Why Are Projects Stressful?
From a general perspective projects now seem to bring with them a massive list of meetings, which seem to be near the top, if not at the top of peoples’ stresses. This is evident as how many lessons learned sessions have you been involved in when “too many meetings” does not come up? Exactly!
There are many contributory factors. One is inappropriate use of Agile methods have led to daily “catch-up” or “stand-up” meetings becoming the norm, sometimes more than once per day for ALL projects. Every project individual is dragged into these, every day, possibly multiple ones per day if they are on more than one project, and to do what? Cover the same ground as the last meeting, make little to no progress, and then rush off to the next meeting. On top of these is the constant demand to attend other similar meetings, mostly at very short notice with no chance to prepare, no idea what the meeting is about and leaving the meeting still thinking what was that all about. Time wasted in bundles. Little to no work being done. Nothing really achieved. Project workers wondering where they are going to get the time to actually do their project tasks.
Is this why people wanted to be in projects? No! Mainly people want to be in projects so that they can be part of bringing about change. They can use their skills, banding together with other like minded individuals to make things better and see the results of their joint labours. Satisfaction of time well spent and feel appreciated.
Some companies have looked at the book or seen or heard this somewhere else and said “we need a project delivery framework”. They have then put a PMO in place, got a framework cobbled together and away they go. All intentions are good and what starts small with minimal amount of control grows and ends up being way too complicated and over the top and totally inappropriate for the project at hand. So, a LITE version is created, and new controls are put on the front of the framework journey to decide whether the Lite version is the one to use in place of the BEAST. EVERYONE tries desperately to get on the LITE version for obvious reasons, so the LITE version becomes more cumbersome due to the same joyless urgency for information about the project. And around we go again.
Projects have become stress pits and not enjoyable to be part of. “We got there in the end” and “well done to everyone for pulling it out of the bag” are common phrases that are heard at the end of what are dubbed SUCCESSFUL projects.
Let’s look at the common stresses for the people involved in projects.
Listing The Stresses
This is the easy part really because over the 30 years doing projects and programmes, you can imagine what I have come across. There is no way these are all listed here but here are some that you might well recognise in the modern project.
Typically, the stresses are listed in priority, but it is more helpful to understand what the different people in the project have stressed about . Therefore, I have mapped out some of what I have experienced (and fixed) from the perspective of different categories of people involved in project and programme organisations.
Stresses for Project Owners
Owners of projects are typically the Senior Responsible Owners, Project Executives (yes, there are many names), Sponsors, Senior Users, Senior Suppliers, etc. This group typically do not do any work on the project changes but provide the overall direction, funding, people, etc to the project and have a very vested interest in not only the project’s outcome but the impact the project has on all those involved.
The types of things that from an owner’s perspective are stressful are:
Why is the schedule slipping, meaning deadlines missed and probably more cost?
The vast majority of problems with projects result in the timescale slipping. The project owners have to report into the business these slippages and what this means to people in the business. At its very basic level this means that the business will not have the new capabilities when they were told they would have them. This is hardly ever good news and can not only be embarrassing for those delivering the news but demoralising for all of the people in the business who would benefit from the new capabilities. Project Owners’ stress levels have just increased.
When the project owners report slippages to their seniors, often they are going cap in hand for more money for the project and need to have very solid reasons. Another worry for the project owners is that they might not have the answers to some of the direct questions they are asked as to why they should have more money. The Project Owners’ stress levels are now elevated way beyond what is comfortable and healthy.
Why are more resources needed, requiring more money?
PMs requesting more resources for the project can be a real headache for project owners on multiple fronts. The process of getting more resources is usually not straightforward and painless. Additional money is typically required, therefore the usual questions will be asked as to why the resource level is not sufficient, creating stress for the project owner. It casts doubt onto the PM as to whether they have actually got control of the project. Another thing for the project owners to worry about.
Why does the scope keep changing/
We all know scope changes can be a real killer for projects and one thing the project owners will be acutely aware of. The impact of scope changes can quickly change a project team’s whole demeanour and morale. A project can quickly be derailed by scope changes leaving the project owners in a precarious situation. Usually, they will try to fight the scope change but by the time a scope change is raised, the damage has usually been done. Fighting the change takes up more time and the outcome remains uncertain until the battle is won or lost.
