Lessons learned - questions and answers

22-June-2022. Hot summer day in the beautiful city of Brno. And a seemingly perfect day for sharing lessons learned from failed projects...

Besides the "failed" part, it was a refreshing experience considering that this was the first physical meeting the PMI CZ Chapter held in Brno since the pandemic started.

And it was also my first talk in front of an audience in a very long time.

Nonetheless, during the event, we were supposed to answer questions that the audience sent in advance. But time was limited so not all questions got answered.

Therefore, I will try to answer them in this article with the hope they'll provide value to anyone dealing with similar situations.

Question 1: Would you have any recommendation how to tackle the failure in the project from the psychological point of view - as something what was planned to happen but did not?

Answer 1: Risk Management has 2 large benefits: reducing the likelihood of risks materializing and setting the right expectations. Open and consistent communication about the risks to a specific milestone/deliverable is key to minimizing / eliminating the shock of bad news.

Question 2: How to mine the data from the past projects and how to define their validity? If you are an external PM or a PM trainer/consultant, what is the most efficient way to convince the client to analyse and evaluate the previous projects and to run an in-depth search of a project document archive?

Answer 2: The simple answer is: you don't. Your goal is to gain your Customer's trust and you won't do that if you try to show them they're wrong. Trust is gained by showing you understand your Customer's goals and strive to achieve them. Once you have some progress, you will gain more support to doing it your / the right way. Assume that their resistance is due to negative experience with PMs and you have a chance to make it right. Also, remember you are a service provider to, potentially, a very culturally diverse customer base. As a service provider, you must put customer satisfaction on the top of your priority list. Reach out if you have a specific situation you'd like to discuss.

Question 3: Do the individual fails have a common denominator? Are there any real fundamentals that are transferable regardless of industry, company culture, and type of projects?

Answer 3: Most failures are caused by lack of communication, lack of empathy and big egos. If you address the human side of projects, the chances of success increase exponentially.

Question 4: How to open minds in the company to make discussion about failures and f**kups??

Answer 4: This depends on the company culture. And it depends on your resilience as this may put you in a delicate position. If there's a culture of fear, you need to gain support from the people around you. A Project Manager typically has no authority but the PMs influence can greatly impact the environment around them. Reach out to find a solution together.

Question 5: What are early warning symtoms of failed projects?

Answer 5: Unreasonable / dictated timelines are quite typical markers of prone to fail or "dragging" projects (dragging - projects that almost never end because of lack of planning and proper project management). As well, project failure is far more likely if the environment shows these signs

• There is a lack of appreciation for people and progress (no matter how small)
• People are constantly being asked to do too much leading to burnout
• People work in constant fear due to low leadership EQ, leading to a drop in IQ, mistakes and coverups
• People's experience is often dismissed in favor of management's "intuition"

Question 6: Did the sponsor of the project learn any lesson? And if so, how did he apply it to other projects as a sponsor or did he share it with other people from the company's management?

Answer 6: Unfortunately, this type of information does not typically reach a Project Manager. Sponsors, in my experience, tend to avoid acknowledging they made a mistake as that may impact their credibility in front of their leadership (who are typically C-suite executives). The culture of the company dictates how much vulnerability Sponsors show, including them acknowledging their mistakes.

I hope this helped some of you.

If you have any other question, feel free to drop them in the comments.