Human Factor in Project Management

The Human Factor of Project Management
Seminar #36: Thursday, 8 November - 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 7 PDU; 0.7 CEU

November 8, 2001© 2001 - 2004 BusinessHive. All rights reserved.2
Agenda
• Introductions
• Insight Into Project Management Trends
• Looking Inward First
• The ‘Human Factor’ Influencers
• Paths One Must Take
• Examples & Specifics

A Thought
Creative Thinking
1. Purge: Dispose of old prejudices, procedures and
presuppositions that could and do constrict your
thinking.
2. Prod: Attack challenges in ways that force you to
consider new solutions and new courses of action.
3. Precipitate All of a sudden, out of nowhere, out
drops something wild because we're thinking
differently.
Guy Kawasaki

Another Thought
“All things are created twice: first mentally;
then physically. The key to creativity is to
begin with the end in mind, with a vision and
a blueprint of desired results.”
Stephen Covey

Insight Into Your Sherpas
• Kim Resch
– Extensive Experience in Debit, Credit, and Smart Cards,
Mobile Commerce, Loyalty and Incentives.
– Practical Experience in new product launches including
Amex Blue and smart Visa.
– Specializes in project strategy, project management,
implementations, and training in the emerging areas of
commerce.
• Dave Carrithers
– 20 years experience in semiconductor, chemicals,
consumer products, incentives, stored-value & debit cards,
development
– Marketing, IT, Sales, NBD, Operations
– Focus on product, business & market development

Insight Into The Group
• Majority of projects managed are technology based,
also includes new products
• On average most manage between 1 and 8
projects, with others manage more than 20
• Most have teams ranging from 5 to 10 people
• Equal on projects completed on time & budget and
those on time but over budget/ never on time and/ or
on budget
• We have babysitters, rodeo riders, masters and
coaches
• Most have between 4 and 10 years PM experience

• Most are impacted in crisis times and budget tightening
• Most use specific PM software, a few have company wide platforms
• We have cats, cheetahs, Flipper, lion, sheep herding dog, the
Predator, Beaver…
• A 50/50 split on management supporting PM
• Most received formal training
• 50/50 split on ‘being in a play’ and ‘sitting on a beach’
• Most budgetary control comes from upper management or elsewhere
(a few actually have control)
• Next five years: intergroup coordination will be a challenge; being
asked to work faster with lower budgets; constant education to whole
organization why PM is important; employee development; convincing
customers that PM is necessary.

• Majority do not have a PM mission statement
• Most offer some type of incentive
• Top business problems:
– Cost overruns
– Schedule delays
– Increasing margins and competition with flat sales
– Scope creep
– Resource shortages
– Getting priorities of project from upper management
– Conflict juggling
– Priorities & communications
– Factoring technology into the business decision process
– Sticking with a direction more than a week
– WTC on 9-11 has impacted retail & entertainment business
– Revenue generation & utilization of technology resources

• Favorite Quotes:
– ‘Plans get you into things, but you got to work your way out’
– Will Rogers
– ‘It it’s got to be done, do it and be done with it’
– ‘Don’t spend too much time fretting over things you can’t
control.’
– ‘Excuses, excuses, excuses…’
– ‘This company didn’t hire me to make friends.’
– ‘Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.’
Tom Peters
– ‘Never reduce your dreams to the size of the box you are
in.’

The Goal Of This Journey
Project management requires tools, processes and analytics to
successfully operate. But these elements only show half the
picture. The most critical element of successful project
management and execution is what we call the “human factor”
– looking beyond the steps, the tools, the technology to what
motivates and drives proper project management
performance.
In this seminar we will look at how to drive better
communications, better requirements gathering and definition,
and improved project results, as well as look at how to modify
poor project management behavior, the application of
incentives in driving project results, team building and
milestone celebration. All projects consist of people with
needs, wants, desires, issues and time constraints. How can
you impact the “human factor” to improve the results of any
project?

