Lessons from The Phoenix Project

Prioritizing and managing the blend of work

1. Business Projects

2. Internal IT Projects

3. Changes

4. Unplanned Work (a.k.a. "Firefighting")

1. Understand the Flow of Work

Map All Work: Visualize all ongoing work by categorizing tasks into the four types. Use tools like Kanban boards or workflow management software to track and monitor.

Analyze Trends: Identify bottlenecks, recurrent unplanned work, or underinvestment in internal IT. Look for patterns and prioritize systemic fixes.

2. Establish Prioritization Criteria

Business Value: Rank tasks based on their impact on business goals. Business projects that drive revenue or customer satisfaction take precedence.

Risk and Urgency: Unplanned work that affects critical systems must be addressed immediately but should lead to long-term mitigation strategies.

Technical Debt: Allocate resources for internal IT projects to reduce technical debt and prevent unplanned work from spiraling.

Change Impact: Assess how changes impact operations and prioritize based on their benefit-to-risk ratio.

3. Create Dedicated Capacity for Each Work Type

Time Allocation:

Assign a percentage of team capacity to each type of work (e.g., 50% for business projects, 20% for internal IT, 20% for changes, 10% for unplanned work).

Reserve time for proactive work, such as reducing technical debt, to avoid constant firefighting.

Separate Teams: When possible, create separate teams or roles focused on specific types of work (e.g., a rapid-response team for unplanned work, a project team for business initiatives).

4. Implement a Robust Change Management Process

Governance: Use a clear approval process for changes to minimize risk and ensure changes align with business and IT priorities.

Automation: Automate routine changes where possible to reduce manual effort and errors.

Documentation: Maintain detailed records to streamline future changes and troubleshooting.

5. Minimize and Control Unplanned Work

Incident Management:

Invest in robust monitoring and alerting systems to catch issues early.

Conduct post-incident reviews to address root causes and implement preventive measures.

Proactive Maintenance: Regularly update and patch systems, and conduct audits to identify vulnerabilities before they lead to incidents.

6. Communicate and Align Priorities

With Stakeholders:

Involve business and technical stakeholders in setting priorities and agreeing on trade-offs.

Use a shared roadmap to show how IT efforts align with business goals.

Within Teams:

Hold regular planning meetings to review priorities, workloads, and progress.

Foster collaboration across teams to address cross-functional dependencies.

7. Use Metrics to Drive Decisions

Lead Time and Cycle Time: Track how long it takes to complete work in each category to identify delays.

Failure and Incident Rates: Measure unplanned work trends and prioritize activities that reduce them.

Capacity Utilization: Ensure team capacity isn’t overloaded with one type of work at the expense of others.

8. Adopt Agile and DevOps Practices

Iterative Delivery: Break down business projects into smaller deliverables to ensure continuous value delivery.

Cross-Functional Teams: Create teams capable of handling both planned and unplanned work, reducing handoffs and improving responsiveness.

CI/CD Pipelines: Implement Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment to streamline changes and improve system reliability.

9. Regularly Reassess and Adjust

Periodic Reviews: Hold quarterly or monthly reviews to evaluate the balance of work types and adjust priorities.

Feedback Loops: Collect feedback from team members and stakeholders to refine processes and ensure alignment.

Summary

Balancing the four types of work involves creating visibility, aligning work with organizational goals, and dedicating capacity to each category while mitigating the disruptive effects of unplanned work. By combining strategic planning with operational agility, organizations can manage their workloads effectively and drive sustained improvement.

Tim HJ Rogers, Coach, Consultant, Change-Manager

#ChangeManagement #AdaptToChange #TransformationJourney #EmbraceChange #ChangeLeadership

#ProjectManagement #ProjectSuccess #PlanExecuteDeliver #AgileProjects #ProjectLeadership

#ProcessImprovement #EfficientProcesses #LeanThinking #OptimizeAndGrow #ProcessExcellence