Small changes of scope can be handled on an individual basis, but the trick of splitting a large scope change into multiple small scope changes will not go unmissed by the experienced project owners.
The later in the project the scope change arises usually results in an even bigger negative impact on a project.
Why am I spending more time than expected on the project?
Project owners are usually busy people with a lot of projects to own, direct and worry about and other business matters that all take a slice of their available time. The pull on project owners’ time to get decisions, direction, acceptance, deal with requests, etc can be a constant stream that soon turns into a torrent as projects reach their busy times. The priority projects will get the lion’s share of the project owners’ time but at what cost to the other projects. Demand for project owners’ time has far outstripped the availability and the project owners’ stress levels are increased another notch.
Why don’t I have up to date information when I need it for my own duties?
The pressure that the joyless urgency of needing to know everything all the time puts on project owners can be overwhelming. Getting this information from each of their projects can be a never ending activity in itself, or result in multiple activities for each project.
Why am I not involved in decision making when I really should be?
Whilst having to spend too much time on a project is not good, discovering a decision has been made that the owner was not aware of is equally bad. This can have multiple knock-on effects in that the owner could be asked by one of their superiors why such a decision was made but also why the wrong decision was taken. Confidence and trust in the project management team has just fallen and stress levels have increased.
Why am I left out of the loop?
Being left out of good or bad news about their project can be highly embarrassing for project owners and indicate a gap in the relationship between project owners and PMs. Having seen this scenario unfold many times it has been at best awkward for everyone and at worst a complete lack of confidence in the relationship.
Why are the project board meetings so poor?
Project board meetings can be the most important event for project owners. This is where the owners not only get the opportunity to receive and question the project information, but also get judged by their peers as to how their project is doing. A project could actually be on course in all aspects, but a poor project board meeting will spread an ill feeling for all involved, lower confidence, impact morale and before you know it the project is off course.
The cause of this can be a number of things:
- People not turning up when they are needed
- People turning up late
- Information presented is unstructured, incomplete, not up to date and misleading
- Surprises for the project board members resulting in defensive backlashes
- Uncomfortable interrogation of the PM
- Conflicting information different board members have about situations
A poor project board meeting can usually lead to a follow-up, additional project board meeting. This means more work in the same space of time and more time to be spent by everyone to attend. The project owners are already thinking about the onward reporting they have to do.
Why don’t highlight reports just provide the information I really need, when I really need it?
The project owners look to the highlight reports for formal confirmation of where the project actually is at all times throughout the project life cycle. Different owners have different needs for information about the project as well as having changing needs throughout the project life cycle. Yet, PMs try to satisfy the project owners with a standard report that is the same for all projects throughout the entire life cycle. When the highlight report doesn’t provide the information they’re looking for, they know they have to ask the PM and others in the project for additional information. The joyless urgency machine goes into overdrive, causing huge disruption to the project as a consequence of the PM, team leads, senior project workers and project workers all getting dragged in to produce project information in very short order.
From the project owners’ perspective, this means they don’t have the information they need for their own purposes but also the purposes of those above them. Therefore, they now know they are going to have to go after this information in any way they can, taking up even more time than necessary. A major knock-on effect is the confidence in the PM dropping.
The longer the highlight report doesn’t provide this information, the longer the project owners know they are going to have to spend additional time getting the information they think they need.
Why is there no or inaccurate tracking of project finances?
The question guaranteed to come up for any project owner is how are the project finances looking. Being unable to answer this with confidence can be embarrassing for the project owner. This will result in additional effort to find the right information. Typically this can lead to finding out the finances are way over what was thought or projected, which can kill not only a project but severely hamper the project owner and the business itself.
Being told that the project is “financially on track” and then finding out it is not reflects badly on so many people and is a constant worry for project owners.