What I Heard
• Coaching & team skills
• Help selling PM to corporate management
• Ability to motivate others
• Deal with people who do not share the same ideas
• Relationships between project members
• How to get humans to follow a PM process
• Achieve buy-in from the team
• How to work with difficult people on projects
• Insight into the human side of work

Project Management
Time Resources

A Meeting Thought
Project management is no accident. It
is all about planning & strategy to
allow the chaos of creative and
individualism to operate within a
defined and developed business
process.
Successful PM doesn’t just happen.
The good of the one outweighs the good of the many

Today We Will Explore
• The unseen elements that impact project
success
• The unsaid elements that impact life & sanity
when heading up a project
• The human factors that give projects life or
death
The Fine Print: for today to be a worthwhile investment everyone must – share, be involved and think!

How It Feels Sometimes
6 phases of a project
1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the Innocent
6. Praise and Honors for the Non-
Participants

In Simple Terms
• Processes
• Formats
• Requirements
• Project Software
• Gantt Charts
• Resource Scheduling
• Schedules
• Certificates
• Budgets
Successful Project Management Is More Than:
It Is:
‘Leadership Of Ideas Focused On A Cause!’

Warm Up - Famous Faces
• You will have a picture of a
famous person placed on your
back
• Your task is to ask questions of
others in the room that will help
you guess the name of the
person you have stuck to your
back
• One at a time turn around and
show your picture
• One closed question at a time
• The group answers only in
Yes/No
• Keep going until everyone
guesses

Share Observations - Famous Faces
• What kind of questions were
most helpful in getting the
information?
• What kind of questions
could be more helpful to
quickly find out the
answers?
• How did different
participants solve the
problem of finding out the
name on their back?
• Did anyone feel threatened
by this exercise and if so,
why?

Challenging Thoughts
Could all the tactics of project management get
in the way of what is required to make a
project succeed?
Could you be doing everything that is trained in
project management and still miss the mark?
Could you be impacting the lives of those on
your team and not realize the cost in human
spirit?

A Few Questions?
How many of the companies represented here have…
• The word project management in their mission
statement?
• Project management skills as a requirement in
performance reviews?
• A company wide project management process and
approach used by every area (i.e. marketing, sales,
etc.)?
• How many people in the room feel their
management understands the value of project
management - truly ‘get’s it’?

A Few More Questions?
• How many of you in this room look at your role as a
leader?
• How many people take the time when starting out a
project to sit down one-on-one with each team
member to review the mission, objectives and
desired results? And with the team member’s
management?
• How many take the time to convert the project from
the actions at hand to the business value?
• How many of you feel you have total control of your
project, from start to finish?

Look Inward & What Do You Find?
How would you describe yourself?
• A leader?
• A risk taker?
• A coach?
• A teacher?
• A business person?
• A facilitator?
• A judge?

A Time To Share
• Worst & horrible moment in
project management
• Most memorable & proud
moment in project
management

Lesson Of The Red Suit
• All people, no matter age, race or
history have basic wants & needs
• Adults are the children they were
• When we have a beard & costume
to hide behind we let our humanity
come though
• Sometimes, listening is more
important than delivering

Insights
• General: A research study done by the Standish Group of
over 300 IT managers and their projects. In the United States,
companies spend more than $250 billion on IT application
development of approximately 175,000 projects. The average
cost of a development project for a large company is
$2,322,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a
small company, it is $434,000. A great many of these projects
will fail.
• General: Additional research shows a staggering 31.1% of
projects will be canceled before they ever get completed.
Further results indicate 52.7% of projects will cost 189% of
their original estimates. The cost of these failures and
overruns are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost
opportunity costs are not measurable, but could easily be in
the trillions of dollars.

Insights
• General: On the success side, the average is 16.2% for
software projects that are completed on-time and on-budget. In
the larger companies, the news is even worse: only 9% of their
projects come in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these
projects are completed, many are no more than a mere shadow
of their original specification requirements. Projects completed
by the largest American companies have only approximately
42% of the originally-proposed features and functions. Smaller
companies do much better. A total of 78.4% of their software
projects will get deployed with at least 74.2% of their original
features and functions.
• Re-Starts: One of the major causes of both cost and time
overruns is re-starts. For every 100 projects that start, there are
94 re-starts. This does not mean that 94 of 100 will have one
re-start, some projects can have several re-starts.

