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A Bridge to Enterprise Project Management, Part 1

 

Recession-Proofing Projects
Project management in a time of cutbacks.


A powerful storm blows through a forest tearing leaves, limbs and branches from the trees.  A few days later a hiker surveys the damage and shakes his head in awe at the force of nature.  Then he meets a happy looking forester on the trail who tells him, "This will be wonderful for the forest."  He's right.  A year later the storm has been forgotten and the forest, free of old, weak foliage, is bursting with new growth. 

Projects, like trees, benefit from trimming.  Recessions lead to lower budgets and reduced staff which no one welcomes, but they also lead to healthy re-evaluations of project priorities.  The following four steps provide guidelines for emerging from troubled economic times with a healthy project inventory.

Step 1.  Start with the project inventory

An organization with multiple projects will have a project inventory, whether it has been formalized or not.  A project inventory, which is easy to build in a table or spreadsheet, begins as a list of project names and in this case project numbers.  This example is from a water district, but these tips apply just as well to any list of projects.

Project #

Project Title

W3-174

Depot Road Water Main Replacement

W3-244

Central Street Water Main Replacement

W1-168

Pumping Station #4 Refurbishment

H2-191-2

Network Upgrade

W4-183

Westborough Water Storage Capacity Increase

H0-165

Process Analysis Project


 

Step 2: Establish the criteria that will influence project priorities.

Next add the considerations for advancing the project in a weak economy, beginning with an estimate of each project's progress to date, then by revisiting the decisions that went into starting each project.  Project decisions that were reasonable in a rising economy may not be as worthy during a downturn.

This previous inventory tells us that the water district is replacing two water mains, refurbishing a pumping station, upgrading its network, adding storage capacity and analyzing some processes.  The next version of the same inventory adds some new and some old reasons for maintaining the project.  Note how each project's list of criteria begins with an update of the project's current status.  Notice that the prioritization criteria are focused on facts rather than judgments which will follow next.

Project #

Project Title

Updated Prioritization Criteria

W3-174

Depot Road Water Main Replacement

v This project is in the proposal development phase.
v Capacity is adequate for now, but a new subdivision, scheduled to begin construction next year is likely to over-extend capacity.
v The Fire Department has public safety concerns related to this upgrade and the new subdivision.
v A commitment to start the project this year was made to the voting district's Councilperson.

W3-244

Central Street Water Main Replacement

v This project is 65% through construction.
v Contract cancellation penalties and restart costs will exceed cost to completion.
v Open trenchwork at the project site will increase public safety risks over time.
v Project construction costs have risen by 15%.

W1-168

Pumping Station #4 Refurbishment

v This project has completed its electrical refurbishment. Mechanical refurbishments is scheduled to start in two months.
v These refurbishments are scheduled every 7 years.

H2-191-2

Network Upgrade

v The purchasing phase of this project is complete.  Waiting on delivery and installation.
v These upgrades will improve network performance and reliability.

W4-183

Westborough Water Storage Capacity Increase

v The design phase is 80% complete.
v This project can be delayed one year without impact.
v State funding of $1.5M likely to be withdrawn

H0-165

Process Analysis Project

v This project is in the proposal phase.
v Process improvements are tied directly to productivity improvements.
v Network upgrades have made process improvements possible.


 

Step 3: Analyze criteria and establish priorities.

The prioritization criteria need to be analyzed and shared with key members of the project team and major stakeholders.  It's best to keep project priorities simple by limiting them to three choices such as now/later/cancel or  "A", "B" and "C".  The sample below includes the new priorities, and adds comments about them. 

Project #

Project Title

Updated Prioritization Criteria

Priorities

W3-174

Depot Road Water Main Replacement

v This project is in the proposal development phase.
v Capacity is adequate for now, but a new subdivision, scheduled to begin construction next year is likely to over-extend capacity.
v The Fire Department has public safety concerns related to this upgrade and the new subdivision.
v A commitment to start the project this year was made to the voting district's Councilperson.

LATER: This project could be placed on next year's budget.  Current capacity is adequate.

W3-244

Central Street Water Main Replacement

v This project is 65% through construction.
v Contract cancellation penalties and restart costs will exceed cost to completion.
v Open trenchwork at the project site will increase public safety risks over time.
v Project construction costs have risen by 15%.

NOW: Shut down costs nearly equal the costs to complete this project.

W1-168

Pumping Station #4 Refurbishment

v This project has completed its electrical refurbishment. Mechanical refurbishments is scheduled to start in two months.
v These refurbishments are scheduled every 7 years.

LATER: Electrical, the most critial of the two main refurbishments is complete.

H2-191-2

Network Upgrade

v The purchasing phase of this project is complete.  Waiting on delivery and installation.
v These upgrades will improve network performance and reliability.

NOW: 70% of this project's funding has been used to acquire hardware and software.

W4-183

Westborough Water Storage Capacity Increase

v The design phase is 80% complete.
v This project can be delayed without impact.
v State funding of $1.5M likely to be withdrawn

CANCEL: Complete design and wait for economic recovery.

H0-165

Process Analysis Project

v This project is in the proposal phase.
v Process improvements are tied directly to productivity improvements.
v Network upgrades have made process improvements possible.

NOW: This project and the networking project need to proceed together.


This example is intended to show a process and the type of thinking that goes into maintaining a project inventory in times of economic stress.  Revisiting the reasons that created the projects and updating those decisions to reflect new realities provides a basis for evaluating each project's future.
 

Step 4: Evaluate options for improving productivity, adding project support or postponing projects.

Options for improving productivity or adding project support vary from project to project and organization to organization.  One organization might look to improve productivity by consolidating some of its projects; another might reach out for project partners; another might look for a merger, and so on.

The point is that by reprioritizing the project inventory decisions about restructuring the project workload can be guided by reason and objectivity.  As with nature, pruning the project inventory will be healthy for it in the long run.
 

Learn more in the Multiple Projects workshop or with multiple project consulting services.
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