Stresses for Suppliers to Projects
Suppliers to projects can come in many forms but typically provide resource to the project in the form of project workers, who carry out the tasks to bring about the required change the project is aiming for. Suppliers are compensated for these resources in an agreed way through some agreement up front and are typically milestone driven for such compensation. Therefore, anything that negatively impacts the timescales leading up to the milestones is a worry for the supplier.
The types of stresses from an Supplier’s perspective are:
Why is the scope not clear?
The suppliers provide resources on the basis of estimates of work required, which they base on the scope of the project itself. If the scope is not clear, it follows that the estimates are not going to be reliable and therefore the compensation milestones are not reliable and are likely to be missed.
Throughout the entire project lifecycle that the supplier is involved in, the supplier is worried about the users not accepting the work the supplier has done based on different expectations. Often this comes after the supplier has carried out the majority of their work and are expecting their agreed compensation. When this is disrupted the supplier’s stress levels increase and often kicks off the dreaded change control merry go round. This brings its own raising of stress levels across the project, disrupting the flow of the project and the people within it.
Why is the scope changing?
From the suppliers’ perspective, scope changes mean changes to the amount of work and the timetable, hence compensation milestones.
Scope changes from the supplier have the worry of being able to justify the change to the project owners. A whole host of stressful scenarios could well be played out before any agreement is made on this.
Scope changes from the users with expectations that the supplier will deliver under their current agreement are the worst for suppliers, as they have to justify why this requires changes to the work required or work already done. This needs to be balanced with keeping the users happy so the supplier remains a supplier.
Why are other dependents not delivering what is needed when it is needed?
Not having control over something that is required in order for the supplier to do their work is at least frustrating, but at worst going to delay compensation milestones. More pressure is put on the supplier to deliver to expected deadlines regardless of anything else that occurs in the project. Both the project board and the supplier management are exerting this pressure.
Why are the meetings so unstructured?
Suppliers just want to carry out their work to time and quality. Anything that takes time away from carrying out their work has to be at best tolerated. However, when meetings arise for their project workers that are unstructured, their time is simply wasted. Further, it is likely another meeting will be needed to get it right, taking twice the time. How is the supplier meant to get this time back to keep their work on schedule?
Why are there too many meetings?
Suppliers being forced to attend meetings takes away production time from their activities. Too many meetings means the time that had been estimated and allocated to carrying out specific project work is no longer available for those activities. Where is that time now going to come from? Does the supplier provide a change request based on the time they are actually being given as available time? Relationships can take serious hits over controversial things like this. Another worry for the supplier.
Why are the reporting requirements so complicated?
Suppliers are no different to anyone else who has to report on progress etc within a project. From a supplier’s perspective, they simply want to report on the position they are at against what they committed to and any reasons why they may be behind as well as anything they think might delay them going forward. For this purpose, suppliers usually have a pro forma report that very adequately does this. However, when the project owners or managers insist on anything more complicated, the suppliers’ estimates of their work for the project are going to be inadequate as more time required on this new reporting means time taken away from other activities the team should have been doing.
Why are the milestones slipping?
Anything that causes milestones to slip for a supplier is usually a major headache as compensation is usually linked with delivery milestones. Any hint of such a milestone slipping usually sets off a cascade of demands for information as to its authenticity, such as how has this come about, it’s not our fault, can we pull it back, can whoever has caused this pull it back, change request.
Stress levels elevated, risk of failure increased.
Stresses for PMO Heads / Managers
The PMO Heads and Managers are those who are usually responsible for all of the organisation’s projects and programmes following a defined framework they think will ensure the safe delivery of every project and programme. They are there to support the delivery of the projects and programmes which sometimes can be confusing as a responsibility because this doesn’t always mean they will undergo work for the project to support it. More often than not, they will try to direct the PM as to what they and their team should be doing, which may be in conflict with what the PM thinks they should be doing.
Sometimes Programmes have their own PMO and head of the PMO. These are actual workers for the programme but still the responsibilities can be confused as to who is to do what exactly.
Either way, the PMO heads/managers have a longer list than anyone else on what to worry about for a project.
The types of stresses from a PMO Head’s perspective are:
Why is the project not following the framework?
