Project Value Delivery Updates

Take Risks, but Take Risks the Right Way: Reframing the Opportunities and Risk Process for Complex Projects

Jun 10, 2012PVD admin1 CommentWhite Papers

Risk & opportunity management, as done traditionally in project management, is not effective for complex projects. It often becomes a bureaucratic exercise only done to give comfort to the organization and its auditors. Yet, if done well, leveraging opportunities and managing risks can greatly enhance the project’s and organization’s success. What is usually done wrong and how can we fix that?

why are Monte Carlo approaches not giving a good vision of the actual project risks?

In our new groundbreaking White Paper 2012-11 “Take Risks, but Take Risks the Right Way: Reframing the Opportunities and Risk Process for Complex Projects”, we examine what are the conventional risk management approaches, and why they can’t apply to large, complex projects. For example, why are Monte Carlo methods not giving a good picture of actual risk levels?

We further revisit the conventional risk management organizations to propose a way forward that will really account for the risks in large, complex projects.

Learn what your real risks are and how to reframe your project risk management process in our White Paper 2012-11 “Take Risks, but Take Risks the Right Way: Reframing the Opportunities and Risk Process for Complex Projects”.

The PEOPLE CATALYST, the Fifth and last Project Soft Power Role

Jun 3, 2012PVD admin1 Commentbooks

Finally we come to the last role, the PEOPLE CATALYST. Where the TEAM COACH enhanced the effectiveness of the team, the PEOPLE CATALYST uncovers people’s hidden talents for the benefit of the team and the project.

Project Soft Power: the People Catalyst role

The successful project leader is not only an outstanding team coach, he also knows how to unleash individual people’s talents, and to support the expression of individual’s potential.

His appreciative way of looking at individual’s talents will be sometimes destabilizing, because he will look beyond the conventional professional identity of people to appreciate their overall potential. To the remote observer, strange things will happen as people suddenly start doing activities that are quite distinct from what they would have been expected to do as professionals in a certain field.

Through this appreciative action, the project leader not only releases talents that will ensure the success of the project. He will also create a strong emotional linkage with the person which will last long beyond the completion of the project, and puts the seed of people’s future development in a radically entrepreneurial act.

The People Catalyst role is about developing a deep, appreciative view of people and identify how their talents could support the project. Beyond people’s professional identities, the successful project leader can catalyse evolutions in team member’s roles and identities, bringing them and the project tremendous value.

How much do you catalyze people’s development in your team?

Project Soft Power is now out to the world!

Project Soft Power – Learn the Secrets of the Great Project Leaders on Amazon.com
and Kindle

The TEAM COACH, the Fourth Project Soft Power Role

May 27, 2012PVD adminbooks

The successful project leader is like the familiar figure of the collective sports TEAM COACH.

Project Soft Power: the Team Coach role

His leadership approach can potentially transform a team from a mere collection of individuals into an unstoppable team. He can lead the team to produce results that could not have been achieved without the special teamwork approach and the specific practices he implements, leveraging the capabilities of each team member into an incredible collective capability.

The magical aspect of the successful team coach is only the persistent, disciplined application of a limited number of key practices. Done well, it can unleash incredible potential. It can move a team from good to great even if the members are not stars.

One good example is Barcelona football club vs Real Madrid. Barcelona is a team that invests heavily in the training and growing of young talents, and has a definite strength in its collective game. On the contrary, Real Madrid invests heavily on expensive divas and not so much in a training school. Bet who has got the most consistent results?

Pep Guardiola team coach having a tough conversation

And as the behavior of the team coach Pep Guardiola is both supportive but also sometimes assertive. One of the skills of the successful team coach is the capability to give honest and have tough conversations with his team members.

The Team Coach role is about creating an effective team, a team that will be successful and keep momentum and cohesion when facing the odds against the project. The successful Project Leader knows how to create a diverse team, and foster its development by allowing roles to evolve, and people that don’t fit to leave the team. The Project Leader also knows when and how to have tough conversations with team members when needed.

How good are you as a team coach?

Project Soft Power is out to the world

Project Soft Power – Learn the Secrets of the Great Project Leaders on Amazon.com
and Kindle

What Should “Project Success” Really Mean?

May 27, 2012PVD adminWhite Papers

Project success is defined very differently by different people and project stakeholders. What is really a successful project? Project Value Delivery has a very clear view on this: it is a project that delivers what was expected on time, and on budget. This simple definition has a lot of consequences. Achieving it need to overcome the factory mindset and invest in two counterintuitive key practices: teams and buffers.

