end the project death march: do more projects and boost team engagement!

PMI – Central Indiana Chapter Professional Development Day

Joe Cooper, PMP, PMCP

: 1joecooper

PMI – Central Indiana Chapter Professional Development Day

Resolve crisis and high-stress in projects Significantly improve meeting delivery

commitments Simplify with pragmatic estimating Visually report project health early and

objectively

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Wait a minute… Something feels wrong!!

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In project management, a “death march” is a project where the team feels it is destined to fail, or requires periods of unsustainable work; frequent nights and weekends.

A project like this is usually filled with crisis and panic, particularly toward the end.

Photo from cover of book titled “Death March” by Edward Yourdon

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Schedule overruns 74%, up from 71% in 2010

Budget overruns 59%, up from 46% in 2010

Features delivered 69%, down from 74% in 2010

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Schedules cut by sponsors or management Expecting every task to complete "on-time" Expecting later task owners to "make up time" when

earlier tasks slip Cutting testing when project commitment date is in

jeopardy Green to red status overnight Overtime required - nights and weekends Heroics needed to finish the project "No organization can possibly survive if it needs geniuses

to manage it" -Peter Drucker

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Yerkes-Dodson

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10% confidence 50% confidence 95% confidence

2 days 5 days 12 days

.20

.40

.60

.80

1.0

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No progress Panic Work!

Start task Deadline

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Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4

Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Project BufferTime

Saved

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Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4

Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 Project BufferTime

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Project Buffer

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Buffer

consum

ed

.Project 1

.Project 2

.Project 3 .Project 4

.Project 5

.Project 6

Project duration

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Mazda using these methods.

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Chapter 17

www.tocico.org

PMI – Central Indiana Chapter Professional Development Day

Continually strive to create system harmony. Eliminate the stress that degrades performance.

Use 50/50 estimates to eliminate waste, boost team engagement, accelerate projects, and get more done.

Use a project buffer to avoid crisis, protect delivery commitments, and to enhance competitive advantage.

Create environments of FOCUS to eliminate the waste of rework and context switching.

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PMI – Central Indiana Chapter Professional Development Day

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Thank you!

Joe Cooper

email: jcooper@Allegient.com

phone: 309-212-6305

: joecooper1

www.Allegient.com

: 1joecooper

:slideshare.net/JosephCooperPMP