“Why do you think we have this framework that you are not following?” “What makes you so special?” are typical examples of what can be encountered with this category of people. More time is now needed on this project to bring it back in line with the framework so it will be successful. This means the PMO Head is likely to have to do battle with the PM for this, otherwise the PM would have already done this. The PM will then be marked for additional monitoring to ensure they stay with the framework.
Why doesn’t this project really fit the framework?
This is something that PMO Heads very rarely say even if they think it. It shows a flaw in their framework and usually the PMO Head has been instrumental in setting up the framework. The denial phase will undoubtedly surface, meaning battling with the PM to try to force the project into the framework. This usually results in the framework being bent out of shape so much as to not really being worthwhile in the first place. The PMO Head really does know this at heart but is outwardly satisfied that the framework has been successfully defended. However, they also know that this is just the beginning with this project and more effort and focus is going to be needed through its lifecycle.
Why are the gates not being done?
“Why have my gates not been done?” “How can you possible have begun the next stage without passing the gate?”
How many times have PMs had to post gate work to satisfy the gate law? For the PMO Head, this has meant additional work and quicker than usual to not cause delaying the project but still ensuring the gate law is not broken. Just bent again.
Why is the RAID not up to date?
A key control for any project is the RAID. If the RAID is not up to date then people will start questioning whether the PM is on top of the project and whether the PMO Head is actually ensuring the project is on track and properly managed.
The PMO Head and PM may have different views on the validity of the RAID for this project where the PMO Head will state that their RAID covers all projects. The PM might have a token defence, taking the line that their project does not need such a complex RAID. The PMO Head has another battle with the PM on keeping their RAID up to date at all times.
Why is Risk Management not really being done?
Unless the PMO Head can see evidence of risk management, they will take the view it is not being done. This can manifest itself through thing such as an incomplete or out of date RAID, none or too few risk review meetings taking place, the wrong people being involved in risk review meetings, the reporting of risks in the highlight reports not really changing between reports. However, a clear indication would be the occurrences of issues that the PMO Head thinks should have been foreseen by the PM team and the team is inadequately prepared for these issues.
The PMO Head would believe they need to intervene in the project to get risk management set up or back on track, deploying more time of theirs and their team to this project than originally forecast. What will the PMO Head now do with what their resources would have been doing if the forecast were accurate. More headaches.
Why is Issue Management not really being done?
The PMO Head worries that issues will be left open with the impact to the project continuing. Sometimes, it is fine to not do anything about an issue but that is when a conscious decision is taken to accept it. When nothing is done without these conscious decisions, the PMO Head knows the project is more than likely in trouble, with matters likely to get worse. Therefore, when there is evidence of issues being left open, intervention is again in the PMO Head’s mind for how they are going to redress this and put something in place to ensure it doesn’t recur. More resource time and effort for them and their PMO team.
Why is the project plan incompetent or incomplete?
The PMO Head likes to see evidence of a planned out project which gives confidence that the PM has control over how the project is going to achieve its goals within the agreed schedule. The project plan is usually the best tool to evidence this and the PMO Head will definitely look here. The PMO Head will usually recognise that everyone’s project plan will be different, but will be able to get a very good feel for the key elements of planning from the project plan. Whatever the PM feels is necessary in their plans, if the PMO Head does not see what they are looking for here they will immediately hit the red button. We have seen this activity alone completely derail projects due to the additional effort, frustration and stress this can cause. The project only really has one (more) chance to get this right otherwise the morale of the project team will dive.
Why is there no clear list of dependencies, internal or external?
Projects and programmes, whatever their size, are typically made up of chains of outputs of an individual or team being passed as inputs to other individuals or teams to complete their work and achieve the overall goals. PMO Heads look for these hand-offs being identified ahead of their time to avoid surprises and being missed. They will also look for these dependencies being managed on their runup.
Why are we not given enough time for onboarding new people to the project organisation?
Where a project or programme has a PMO function included in its organisation, they often carry out the onboarding activities of new people. Proper onboarding usually requires a certain amount of time, especially where external resources are brought in as accounts, devices, tools, etc all have different SLAs for completion, let alone any safety/security briefings. Often, resources are changed or new ones introduced with the expectation they will be up and running in a shorter timeframe than the onboarding takes. This causes extra effort and headache on the part of the onboarding person/team and stress levels again, are elevated.
