We found this book ‘Project & Program Turnaround‘ quite insightful and worth sharing – although we are quite choosy on the books we review on this blog.

The author, Thomas Pavelko, is a former program manager with a large aeronautical company and therefore, the book is somewhat tainted by the context of large defense and aeronautics programs that produce high technology tangible products, sometimes subject to short series; and that are developed inside a larger organisation performing many more similar programs at the same time. However, the learning points are quite universal and we have appreciated much the emphasis put on leadership and teamwork as a linchpin for program turnaround.

The main concepts revolve around transforming the project team into an effective team that delivers the various recovery milestones supporting each other. Beyond sound recommendations about proper leadership practices, a few aspects we have noted:

• the essential role of the turnaround lead, ideally sourced from within the organisation if possible
• the recommendation to come up with a first turnaround plan with clear short term targets (commitments) in days rather than in weeks
• the essential part that colocation of the teams plays in turnaround success
• the need to promote innovation in terms of how to do things and have the door open to any idea even if it looks weird at the start
• The need to put together a control framework that allows anticipation through trending analysis
• The need to make sure all events and failures are properly analysed for the root cause because repetition later in the project will cost dearly

All in all, ‘Project & Program Turnaround‘ is quite recommendable book for project managers facing the challenges of turning around their large project or program.