Insights
• Cost Over Runs: Equally telling were the results for cost overruns, time
overruns, and failure of the applications to provide expected features.
Almost a third experienced cost overruns of 150 to 200%. The average
across all companies is 189% of the original cost estimate. The average
cost overrun is 178% for large companies, 182% for medium companies,
and 214% for small companies.
• Time Overruns: For the same combined challenged and impaired
projects, over one-third also experienced time overruns of 200 to 300%.
The average overrun is 222% of the original time estimate. For large
companies, the average is 230%; for medium companies, the average is
202%; and for small companies, the average is 239%.
• Content Deficiencies: Of challenged projects: more than a quarter were
completed with only 25% to 49% of originally-specified features and
functions. On average, only 61% of originally specified features and
functions were available on these projects. Large companies have the
worst record with only 42% of the features and functions in the end
product. For medium companies, the percentage is 65%. And for small
companies, the percentage is 74%.

Insights - Success/Failure Profiles
Project Success Factors % of Responses
1. User Involvement 15.9%
2. Executive Management Support 13.9%
3. Clear Statement of Requirements 13.0%
4. Proper Planning 9.6%
5. Realistic Expectations 8.2%
6. Smaller Project Milestones 7.7%
7. Competent Staff 7.2%
8. Ownership 5.3%
9. Clear Vision & Objectives 2.9%
10. Hard-Working, Focused Staff 2.4%
Study done by Kent State 2000

IMPACT ON PROJECT FAILURE/SUCCESS
• Project failure – usually limited “up front” planning
• Project management as a skilled process
• Successful projects – most attention on “up front” proactive planning
• Proactive management & strong focus on a planning methodology is key
• Lack of agreement on project goals or objectives
• Weak or problematic project team
• Lack of measurement system
• Team not capable of task
• Current IT infrastructure inadequate
• Corporate management delegated monitoring
• Lack of support from senior level management
• Escalating project cost and time for completion

Businesses Say:
• Lack of user
involvement
• Problems in
communication
• Poor planning
IT Staff say:
• Weak leadership
• Poorly defined
objectives
• Poor planning
Projects Fail Because…

Danger Signs Of Failure
• Too broad of a scope
• Failure to meet user needs
• Lack of clear business goals
• Too many leaders
• Lack of contingency plans
• Inadequate testing
• Inadequate user training
• Denial that the project is in trouble

Project Turnaround Strategies
• Extended the schedule – 85%
• Better project management procedures – 54%
• Added people – 53%
• More funds – 43%
• Pressured suppliers by withholding payment – 38%
• Reduce project scope – 28%
• Used consultants – 27%
• Better development methodologies – 25%
• Change of technology used on project – 13%
• Abandoning project – 9%

Insight Into Project Trends
Average number of development projects worked on at one time…
• 1-5 Projects 64%
• 20 + Projects 9%
What type of development projects have you done?
• New Product 77%
• Product Enhancements 59%
• Technical Projects 50%
• Business Development 68%
• Market Development 55%
• Web Development 50%
BusinessHive Study 2001

What has the biggest impact on a development effort failing?
• Time 55%
• People Resources 36%
• Budget/Dollars available 23%
• Lack of Direction 36%
• Lack of Support by Management 36%
Other:
• Timing of third party delivery
• Lack of teamwork within a company or lack of others to see the
benefits
• Client availability for content and approvals

When implementing a development project how often is there
communications with the development team?
• Daily 55%
• Weekly 41%
• Bi-Monthly 9%
• Monthly 9%
• Sporadically 9%
Other:
• Whenever there is new information that must be shared.
• Custom Schedule based on size and complexity of project.

Biggest frustrations with projects?
• Too many projects
• Not enough time to get everything done
• Lack of understanding of why something is being done
• Upper management non-involvement
• Too many meetings
• Too many leaders
• Frequent direction changes
• Lack of support by management

Either Be Comfortable Or Productive
Level Of Anxiety
TeamPerformance
Complacency =
Boredom/Apathy
Creative Tension =
Excitement
Terror = Flight
or Catatonia
Managing Creativity, by Donna Shirley

What Does This All Mean?
• What can we learn from the statistics &
numbers?
• What words did we see and understand? –
Language gives hints to what is important.
• When people think project management do
they think: Fun, creativity, exploration, get
excited about????