Why are the highlight reports poorly complete?
The PMO Head will have tried to put together what they think is an all encompassing highlight report for all of the organisation’s projects to complete. They believe it will be a balanced report giving the information that is required in a formal manner on a set frequency. This way, all projects are reviewed from an equal footing. What the PMO Head does not want is the heartache of seeing PMs not completing the highlight reports properly and the headache of then having to go and get the right information for the highlight reports to be completed satisfactorily. As this is a frequent activity, this will be a recurring situation for the PMO Head and a continuing drain on their time and resources.
Stresses for Project and Programme Managers
The PMs have the day to day responsibility for delivering the project. That is a huge responsibility and a very busy one. The PM not only has to know everything that is going on in the project, but that it is also going the way it has been agreed. Anything that takes time away from them and their project team carrying out the project work is most unwelcome. The PM will go to lengths to ensure this is kept to a minimum and that the project work gets and stays on track.
The types of stresses from a PM’s perspective are:
Why are there too many demands for meetings?
With the growth of joyless urgency, too many people believe they need to have all the information at their fingertips at all times. Information has become a commodity, and everyone is desperate to get as much of it as possible. To get this information they think nothing of demanding meeting after meeting throughout all times of the day and week just so they can get this precious commodity. The impact is that time is taken away more and more from carrying out the work that will bring about the project goals.
The PM is in constant demand from such people, having to fend them off almost hourly. Worst, the PM is also having to protect their project team from these time grabbing demands as people will go directly to the project team.
Why are there too many scheduled demands for project information?
Each senior project stakeholder believes they are special and they will want separate, regular meetings with the PM to get the latest information on the project. Even for simple projects there can be three senior stakeholders to satisfy. More often than not, this number is in two digits. With businesses now hell bent on doing work in weekly cycles, this is just too many meetings for a PM to handle. For the PM, they now have to gently battle with the senior stakeholders for slots.
Added to this will be team leaders, needing regular meetings to just make sure their team and those they are dependent on know what to do from the PM.
Why are there too many ad-hoc, unstructured meetings for myself and the team?
As the project grows, more external teams become involved in the project. Those teams bring with them their ways of working, which is often not very structured and they live on a day by day basis in their own micromanagement cosmos. As their involvement in the project grows, their need for unstructured, ad-hoc meetings at very short notice springs up causing disruption to everyone in the project. These teams could be suppliers to the project, internal and external, as well as being people affected by the project’s changes. The PM has to jostle with these demands to protect the project work and so their worry set expands every time one of these pops up. Not only for the increased amount of meetings or short notice, but also that the meeting has just been sent out with no regard for those needing to attend.
Why are they trying to fit the project into the wrong delivery framework?
The PM appointed to the project is hopefully a bit of an expert in understanding what is required from the project and therefore what is appropriate in terms of project controls. However true this may be, the PM is often faced with trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when it comes to “this is the control framework you must run this project under”!
- Why must there be a daily stand-up?
- Why do we have to do weekly highlight reports for a project that is going to run 18 months?
- Why must we do a design gate when we are developing in an Agile manner?
- Why must we do a test gate when we are a business change project?
- And so on.
The list of questions running through the PM’s mind when they see the demanded controls sets the tone for how this project can become derailed by sheer governance alone. Another battle that the PM should not be having.
Why are suitable resources NOT being made available on time to the project?
Having put so much effort into project planning, not having the resources available to the project at the agreed times is so frustrating and unnecessary for the PM. The PM then has to chase up where the resources are, usually resulting in a delay to their start. This means the project plan will need to change and then usually letting senior stakeholders know of the change. More unscheduled work required for the PM and the impacted project team.
Why am I receiving meeting invites with no information as to what they are about?
Not only does the PM have to deal with too many demands for meetings, but also meeting demands with no information on what the meeting is for, let alone how the organiser intends to run the meeting and how the PM should prepare. PMs are typically results focused, so to be presented with a meeting where the expected results are not stated is a failure waiting to happen. The PM has to spend unexpected time trying to find out what the meeting is supposed to be about before going on to how they can prepare.
