How To Halve The Duration Of Your Project Tasks. Seriously.

Do more with less! I need it by next Wednesday! Just make it happen, that’s your job!

Sound familiar? As Project Managers we’ve all been on that sharp end where someone needs something doing quicker than the do-ers believe is possible. Of course, all the strategies around scope, budget, timeline are useful here to get you more runway. But let’s not overlook the option of just doing things quicker too.

Before you throw your hands in the air and claim this is just not possible - pause.

Remember when you were on that project a few years ago and there was an unmovable deadline that you were miles behind? Remember how so many teams got behind the project and you got it done - on time? Remember that?

If it wasn’t your project, you will have seen one like it.

You have seen more done with less. So, it can be done. Now on to the real question.

How?

Step one - Just ask

Ask the teams who “do”, what they would do (or not do) if they needed to complete this work in half the time. Given that teams know things that leaders never hear about, there will be a knowledge base here that it’s worth tapping in to.

Ask widely. If there’s a software development task that needs doing - absolutely ask the software engineers. But also try asking the architects, the Product Managers, the Business Analysts, the BAU and support teams, the business users. You may find, when you ask widely, that there’s an acceptance of cutting scope, or doing things differently that saves time.

Ask in big blocks not in little blocks. The bigger the block you examine, the more opportunity there is for creativity and time savers. “How can I get feature ABC coded quicker” will get you a different answer to “How do we get feature ABC into the hands of customers quicker”. Or even better, “How do we get a solution for problem XYZ into the hands of customers quicker?”

Step two - not everything you are planning to do is worth doing

Truly examine all the tasks that you are planning on doing and ruthlessly examine how they contribute to the outcome your project cares about. When you do this with intent, in my experience there are always things that can be removed from scope. Or moved to a later date.

For example, designing a user interface may be in your timeline, but if you just let the development team design on-the-fly you might save some time. At what cost? That’s why you need to examine it in relation to your outcomes. If your software is for internal use only and to meet a looming need, maybe the design can wait and come in a later phase.

Some of these items may be identified by the teams in Step One, but it’s still worth doing to see what else can be deferred or removed.

There is always something. The project tasks will have been imagined during a time when the project had time, when we were living in a land of optimism and plenty. Because of this, there are always things we can strip if we’re now living in a land of necessity and urgency.

Step three - not everything you are planning on doing needs doing

Will the business accept a lesser outcome in less time, if the total outcome is delivered later?

For example, if the project is to automate a process to save 1,000 hours of labour per week, is it OK if we deliver a 500 hour per week saving early, but deliver the additional capability to extend to 1,000 hours later?

When you get the rallying cry to “Just make it happen, that’s your job”, the often real intention behind the outcry is to deliver value quicker. Maybe because this process is really hurting right now and any improvement will help. Maybe because there’s another business opportunity we’d like to pivot the resources to, so getting to a “finished state”, even if that state is “less” than the original intention, is a useful point to arrive at.

Have the conversation about a lesser outcome.

Don’t polish up your CV just yet

The cry to get more done with less, or just make it happen, is not the time to throw your hands up in despair, complain about the de-valuation of your profession and polish up your CV. It’s the time to show what you’re capable of, that you understand how your business works, and that you can make compromises and pivot when required, without destroying all the value. That’s what the best Project Managers do.