The First Realization
• Successful project management requires
leadership. When humans go into conflict, big
undertakings, challenges – with a diverse group they
want to be lead.
‘Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men
and women to a common purpose and the
character which inspires confidence’
- Bernard Montgomery, Field Marshal

Let Me Share A Story
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s British Imperial Trans-Antarctic
Expedition of 1914 to 1916 with the goal of accomplishing the
first crossing of the Antarctic continent, a feat he considered to
be the last great polar journey of the "Heroic Age of
Exploration."
In December 1914, Shackleton set sail with his 27-man crew,
many of whom, it is said, had responded to the following
recruitment notice:
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold.
Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe
return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. —
Ernest Shackleton."

Let Me Share A Story
• Endurance crew spent 2 years in the Artic circle and on the ice
• Shackleton said all of them would get home
• They were experienced polar explorers
• They accomplished the unheard of:
– Survived the sinking of their ship
– Minimal food stores
– Sailing the most dangerous seas on the planet
– Crossing an uncharted mountain range

How? Shackleton’s Leadership
1. Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term
objectives.
2. Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and
behaviors.
3. Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.
4. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.
5. Reinforce the team message constantly: "We are one—we live or die
together."
6. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.
7. Master conflict—deal with anger in small doses, engage dissidents,
and avoid needless power struggles.
8. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.
9. Be willing to take the Big Risk.
10.Never give up—there's always another move.
Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic
Expedition

Break Time Thoughts
‘Of all the things a leader should fear,
complacency should head the list.’
- John Maxwell
‘ Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving. They make
mistakes, but they don’t quit.’
- Conrad Hilton

Trust Me
• Where does ‘trust’ belong in project
management?
• What are examples of how we trust others to
guide us when we are unsure or trying new
things and/or when we must move out of our
comfort zones to achieve our goals?
• Building a bond between the project leader
and the team is critical.

I’m Here To Tell You …
• It is not going to be the technology
• It is not going to be the project
• It is not doing to be the tools
• It is not going to be the management
You are the single most critical element to
successful outcomes on projects…
U

The Business World Today…
Creates leadership vacuums:
• Consensus management
• Group think
• Political correctness
• The tallest blade gets cut first
• Fear of risk
No one teaches these points – they are learned!

Project Management Shouldn't Be

Project Management Could Be

‘Human Factor’ = Successful Projects
1. Leadership
2. Selling & handling management
3. Building & knowing the team
4. Personal communications
5. Converting mountains into mole hills
6. Pink Submarines – ‘resource requisition’
7. Spirit through recognition & incentives
8. Velocity & vision

Process & People
Kim Resch
Using The Human Factor To Launch Products
A sharing of experiences & discussion

‘Human Factor’ = Selling Management
1. The larger the project the more management support is
needed
2. Get and keep management involved in the right projects at
the right time – don’t wear out your welcome
3. First thing, gain the clear understanding of the manager’s
highest level goals and desires
4. On a regular basis meet one-on-one with management to up-
date and ask for support
5. Meet with, face-to-face, each manager of each person
assigned to the project – gain commitment
6. When priorities shift re-commit with all levels of management
7. Gain outward signs of approval & support from management

‘Human Factor’ = The Team
1. Get to know each person on your team, including personal
likes, interests, etc. & share about yourself too
2. Get buy-in – sell hard when necessary
3. Trust the people on your team and show them you trust them
4. Give them a chance to shine and get recognition –
‘relinquishing power’
5. Define their strengths & weaknesses
6. Spend time explaining the importance of the project – to the
bigger picture
7. Write thank-you notes and take time to have a snack/lunch
with the team
8. Go out of your way to care and be personal
9. Never let family or the individual come second
10. And at the same time, push them through example and
challenge them beyond what they think they can do

‘Human Factor’ = Communications
1. After leadership the second most important role you will play
2. Watch for issues, build-up and possible explosions – only
way to know is via talking, seeing and sharing
3. E-mail is the scourge of proper and effective communications
– great for documentation, horrible for getting the right out-
come
4. Communicate often with the key team members and (on
larger or fast projects, do so every day), with the larger circle
of members at minimum weekly
5. Utilize all forms of communications
6. Involve upper management in formal & relaxed moments
7. Restate the mission, goals, business impact, etc.
8. At start of program develop a scope document that includes
the business value and the ‘why it is important’
9. Handwrite thank-you notes along the way

To Build A Team…
A little experiment:
• We will divide into teams
• Building a separate part of a larger item
• You will receive instructions
• You will receive materials
• As a group try and figure out what the bigger thing is
• Afterward we will share what as been learned

