A smart runner plans his or her training, diet, equipment, budget, and physical needs when prepping for a marathon. Even so, race day can present issues that hinder a race’s successful completion. Missing a scheduled hydration stop could cause dehydration, or drinking too much water could cause hyponatremia. An injury during the event can stop the race for the runner. Early planning helps the athlete know what issues or risks to avoid, but it doesn’t provide 100% protection. But are there things to learn from the overall experience?
Similarly, project managers plan the project’s timeline and facilitate risk reviews to identify and monitor potential stumbling blocks to achieving the project’s overall goals. It is crucial to understand the common challenges and make a plan to overcome them. But don’t stop there. Savvy project managers add another perspective by identifying opportunities to improve the project outcome and provide valuable feedback to project stakeholders for continuous improvement.
How do you get a team to list the opportunities on a project and track the success? How do you get a team to understand what an opportunity comprises? One idea is to include an opportunity discussion as part of the risk review. Ask team members to identify actions that can improve day to day efficiencies, personal work satisfaction, and overall project success. Get the group to consider opportunities in the following three categories:
- Team engagement
- Technical focus
- Continuous improvement/feedback loop
Some examples that might come from the discussion are:
- Team Engagement:
- Can we find mentors to assist in the project areas where we need a more experienced skillset?
- In what ways will we recognize and reward success across the project team?
- Are there opportunities to train shadow resources that will expand our skill base across the company?
- Technical Focus:
- Are there similar technical projects that the team can review before starting?
- Can we identify our “go-to” toolset and make a plan for team onboarding?
- Continuous Improvement/Feedback loop
- What are our feedback mechanisms to our sponsor, stakeholders, and partners? (i.e., lessons learned at each phase or sprint)
- When identified, how are changes in our processes implemented?
Some project managers might argue that spending time identifying opportunities is time away from project tasks and ultimately doesn’t change the project’s overall goal or improve the outcome. Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” I agree with Mr. Einstein. Take a little extra time to discover opportunities for growth and improvement of your projects.