities that align with the overall objective of the initiative.
4. Inadequate progress tracking.
All projects should have regular check-ins that demonstrate the health of the project to get ahead of major risks or issues that could derail the project progress and goals.
During software development initiatives using the agile framework, teams should be establishing sprint goals and reporting on sprint progress at the end of every sprint. Sprint goals should be established by understanding the overall team capacity weighed against the product vision, roadmap objectives and dependencies across cross functional teams. Regular agile ceremonies help align teams to the overall goals as well as demonstrate value over time to ensure business alignment and allow for adaptability should business objectives change.
5. The organization is not adaptable to change – this could be changes in the marketplace, data, changes to accommodate budget, development roadblocks etc.
The ability to be adaptable and agile through the product life cycle will in turn produce more future forward, functional products that better fit the goals of the end user and organization.
If this is a systemic problem, change management strategy and process should be considered before any other high value projects are started. The value of any project will be diminished without a company culture that looks ahead for itself and its customers.
6. There is no plan for training or organizational change management.
Too many IT projects fail when there is not early and often organizational communication from the top down. This includes ensuring that there are secondary initiatives in place for organizational communication and training so the major changes can be adopted at all levels. This is related to senior management buy in, as they lay the foundation for enterprise buy in and usability.
This red flag builds on the previous ones. Before beginning a project, create a plan for communication after completion, where training, knowledge transfer, and talking points can be relayed. Without building a bridge to extend the project outcomes to the company and customer, it’ll exist on a cliff, without the support and success it deserves.
These red flags can occur throughout the lifespan of a project, and you have to remain diligent in watching for them crop up on the horizon. All hope isn’t lost if they appear, you’ll just have to address them head-on. TMG are experts at minimizing project risk and delivering solutions that address the needs of organizations now and for the future. Contact us today if you need help across your digital platforms.
