Tar Babies (or Projects)

1. Tar Babies (or Projects) IEM5010 Summer 2003 Paul E. Rossler, Ph.D., P.E.

2. Programmed to fail? “If we have such well-trained project managers and engineers, why do we still see so many failures or instances of failure…? The answer is truly simple. It is because no class, seminar, or book can possible define the thousands of variables that exist for any given project, at any given time.” Source: Brown, et al., 2000, p. 5

3. What factors contribute to project success?

4. Why are some projects more difficult than others?

5. AntiPatterns in Project Management Summary spreadsheet

6. Factors in 10 technology disasters • Specifications decided by technology-illiterate customer • Less than honest communication • Relying on guesswork; Ignoring scale effects • Cutting corners to cut cost • Lack of attention to detail Reference Excel spreadsheet

7. Factors (continued) • Mismatch between new technology and old ones • Foregoing proven technologies for novel ones • Over-reliance on technology • "Normal" accidents inherent in system design

8. Insights from a tender ship for new-product development • Lack of external learning capability • Don’t imitate ideas unless you fully understand them • Goal confusion • Clarify and focus the project goal on essential user needs • Obsession with speed • Use fast-paced development as a means, not an end, without being hasty Source: E. H. Kessler, P. E. Bierly and S. Gopalakrishnan, "Vasa syndrome: Insights from a 17th-century new-product disaster," Academy of Management Executive, volume 15, 3 2001, pp. 80-91.

9. Feedback system failure • Keep an open mind and foster flexible problem solving • Communication barriers • Facilitate vertical- and horizontal-information flows. Share and integrate knowledge • Poor organizational memory • Document and catalog areas of expertise. Create a knowledge bank

10. Top-management meddling • Don’t micromanage projects. Set objectives at the top levels and give teams the resources and autonomy to achieve them

11. What makes some development efforts succeed? Willingness to Cooperate Level of Interpersonal Trust Propensity to Experiment and Adapt Comfort Level With Changes Form Cross- Functional Teams Integration of Diverse Skills Culture Team Leadership Top Management’s Tolerance for Delays and Failures Access to Information and Resources Based on Jassawalla, A.R. and H.C. Sashittal, Building collaborative cross-functional product teams. Academy of Management Executive, 1999. 13(3): p. 50-63.

12. Source: T. K. Abdel-Hamid and S. E. Madnick, "The elusive silver lining: How we fail to learn from software development failures," Sloan Management Review, Fall 1990, pp. 39-48.

13. A. Rodrigues and J. Bowers, "The role of system dynamics in project management," International Journal of Project Management, volume 14, 4 1996, pp. 213-220.

14. A. Rodrigues and J. Bowers, 1996

15. A. Rodrigues and J. Bowers, 1996

16. Source: Rodrigues A. and Williams T, http://www.managementscience.org/research/ab9606.asp

17. Why some projects fly and others crash and burn Based on Squires, 1986

18. Squires thinks that hierarchical structures cause problems A. Squires, The tender ship: Governmental management of technological change (Boston: Birkhauser, 1986).

19. He also thinks that maestros of technology are key to success • Possess great technical and managerial skills • Didn’t rush into management but served apprenticeships that provided tests of competence • Focus on improvement rather than innovation • Aren’t seduced by gadgets or new technology • Understand Watson-Watts Law of Third Best

20. Maestros of technology (continued) • Show tremendous loyalty to the project’s objectives • Workaholics • Get around; know what’s happening • Aren’t concerned about position • Help others become maestros

21. Complex projects require a great many maestros and… • A great leader who ensures they cooperate and who sorts things out when they don’t

22. Key variables cited by Squires • Project Direction • Technical Leadership • Staffing • Management Structure • Organizational Structure • Key Stages • Project Management • Culture

23. Key concepts throughout book • Maestro of technology • Probity (adherence to the highest principles and ideas) • Flexibly extensive organization • The oxcart and the ditch • Deadlines • Watson-Watts Law

24. Watson-WattsLaw of Third Best Best never comes. Second best takes too long or costs too much. Pick the third best and get on with it.

25. Key concepts (continued) • Apprenticeships and the rush to management • Focus on improvement versus innovation • Euphoria of gadgets (“suckers for the gold brick”) • Prejudice against the “old way”

26. Key concepts (continued) • Recognizing expertise • Flexibility of thought (and comfort with errors

27. Harvey provides a fundamental insight to project difficulties “The inability to manage agreement - not the inability to manage conflict - is the essential symptom that defines organizations caught in the web of the Abilene Paradox.” Source: J. B. Harvey, The Abilene Paradox and other meditations on management (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1988).

28. The Abilene Paradox “Organizations frequently take actions in contradiction to the data they have for dealing with problems and, as a result, compound their problems rather than solving them.” Source: J. B. Harvey, The Abilene Paradox and other meditations on management (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1988).

29. Some underlying causes of the paradox • Action anxiety • Negative fantasies • Real risk • Separation anxiety • Psychological reversal of risk Source: J. B. Harvey

30. Is there a solution? “Most individuals like quick, ‘clean,’ ‘no-risk’ solutions to organizational problems. Furthermore, they tend to prefer solutions based on mechanics and technology, rather than on attitudes of "being." Unfortunately, the underlying reality of the paradox makes it impossible to provide either no-risk solutions or action technologies that are divorced from existential attitudes and realities.” Source: J. B. Harvey