‘Human Factor’ = Converting
1. Obstacle remover
2. Work the team to bring expectations into alignment
3. Shut down gossip and trash-talk
4. Address problems head on – first to the immediate person
then go up the chain
5. Clarify, define and bring into prospective
6. Feel the pain, but move beyond to the result – generate a
positive outcome
7. When a person is blocking the project’s success, after
attempts to correct the behavior, have them removed –
nothing and no one is untouchable
8. Keep the mission visible and the end result alive
9. Don’t let scope creep & ‘fix all the ills of the business’,
change the project’s desired result

‘Human Factor’ = Pink Submarines
1. Your job is to find the necessary resources, tools,
training and support for the project
2. People are shy about asking for help (and most of
the time reserved in offering it) get out and drum
up the support
3. Be creative with problem solving
4. Trade with, barter with…

‘Human Factor’ = Spirit
1. Utilize recognition & incentives
2. Non-cash rewards are better
3. Both team and individual rewards & recognition
4. Reward for each milestone or important result
5. Say thank you, in writing and in group settings
6. Hold up performers
7. Hold a kick-off meeting followed up with an activity
8. Reward positive behaviors openly, handle poor behaviors
privately and one-on-one (use as a learning experience)
9. Get management to ‘stop by’ performing individuals’
cubes/offices or meetings to say ‘I heard and wanted to
say…’
10. Create performance legends & stories
11. The positive spirit begins with you

‘The moment people in an organization are recognized, they will
act to get recognition. The moment they realize that the
organization rewards for the right behavior, they will accept it.’
Peter Drucker – WSJ
• Positive, Immediate and Certain
• Change requires a motivator - what gets rewarded
gets done
• Awards need to have meaning and be beyond the
living basics
• Cash is limited in promotion value, long-term
remembrance and excitement

• Have a strategy for reinforcing the new behaviors that align
with your new work design - Creating a successful team
structure requires changes in behavior for everyone.
Identifying the desired behaviors, and reinforcing them
immediately, will bring about a smoother change.
• Use a demand-pull model for motivating employees - The
specific, team-supportive behaviors expected from employees
should be clearly communicated. As team members and
leaders begin to use these behaviors and become more self-
directed, they should be given more control and more freedom
to act, make decisions, gain autonomy, get access to
reward/celebration funds, etc. With this approach, teams are
motivated to move forward, receive more training, and excel
within the team system. Reference: Daniels, Aubrey. Bringing Out the Best in People

• Make the criteria for receiving reinforcement and rewards clear
and achievable - The more unclear contingencies for rewards
are, the more confusion and skepticism employees will exhibit.
• Reward and reinforce individual efforts as well as team
performance - Individual recognition is important, but use it to
reinforce a member’s contribution to the team.
• Empower teams gradually and systematically - turn over
responsibilities such as self-management and decision
making, only when team members are ready, and initially
provide a limited scope for them. Handing over complete
empowerment immediately, especially when employees are
not used to it, can be disruptive and counter productive.
Reference: Daniels, Aubrey. Bringing Out the Best in People

‘Human Factor’ = Velocity
1. Determine upfront how much or little the specific project
requires - the tools, tracking and formal processes
2. Create a vision the team can believe in, including how fast
and why
3. Create a sense of urgency and action (if it can be done now
then do it)
4. Important means speed – velocity only comes with a clear
understanding of where you started and where you are going
5. Make it real, make it tangible
6. The pace of the leader sets the pace of the pack!

A Quick Story
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Mike Abrashoff took the worst ship in the
Navy and transformed it into the top ship in the Pacific Fleet.
In 1997, Abrashoff, a well-decorated officer, was assigned
command of the USS Benfold, a ship with a $60 million budget
and a crew of 300. Under his people-first leadership, crew
retention increased from 28 to 100 percent, the ship achieved
best-ever results in every competitive category, and it
consistently operated at 75 percent of budget, returning
millions to U.S. taxpayers. To cap off Abrashoff's success, the
Benfold won the prestigious Spokane Trophy for the best ship
in the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet.

A Few Thoughts
Killer Be’s
• Be brave!
• Be bold!
• Be adventurous!
• Be courageous!
• Be persistent!
The best way to predict your future is to create it!

Human Factor in Project Management

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