The project manager’s conscience Graham Joyce March 2017 IMD Consultancy Ltd The project manager’s conscience Graham Joyce March 2017

Overview The project manager’s conscience: The challenges to implementing robust project controls discipline Some project controls influences: Management of uncertainty Decision support Hindsight to foresight Overcoming the barriers

Management of uncertainty “Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one” - Voltaire

Management of uncertainty

Management of uncertainty

Management of uncertainty

Management of uncertainty

Management of uncertainty The pressures of ‘entryism’ and optimism bias are well established, long-standing realities that are likely to endure within the project environment Project Controls provides: The language and tools to calculate and communicate uncertainty The independence to be ‘custodian of the truth’ Where uncertainty has been underestimated, the real world insight offered by Project Controls professionals can continue to inform robust analysis and decision support as reality starts to bite! The challenge is to maintain rigor and consistency in the approaches taken; do not become seduced by the analysis when the raw data may be flawed!

Decision support “It’s better to be approximately right than precisely wrong” - Warren Buffet

Decision support Situation Consider the decision making process and delays therein: Situation

Decision support Situation Decision Maker Consider to decision making process and delays therein: Situation Information Delay Decision Maker

Decision support Situation Decision Maker Decision Made Consider to decision making process and delays therein: Situation Information Delay Decision Maker Decision Delay Decision Made

Decision support Situation Decision Maker Team Responds Decision Made Consider to decision making process and delays therein: Situation Information Delay Decision Maker Team Responds Decision Delay Communication Delay Decision Made

Decision support Situation Decision Maker Team Responds Decision Made Consider to decision making process and delays therein: Situation Information Delay Impact Delay Decision Maker Team Responds Decision Delay Communication Delay Decision Made

Decision support Situation Decision Maker Team Responds Decision Made Consider to decision making process and delays therein: Situation Information Delay Impact Delay Decision Maker Team Responds More Information Decision Delay Communication Delay Decision Made

Decision support Project controls can positively impact the decision making process by minimising delays: Information delay: Provision of timely, accurate information Getting information to the person/people that need it Decision delay: Achieving trust in the information Presenting options and supporting analysis Assist the decision maker with engagement of stakeholders Communication delay: Effective reporting Potential barriers include: Team may respond before the decision is taken Some take comfort in the delays and requests for more information

Hindsight to foresight “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” - Benjamin Franklin

Hindsight to foresight In some organisations / teams Project Controls can suffer a bit of an image crisis: Primarily a policing function Always demanding reports that detract from delivery Talking in acronyms and jargon, obsessed with data and analysis tools These negative opinions often dominate when Project Controls is operating in hindsight – which can be the tendency when things are not going well: What went wrong? What should have happened? What did they commit to? For a project team striving to deliver / recover under pressure, this can prove to be very unwelcome ‘help’

Hindsight to foresight This image crisis can be addressed by seeking to move Project Controls processes, deliverables and behaviours to a more ‘helpful’ footing: Hindsight Insight Foresight Measuring the problem Diagnosing the problem Preventing the problem Checking progress Monitoring commitments Driving delivery Challenging the PM Supporting the PM Advising the PM Asking questions Proposing answers Exploring options Ask yourself – what kind of support are you providing? Reactive Proactive It is much harder to stay proactive in time of crisis, but this is when it is most important to do so

Overcoming the barriers “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere” - Anon

Overcoming the barriers As the conscience of the Project Manager, the Project Controls team needs to confront and overcome difficult situations in a constructive, supportive way – often as a lone voice This can be enabled by: The rigor and consistency of Project Controls standards and approaches Creating the environment to focus on, “what is the data telling us?” and not “is the data correct?” Supplement the analysis and tools with experience and confidence in order to facilitate effective decision making Working on those softer skills: Empathy Pragmatism Integrity Communication

Closing thoughts Consider organisational maturity and functional standardisation Change will only be sustainable if implementation is designed and delivered appropriately Common approaches exist; Don’t re-invent the wheel But do tailor to your organisation / project Continuously strive to present project controls as complimentary to delivery, and practice what you preach Match tools to processes (not the other way around) Use tools that position Project Controls within the fabric of project delivery, not as a ‘bolt on’ Less data, more information Measure what is important, do not make importance of what can be measured

Questions? “Go ahead, make a fool of yourself, and then maybe you’ll listen to your conscience” - Jiminy Cricket