Why an I receiving meeting invites with no notice?
The PM not only has to cope with too many meeting invites, but more often than not meeting invites with no notice just pop up out of nowhere. The PM, usually being a structured person, has arranged their day, week, month, etc in a structured manner so is not sitting around idle and able to just walk into an immediate meeting. These demands totally disrupt the PM’s planned out day, which is likely to have a knock-on, negative impact on some of the project workers. The PM is already thinking this time will need to be made up very quickly, as well as having to deal with the immediate meeting itself.
Stress levels not being helped.
Why am I getting demands for irrelevant content to be put into my project plan?
Each PM will have their own way of producing their project plan and managing the project via the plan. The key point here is that the plan is to help the PM manage the project. When people other than the PM insist on certain pieces of project information the PM deems irrelevant or just downright wrong are added to the project plan, it is likely to diverge from its role in the PM’s mind.
The PM only wants what they need in the plan so that the plan can be readily managed and is able to provide the right information.
We have seen so many different plans with all manner of useless information included, none of which has actually helped the PM or the project team, and mostly has hindered them. The PM immediately has additional work in being able to manage their plan with such information included. This results in unnecessary time wasting.
One particular occurrence we are seeing more of recently are project plans being drawn up with basically, project worker checklists as a result of micromanagement. This has stifled the project due to more time being spent on managing the plan than doing the work.
Why am I getting requests to change the project information I provide?
Having agreed the appropriate information to report on at the start of the project, the PM can feel frustrated when different project information is requested. This disrupts a chain of reporting and again the focus shifts to the project information rather than the project work itself.
The more this changes throughout the project, the more disruptive these changes can be. What started off as something straightforward can quickly overcome the PM in their reporting activities.
Why are some teams not delivering to expected time and/or quality?
Whilst a lot of the worries of a PM come from outside the project team, when the teams do not deliver as expected, the PM has the difficult job of changing how that team works and clawing back lost time whilst trying to keep to the overall project deadlines. This is rarely straightforward as the PM has to determine why the delivery wasn’t as expected in the first place before deciding on how to remedy it so that it is long lasting but also quick. The result is more unplanned time and effort for organising and running these exercises.
Stresses for Senior Project Workers
The Senior Project Workers are the team leaders, managers or architects of the project change. Their key interests lie in ensuring the project team are carrying out the right work to achieve the project objectives. They are usually extremely helpful towards the project team and contribute as necessary. Anything that distracts them or the team from this work is an additional aspect they worry about.
The types of stresses from a Senior Project Worker’s perspective are:
Why are there just too many meetings?
As time working is the key to getting project work done in the eyes of the senior workers, they are very mindful of the constant demand for project meetings for all sorts of purposes. Their focus is on the here and now and the next x weeks with an eye on the finished product(s). Where meetings take up a huge amount of time on a project, the senior workers get very frustrated. This can destabilise the project teams and the course of the project itself.
Why are there too many demands for project progress information?
In the insatiable world of joyless urgency for project information, often the senior workers get directly dragged into the machine of constantly providing updates directly to senior stakeholders. Sometimes, the company’s line management hierarchy gets in the way of the project organisation hierarchy, which can further blur the responsibilities of providing project information.
More time is taken away from the senior workers.
Why are there unscheduled changes going to the company CAB?
For technical changes that the project teams need, it is often the senior workers who represent the project at the organisation’s change approval board (CAB) meetings. As such, the senior workers schedule these representations with the PM and the CAB owner so that both can enter them into their respective plans. When an unscheduled need to go to CAB occurs, the senior workers are the ones carrying the burden of taking the request to CAB. As it is unscheduled, this means that the senior worker will not have factored in time on this preparation and representation – more pulls on their stress levels.
Why is the provided project information incomplete for company CAB?
For the senior workers to take requests to the organisation’s CAB, they usually rely on other team members to provide them with specific information about the request, and by a certain date/time. When this deadline is up and the information presented for the request is incomplete, the senior worker either has to scrabble around the team for the additional information in a very short timeframe, or delay the representation to CAB. The latter will undoubtedly result in project delays, so both options cause additional work and unnecessary stress for the senior worker.
