Situation
Jenny is an intelligent, capable and experienced engineer. Over the past 2 years she has taken on project planning and leadership responsibility for a series of medium-size projects. These projects have consistently over-run time and budget. Jenny reports to you and the situation is now at the point where you need to do something.
Use the 9 Lenses to think through how you will assess the situation before you talk to Jenny and take action.
9 Lenses scan
| What type of projects are involved? Have the projects been particularly complex or difficult? How does Jenny’s performance compare with other leaders of similar projects? |
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Are there external factors that have led to project delays or cost over-runs? Have any suppliers or sub-contractors failed to deliver on time? If so, how has Jenny addressed the situation? Are there any common factors across Jenny’s projects – clients, project team, technology – that could have contributed to poor project performance? |
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| Is scope creep involved? Does Jenny have the experience, ability and confidence to say no to client requests for expanded scope, or to negotiate an expansion of the project? Did the projects use novel or innovative technologies or techniques? If so, was it necessary, and if it was, did the pricing and schedule include an appropriate contingency? |
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| What process does Jenny use to estimate time and cost? Is it the same as other projects leaders? If so, what is she doing differently? Is there any particular project aspect that typically over runs time and cost? Is Jenny using the project planning and tracking tools and information well? Has she been trained in their use? |
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| What is Jenny’s temperament? Is she more inclined to create options and explore tangential issues than to meet project milestones and deadlines? Or perhaps Jenny is a perfectionist. Perhaps she is not suited to project planning and leadership. Are the clients that she has been working with particularly demanding and difficult? | |
| Does Jenny value the achievement of project milestones and budgets? If not, what are her driving values? Why did Jenny take on the project leader responsibilities in the first place? Is it is something she really wants to do, or does she think it is something she needs to do to get ahead in the organization? |
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| Has Jenny delivered any projects on time and budget? If so, was there anything different about these projects? Are there specific aspects of project leadership that Jenny does well? If there are, perhaps they can be used as a springboard to improve her overall project leadership. Perhaps we should allocate one of the more experienced and successful project leaders to work with Jenny as a mentor. |
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| Is there anything surprising or unusual about the situation? | |
| Were there any subtle or weak signals that we could have picked up and enabled us to act on the situation earlier? This would have avoided the poor project outcomes and reduced the impact on Jenny’s confidence and reputation. |
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