… Primarily because of articles like this one by CIO Magazine. I found this article through Ameel’s website, so hat tip to Ameel for that one.

Every once in a while someone publishes a “nn reasons why your IT project fails” article. Every time it leaves me with some longing for something insightful. In this CIO Magazine article, every one of the 14 tips provided are logical and rational. Each one of them is actionable. Each one of them is also useless.

The only tip which comes close to dealing with the true underlying problem is tip no. 14 on communicating with project sponsors and stakeholders. Even this only addresses it in a very rudimentary way.

What’s wrong with this?

Firstly, the points made in these articles are practical and useful. I believe they have some value. The problem is that they simply don’t go far enough.

As IT people and project managers, we are trained to be operational, logical, planned, rational and ultimately to solve problems. We read material which reinforces this world view of ourselves. In this instance, the article hands us a platter full of 14 problems to solve and some very palatable solutions. In fails in addressing the real hard questions we need to deal with in order to be effective leaders of IT projects.

This article, and others like it, provide us with a convenient scape goat. As long as we do these things (e.g. select the right project team, use repeatable processes, track changes), then we can avoid the real issues.

What about agile?

Agile deals with this partly by making it easier to “go with the flow” and safely absorb the changing nature of projects. Most of the documentation I have read on the subject focuses on creating processes to control and manage. Don’t get me wrong, these are really really important processes to put in place.

Where I fear we trip up is when we implement the processes expecting them to solve or at least help with our people issues. Again, there isn’t much focus on engaging with real people. How do we better relate to them? How do we learn to understand them and their own pressures and needs? How do we “do communication better?”

What should we be adressing instead?

In my mind, the real issue is a lack of dialogue. Not talking. Not listening. Not communicating. But real dialogue. The ability to put your own needs aside and engage on a deeper level with those you are working for. Only when we get to this space will we begin to see significant gains in IT project successes and real positive outcomes.

Often we need to hear things that we don’t want to hear. Often we need to say things others may not want to hear. As leaders of projects, we need to create a space where this can occur. An open, respectful and reflective space.

This is an area that I am only just begining to explore for myself. Because of this, I still find it difficult to explain in words. The area is one studied by Ronald Heifetz and is known as Adaptive Leadership or Adaptive Change. As I find the words and have the experiences, I hope to write and share more about this.

Until then, some of the following articles might help provide some insights for you:

• When Leadership Spells Danger
• Adaptive Change: What’s essential and what’s expendable?
• Adaptive Leadership
• Adaptive vs Technical challenges
• A conversation with Ronal Heifetz - Leadership without easy answers

At Melbourne Business School, we’ve started using Scrum to manage our software development projects. Over the last few months, we’ve used it very loosely on a project as a trial run. The elements we picked up were the very basics of scrum. I’m nervous to even say that we were “doing scrum”. Even so, the results were so much better than I expected, and we completed our project ahead of schedule.

In the beginning …

The daily stand-up meeting was the first “ceremony” we instigated. It’s quite simple, we meet every morning for 5 - 10 minutes, standing up and we each answer three questions: what did you do yesterday, what will you do today, what obstacles are you facing?

The idea is that people want to get it over with quicker if they’re forced to stand up during a meeting. It really does tend to keep us focused and to the point.

It took a little while for people to warm to the idea initially, but we soon developed a bit of a rhythm. People were keeping to their time limits, mentioned salient points only and our ability to actually get stuff done increased considerably.

Most interestingly to me, was the new opportunities this created for the team. The opportunity to share every day has made it easier for us to offer help to each other when obstacles come about. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that the 10 minutes invested in the stand-up has returned us numerous hours a week of muddling through things as individuals.

Now …

Lately however, things have started to become more like a status meeting. Going through the three questions just because that’s what we so. I realise now that keeping this meaningful and actionable is not a trivial task. It’s even more challenging for us as the team is constantly working on multiple projects. Sometimes what you’re working on really doesn’t effect anyone else in the team.

We may be headed for “Daily Standup Withdrawal.”

Stacia from the Scrum Alliance writes:

Many teams really, truly believe that the purpose of the daily standup is to “just answer the three questions without exceeding fifteen minutes.” Maybe it’s that the questions (what did you do yesterday, what will you do today, what obstacles are you facing) seem so simple. They are not. There is so much underneath the surface of the three little questions. Coach your team to think about these questions and come prepared to the daily standup [...]

In other words, think about the tasks, the accomplishments, how it may impact John’s work or Mary’s next task, and keep in mind who you are working with to complete the task. Go into the daily standup with answers to the three questions that are meaningful, insightful, and proactive.

Later …

Taking on some advice from that article, I intend to spend some time actively coaching and giving more feedback to the team members. I also need to ensure I don’t contract the same disease myself. A bit of team reflection may be in order too.

Disclaimer

To date, I have avoided writing much about my work environment. Having thought about this quite a lot lately, I believe the net effect of writing about such things will be a positive one. So, it now needs to be stated that this clearly is a personal blog. The view and opinions I express here are my own and not those of the people, institutions, or organisations that I may be related with.

It’s really not all that far away. Only 9 years.
A report by “The Orange Future Enterprise Coalition” (set up by Orange Business Services in Britain), has some interesting predictions regarding the future.

Whether predictions in “The Way To Work” report eventuate or not, we are certainly going to be facing some huge changes in the way companies are run and business is managed.

Management Line (The Age) provides a good summary of the four scenarios in the report:

Disciples of the cloud: Companies have pooled together to save costs on office space and services, strong lines of demarcation between work and non-work (which could create big issues for people wanting work-life balance), and there’s a bigger focus on IT and teamwork. Also a lot of what you do is monitored.

Electronic Cottages: Employees working either from home or commuting short distances to a small hub or office. There is a stronger sense of community, with more people pooling together to help out on child care and crime prevention. Working life and everyday life are much more integrated.

Replicants: Everyone’s a consultant. Not many people are directly employed and it’s not unusual to be working for two to three companies simultaneously. Working life is less predictable and secure. And since work is unpredictable, people work hard for part of the year before taking huge slabs of time off. Companies take little responsibility for staff and people have to look after and find work for themselves.

Mutual Worlds : The big focus is on local communities with people preferring to work in small local ventures rather than big business

Why does all of this worry me?

Quite simply, I might get left behind!

Perhaps I’m just feeling the effects of hitting 30, but I notice that it is becoming more difficult to make fundamental changes to your notions of work. After years employment, ideas and values become very embedded. Your choices are based on prior experience and that experience is based in a world of the past.

I see a strong need to change. A need to adapt. A need to reconnect with life and the purpose for living.

In the next years to come, as the next generation begin to enter the workforce and thrust a new model of work upon us, how will we cope? How will we deal with our notions of work being challenged. How will our leaders (being my generation) manage this change.

A commenter named “The Futurist” makes an interesting prediction of the future:

Generation Y workers would get used to travelling the world, in search of work. Many would leave Australia to avoid paying their HECS debts.

More double income households will retire by 50, due to ‘burn out’ from high stress jobs; and ability to do so from income from investments to get through the years before collecting two sets of superannuation nest eggs for the later years.

The ageing society will be in full profile with many jobs for looking after the disabled elderly and people with dementia.

The workplace of 2016, Management Line blog, The Age

Whatever happens, it’ll certainly be an interesting ride.