Why are supplier teams not delivering what they said they would deliver?
For the senior workers the supplier teams not delivering what they said they would deliver can be one of the most frustrating aspects of a project. As they have an almost direct responsibility to ensure the success of the delivery, it becomes an almost personal failure when supplier teams do not deliver. I’ve seen even seasoned senior suppliers getting frustrated as they didn’t believe they needed to do anything more themselves to help that part of the delivery. It means spending more time with the supplier teams to understand what the shortfall is and additional time monitoring them to ensure they don’t fail a second time – more unscheduled time and more headache.
Why is my time is not being spent appropriately in this project?
When a project is taking up too much time or just not focused on what is needed, the senior suppliers can feel undervalued and not allowed to do what they believe needs doing. If this persists, the senior worker is likely to lose interest in the project and find other work (usually another project) to spend more time on. This will have a big impact on the project.
Why isn’t the PM listening to me?
With the almost unwritten responsibility of the senior worker towards getting the delivery right, the senior worker will want to ensure the work is performed as they deem necessary. This can be scheduled work, as well as that to combat risks that may arise or issues that have arisen. If the PM decides to not follow the senior worker’s guidance, they run the risk of the senior worker losing interest in the project and again, distancing themselves from it. This will impact the delivery teams in not just losing their key source of information, advice and guidance but also leaves them at a loss in terms of who to look to for these.
Why am I not made aware of project timelines?
In some projects the senior workers can become unaware of the current project timelines for many reasons, including being immersed in their and the teams’ workload. If the direction from the senior workers to the project workers gets out of alignment with the project manager, delivery deadlines will falter. This is extremely frustrating for senior workers as they would believe they were doing a good job themselves and the teams under them were, only to find out a dependency has moved or a target has moved – lost time incurs, sometimes multiplied. The senior workers are likely to have to pick up the pieces and work out how to make up for lost time, which could involve several teams.
Stresses for Project Workers
The project workers are the people who actually perform the work to produce the project deliverables and bring about the changes for the business. It is imperative this category of people has not just all the information, tools and environment necessary for them to carry out their activities, but also the available time to do so. They will have been involved in some aspect of the project planning and would have provided estimates based on certain assumptions by them. Distracting from the available time will increase the pressure on the project workers to complete their outputs.
The types of stresses from a Project Worker’s perspective are:
Why are there too many meetings?
For this category of people in a project, this is the number one frustration and cause of stress. They simply want to be able to get on with their project work so they can show the quality they know they can produce in their end products. If their time is disrupted on a frequent basis by having to attend too many meetings, they will never get those focused periods required for optimal performance.
Why am I getting requests for work that are not going through the PM?
The project workers will have been involved in the planning exercises for the project, providing valuable input for the work they will be assigned to. The project plan will reflect this work along with the expected duration and agreed dependencies. At any one time a project worker is likely to be working on more than one project task. The project plan will have been balanced so each individual project worker is not overloaded. When they receive additional work from people who are not the PM, this balance of expected work is thrown off kilter, resulting in project work slipping. This is frustrating for the project worker who has to explain why they cannot do the work they committed to doing. This puts unfair stress onto the project worker and can jeopardise the project.
Why am I getting multiple demands from different people for the same project information?
I simply want to complete my assigned work and showcase the end product.
When project workers are being continually asked to report on their work, it not only takes up their valuable time but they find they are repeating the same information to multiple people. Confidence in the PM takes a battering, commitment and cooperation from the project worker for that project is hit.
Why isn’t the PM listening to me?
As the one who is doing the actual project work, I know best how it should be done. When I raise points to the PM I expect them to be considered and any advised action to be taken. If the PM does not deal accordingly with the project workers’ concerns, they will lose faith in the PM. In future they will not raise such points and issues will occur, some likely to be very costly to the project’s success.
Why is there little or no teamwork across this project?