Find out why and how in our new White Paper 2012-10: “What Should “Project Success” Really Mean? The Counter-intuitive Path to Complex Projects’ Success“.

What an unsuccessful project looks like...

Success means different things to different people. Because so many project fail, success interpretation is always clumsy. There is just one sustainable definition of project success: on time and budget. And by implementing the right organizational principles, leveraging on the effectiveness of integrated project teams and implementing some resource buffers, project success can be achieved much more reliably.

Find out how in our new White Paper 2012-10: “What Should “Project Success” Really Mean? The Counter-intuitive Path to Complex Projects’ Success“.

The ENTREPRENEUR, the Third Project Soft Power Role

May 20, 2012PVD admin1 CommentUncategorized

Following the SPIDER and the KUNG FU MASTER, the ENTREPRENEUR role is particularly important when it comes to large, complex projects.

Project Soft Power: The Entrepreneur role

It might at first seem contradictory, because a project is fundamentally a short term endeavour: still, the successful project leader is fundamentally an Entrepreneur, because he builds something, even if it is temporary. He builds his project as a vehicle to reach certain objectives. Obsessed by his objectives, he is able to postpone short term gains for longer term benefits; he is able to take (reasoned) risks.

The Entrepreneur mindset is often the key distinction between the successful Project Leader and the average project manager.

It is amazing how many organizations have difficulty to accept that sometimes, upfront investment is necessary to reach longer term goals, at least when it comes to investing in people, processes and systems.

The Entrepreneur role is about being able to invest early to reap larger benefits tomorrow. While it entails a certain dose of uncertainty, this practice allows the successful project leader to reap the fruits of appropriate early decisions. It is essential for ultimate the project success, yet so unfamiliar to most organization’s cost cutting cultures.

How entrepreneurial are you really in your day-to-day project leadership?

Project Soft Power is now out to the world!!

Project Soft Power on Amazon.com and Kindle

BREAKING NEWS: The Project Soft Power book is published!

May 20, 2012PVD adminbooks, products

Miracle of the Fourth Revolution, our new book, Project Soft Power – Learn the Secrets of the Great Project Leaders is now out to the world even before we have received the copies from the local printer!

“I would strongly recommend this book to anybody who is aspiring to move up the ladder in any project organization towards management positions” – says Babu Surendran, Senior Project Director, in the foreword.

YOUR PROBLEM: The rate of failure of projects remains unseemly high. The conventional analytic approaches are clearly not sufficient.
THE QUESTION: What makes successful project managers so reliable?
THE SOLUTION: It is not by developing further more detailed, more clever analytical methods. Extensive research identified the practices of Project Soft Power as the most important success factors.

Built around a lively, realistic project story, this short and powerful book provides the project management community with clear insights, self-assessments, simple approaches and tools to apply these groundbreaking new practices of Project Soft Power. Project Soft Power just makes the difference between Luck and Certainty, between Mediocrity and Consistent Success, between Average and Great

And we can now announce also the launch of the Project Soft Power website where you can know more about the Project Soft Power concept, find extracts of the book…

Can’t wait? Here are some links to buy the book. Enjoy!

and on Kindle

The KUNG FU MASTER, the second Project Soft Power role

May 13, 2012PVD adminbooks

Following the SPIDER Project Soft Power role, let’s now present the KUNG FU MASTER role.

Kung Fu Master in Action: breaking the constraints

Like the Kung Fu Master, the successful project leader can practice for hours, days, months and years the disciplines of project leadership. He can focus intensively for hours on a subject, silent and patient, and strike like lightning, suddenly breaking the seemingly unbreakable obstacle with the focused stroke of his bare hands on its rough surface.

Discipline is a key attribute of the successful project leader. It means relentlessly practicing the fundamental disciplines of project management, making sure the underlying processes deliver with the most limited variance possible, week after week, month after month.

Focus is another key tool of the project leader. Success is the result of the project leader focusing intently her attention on the very few important things that drive the project.

Project Soft Power: the Kung Fu Master role

One outstanding issue for the Project Leader is to identify the few constraints that drive the effective delivery of the project, and concentrate on them attention and effort. A project will be driven by a very limited number of constraints, which are often resources or deliverables for critical convergence points. The key role of the successful project leader is to identify them and focus on overcoming them. Only by overcoming the project constraints through relentless focus will the project be delivered successfully

Discipline and focus of the Kung Fu Master are key to outstanding execution. Relentless discipline of running the basic project management processes. Relentless focus of choosing priorities and effectively stick to them.

