If Usain Bolt was a project manager.........

......he would not want to be slow out of the blocks for 2013, but most of us will be!

 

The world of business change has increasingly become a series of annual sprints whose cycical start and end is defiend by the Christmas (and New Year) break. While in the purest sense projects and change should be agnostic to the annual cycles and take the time they need when it is needed, budgets, planning and performance appraisals (both corporate and personal) and thus management focus is firmly aligned to the calendar.

Reality, however refuses to respect these boundaries and in this blog I want to cover two aspects. The first is that whatever is not completed by year end still needs to be done, and often it must be done before one can undertake the work planned for the new year. In order to complete this overhang of work management needs to divert resource and attention from the start of "new year". While the clever acocuntants can often move some the project budget between years, the resources (ie people) who are the lifeblood of any project do not suddenly become capable of 14 hours work a day (at least not for any extended period). As a result this delays the start of "new" work and sets the year off badly.

This is a real problem and I am prepared to bet that the majority of firms have significant unfinished work that has slipped into 2013. In past incarnations I have seen some of this unfinsihed work stretch out into Q2 and have a major impact on current plans. It also creates the real risk of a repeated offence at the end of this year when for a number of reasons including delayed starts, there will be work hanging over into 2014.

There are ways to break this cycle, but few are palatable to managers. The biggest one is a higher degree of realism and honesty in planning, especially the annual planning process that takes place for most companies in August/September. To forecast and allow for the likely overhang is rarely acceptable, but would make a lot of sense! The second is to more effective and realistic planning along with more timely intervention when things look to be in trouble. The last is promotion that early delivery is both acceptable and desirable. Wouldn't you rather have a clear desk in early December knowing that all that was planned has been delivered, allowing you to start preparing for the new year, rather than the more common brinksmanship that pushes meetings and signatures right up to the holiday period.

A second corrective action is to more properly reflect peoples true behavior around the holiday period. Most project plans that I have seen designate a period of 10 to 14 days around Christmas and New Year when they expect little or no work to be done. This is not unreasonable, but what it usually assumes is. This is that work contines at 100% effort right up the start of that break and restarts at 100% at the end.

 

 

Reality is that effort and contribution starts declining around the beginning of December as people's attention turns to the holiday period and they are distracted by parties (company and personal) and other invitations. Similarly work only winds up again gradually after the holiday period and is rarely at 100% before mid-January. The real result of this is the loss of something like two weeks of planned/expected effort; something that has to be made up at the real start of the new year ie after mid-January.

As in all things we have choices. We could be like the sprinter on the left, continually working against a dragging factor, or we could look to emulate Usain! I know where I want to be. Do you?







What can you do?

• Right now the best you can do is to really understand what is overhanging from 2012 and sechedule it in as quickly as possible, ie clear the decks fast.
• Linked with this look at the knock on effects and start taking mitigating actions with the aim that by the end of February you will be where yoiu planned to be!

Looking forward you can and should

• Look at your planning process for 2014 and see how you can enhance it and capture the realities of life
• Ensure that your planning around year end 2014 is not idealistic
• Start managing your year end deliveries from September - that way you have a chance to take corrective action
• Look at encouraging early delivery, rather than just in time!