Everyone knows that a high performing team can get through an enormous amount of work and to great quality. These are the teams that every PM wants to get assigned to their project. From a project worker’s perspective, they typically thrive as part of a high performing team, which they know can only come about through solid teamwork. Where there is no teamwork or a distinct lack of teamwork, the individual project workers can become despondent and feel quite isolated with their assigned work. This results in project work not being done, or being done incorrectly, and nobody finding out about it until it’s too late.
The individual’s confidence takes a hit, not to mention their stress levels increasing.
Why am I not being made aware of project timelines?
From a project worker’s perspective, not knowing the project timelines usually results in the individual completing their required work too late. They will usually have put a lot of effort into this work, carrying with it a certain amount of pride. To find out it is too late, can quickly turn these positive feelings into negative ones. This can have a knock-on effect on the next piece of work this person has been assigned to do, which will also negatively affect the project.
Why don’t I have the appropriate tools for the work I need to do?
Not having the right tools for the work can leave the project worker frustrated as they know there is a better way to get the results. Each delivery of a project product done without the right tools increases the workload of the project worker and the frustration increases along with their pressure, whilst their commitment decreases. This has a negative impact on project worker and the project.
Why is there insufficient information for the work I need to do?
In order to complete most project assignments, the project worker requires certain information. Without this, the project worker would have to start making assumptions, which have a low chance of success. The project worker knows this and grows increasingly frustrated at not being able to complete their work to the best of their ability and to time. As the deadline approaches, the project worker will become more and more anxious, increasing their stress levels.
Stresses for End Users assigned to the project
The end users who are involved in the project do so because they have a vested interest in the end results of the project on their business teams. From a basic level they want to ensure the business requirements are taken on board by the project and that they have sufficient time to get the desired product(s) embedded into business operations. For this category of users, the following are typically what they perceive as bad within projects:
Not knowing when the project will deliver the change to the business
For the end users, not knowing when the change is going to hit their business puts them in an awkward position with their colleagues. They turn to those assigned to the projects so they can make their own plans for changes coming their way. Without accurate timing, the business is unable to effectively schedule changes around their business activities and deadlines. The assigned end user is left embarrassed in front of their peers.
Why isn’t there enough time in the project to embed the change?
When schedules start to slip in projects, which they often do, the last activities in the plan are compressed so the owners and PM can still achieve their timeframe. These last activities are usually related to implementing the changes into the business. Where the assigned end user has been involved in the project planning, they see their tasks compressed with basically not enough time to adequately complete them. The whole implementation could be in trouble and as the assigned end user has the main responsibility for a successful implementation to the business, their stress levels are high.
Why are the project workers not working to the requirements?
Having spent a lot of time and effort to record the business requirements for the project, when the project workers do not work to them, tensions rise, more effort is needed, work needs to be re-done and all the while time is ticking away. The assigned end user cannot go back to their business with a solution that doesn’t meet the business’s needs.
Why isn’t the PM listening to me?
For the assigned end user, the PM is the main point of contact for raising items of concern. If the PM does not listen and act on points raised, the assigned end user feels like they are left stranded. Confidence in the PM is hit and the overall mood of the end user is downbeat.
Why Projects Really Fail
As mentioned earlier, there have been numerous studies conducted into why projects fail and usually the top 10 are virtually identical. However, when a holistic view is taken over our 30 years of delivering and rescuing projects and programmes, it all essentially boils down to the one common factor – people. People make projects fail.
It may well be that a project plan is insufficient and inapplicable for the project, but the plan will have been put together by people. People also will have been managing that plan.
The same goes for aspects such as scope creep. People wrote the scope and will have read and interpreted the scope. Information received during scope setting will have come from people.
People are the number one causes of increased stress within the project teams. Whilst some stress can be good over short periods of time, elevated stress levels throughout the project lifecycle are simply bad. Under such conditions, people do not perform optimally or even well.
Insufficient budget or insufficient time have all come from estimates provided by people. Inefficient use and management of budget and time is also down to people.
If the people in the project team are not performing optimally across the project, something will give. The project will be derailed and heading for failure.
The whole project organisation is made up of people and they all need to be performing appropriate and practical activities towards the project’s success.