Are you a Kung Fu Master? How can you improve your discipline and focus?

Coming soon…

The SPIDER – the first role of Project Soft Power

May 6, 2012PVD admin1 Commentbooks

In this series we will present the five different roles of Project Soft Power. The book is now in print, and will be published by the end of May!

The SPIDER is the first role. It is about weaving a network of stakeholders that is effective to allow the project delivery.

Project Soft Power: the Spider role

Like the spider, the successful Project Leader patiently weaves its network, the cobweb. Like the spider, the general idea is to capture efficiently anything that comes close to the project and could influence its outcome – stakeholders in particular -, and manage them appropriately.

Having an effective, functional network is a primordial tool for the Project Leader. We are not speaking here of the social professional network that is recommended for career advancement and other mundane tasks. We are targeting a specific network that has to be setup specifically for the execution of the project.

Let’s face it: the most challenging projects (and the most rewarding, if they are successful) will have to deal with a lot of opposition, and the project leader’s job is to address this adequately to allow for the project to proceed.

Building and nurturing an effective project network includes identifying key stakeholders, engaging them, allowing 2-way communication, and nurturing the network on a continuous manner. The internal network inside the project team and on the project sites should not be forgotten. And disbanding the network at the end of the project needs to be considered with attention as people often remember the end more vividly.

The SPIDER role, weaving the Project Leader’s network, is an essential practice. It needs to be made effective by developing and nurturing a specifically targeted network related to the project. Going in the field or meeting stakeholders across hierarchy and roles is key to develop the most effective network. This activity requires proper planning and the successful Project Leader’s personal attention and time, so as to develop strong personal connections with the relevant persons.

So, are you an effective SPIDER?

Coming soon…

Why a Cost Controller is not an Accountant: The Right Role and Profile for a Cost Controller in Large, Complex Projects

May 6, 2012PVD adminWhite Papers

On Wikipedia, the article ‘cost control’ is redirected to the article ‘cost accounting’. While the two concepts can be assimilated in a manufacturing environment where the future is but an extrapolation of the past, this is a grave mistake in a project environment, particularly for large and complex projects.

Did you know that with the right training, cost controllers can resolve Dilbert's uncertainty principle?

Because cost control is related to money, most people believe that it is just a particular specialty of accounting or finance. This misleading view has lead to serious project disasters. Our new White Paper 2012-09 “Why a Cost Controller is not an Accountant: The Right Role and Profile for a Cost Controller in Large, Complex Projects“ explains why, and what is the solution for the wise organization.

A cost controller needs to understand the business and be focused on the future, instead of being focused on the past. Its training and development needs to cover particular areas to ensure its effectiveness; and the organization needs also to recognize that cost control is a specific discipline, in particular for large, complex projects.

Read our new White Paper 2012-09 “Why a Cost Controller is not an Accountant: The Right Role and Profile for a Cost Controller in Large, Complex Projects“

Large, Complex Projects are to Simple projects what climbing a 8,000m peak is to day-trekking.

Apr 29, 2012PVD adminPublic Speaking, White Papers

We have a lot of fun giving a presentation that is inspired from mountain-climbing challenges to explain what are the particular challenges of Large, Complex projects.

Wait a minute… what is the relationship between managing Large, Complex Projects and mountain climbing?

“Large, Complex Projects are to Simple projects what climbing a 8,000m peak is to day-trekking.”

Is your project looking more like this than a nice afternoon walk?

We’ve been running successfully this presentation about “Managing Large, Complex Projects” for a while now, in particular for Clients in the offshore construction industry. And every time, Clients discover with awe and fear that the project they thought would be a nice walk in a sunny day is probably going to be something else. Something you can’t tackle without preparation, processes, equipment, and planning, or you might just die!

We thought it would be worthwhile to share this presentation with you all. You will recognize the general philosophy of Project Value Delivery:

Large, Complex projects are not just larger Simple projects – they are a different ballgame
Don’t try to do Large, Complex projects in the same business unit than Simple projects
You need to change your mindset first before tacking Large, Complex projects (stop focusing on asset utilization and cost cutting)
Large, Complex Projects require systems and processes, that’s an upfront investment that should not be neglected.

Enjoy!