Posts Tagged ‘#MindsetAnd behaviour’
Why big UK IT public sector projects will continue to fail
UPDATE:
The Economist 30 June 2018 reviewed the use of outsourcing in the UK.
It argued that potential savings have fallen, higher quality services are more challenging to manage and outsourced contracts have become rigid in some cases.
Skills gap & a “solution”
The UK government’s chief procurement officer stated that big IT public sector projects fail because of the poor project skills of civil servants.
In other words, the projects are poorly implemented.
The “solution”, in his view, was more training and use of “experts“.
I don’t think that “solution” will work.
Here’s why:
1.Strategy and Politics.
The wrong projects are often selected in the first place.
In other words, even if they were successfully implemented, they would not generate the benefits claimed.
Furthermore, it has become impossible for civil servants to constructively challenge a project proposal by a Minister. #PulsebeatsNotPostmortems
Even a project, that is impossible to implement.
2.Suppliers and Risk.
The wrong outsourcing model is used.
Suppliers are selected on the basis of price, rather than overall effectiveness and track record of the supplier.
People still simply don’t understand the risks inherent in large complex IT projects.
Or if they do, they aren’t listened toby senior management. #TSB
Just like they didn’t understand the risks in financial markets, before the 2007/8 financial crash.
Or the low cost, fixed price competitive tendering model that brought down Carillion.
Note to those involved with contract management
Please contact me, using links below, to discuss or comment. I am interested in ensuring that organisations & individuals #ThriveNotJustSurvive by de-risking change. And using strategies & stories to ask good questions, avoid traps and use principles from martial arts to change #MindsetAndBehaviour. You can contact me here:
Picture of the Tower of Babel by fimocculous
Are you a self aware #leader? Two #MartialArtsPrinciples to help.
At your peak or draining away?
Are you self aware?
Self awareness is, in my view, one of the four most common challenges facing leaders.
There’s the famous quote from Robbie Burns.
Here are two #MartialArtsPrinciples relating to self awareness
1. #PlayToYourStrengths – be aware of your energy levels
Leaders need to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.
And to take action accordingly.
Many are not.
Here’s one example, relating to energy levels.
Are you aware of your energy levels?
And how they vary over time?
It matters a lot.
It’s an important element of time management and personal effectiveness.
For some people, their peak energy is in the morning – I call them larks.
For others, it is later in the day – I call them owls.
There’s now a lot of research on this, called Chronotyping.
I spoke with an experienced Chair recently on this subject.
He knew that he was a morning person.
So he aimed to do his thinking and writing work early in the day.
And to do his people and meetings work afterwards.
He described this as “a.m. for IQ work and p.m. for EQ work.”
Watch out for ego
There is also a close link between self awareness and ego.
Humility helps with hubris.
2. #PracticeProperly
In the spirit of self awareness also, remember to practice and to test things out.
Even the greatest speaker should do at least one real rehearsal.
I have also received a comment from a leader in the armed forces.
Apparently, self awareness is now a major part of leadership training in the Military in the UK and psychometric testing is used to support this activity in a number of programmes.
Picture by Fits Ahlefeldt-Lauvig
Please feel free contact me, to discuss or comment this post. You can contact me here:
#ProjectSuccess: Copy NOAH, not Babel.
People now know more about project management.
But projects still fail. And big time.
Why?
What can we learn from NOAH, the first project manager?
His project was challenging, to say the least.
It was mission critical, because without it the world would end.
It had an immovable deadline.
He could not say ‘Sorry the ark is delayed, will be ready the day after the flood’.
Why did he succeed?
NOAH had a great vision and was clear on scope and output.
He combined the idea of a floating boarding kennel and a get-away-from-it-all cruise.
NOAH was an effective leader, planner and communicator. #ThriveNotDive.
He:
- Demonstrated awareness and #agility by understanding of the significance of the dove with leaf in its beak;
- Inspected progress regularly and set simple process rules – only two of each species.
- Understood the risks;
- He was a good change manager with advice from a high source; and
- He had the strongest project sponsor of all.
Compare what happened with the Tower of Babel.
- A confused purpose;
- No clear plan;
- No idea who was responsible for what; and
- All built on poor foundations.
And how is your project coming along?
There is nothing Babel-like about it, is there?
Picture by bhollar
I have surveyed many projects.
Many had elements of Babel about them.
If you identify this early there is time to revive them.
Or to #ManageByPulsebeats, not postmortems.
Please feel free to comment on this post or to contact me here:
Mike Barnato 