Tomorrow (almost) never comes
Tom looked at the clock.
Midnight, he told himself as he took a sip of coffee. The milestone review for the second phase of the project was the following day. While updating the project plan, he came across organizational change management tasks that were supposed to be done in phase one and had been moved to phase two. He saw that the tasks were still zero percent complete.
We’ll pick them up later, he told himself as he added the tasks to the work plan for phase three.
During the milestone review the next day, Tom’s manager, Gayle, asked about incomplete organizational change management tasks.
“Time’s up,” said Tom. “We will do them in phase three.”
“Isn’t that what you told me three months ago during our phase one review?” Gayle asked.
Tom looked down. “Um, yeah,” he said.
“Phase three is even more intense than phase two, what makes you think you’ll do the OCM tasks in phase three if you didn’t do them in phase one or two?”
“Gayle, we’ll do it,” Tom said.
“Okay, I’m making you do it, Tom.”
Three months later, at the phase three milestone review, Tom went over the work plan and then got to the OCM tasks. Tom knew what was coming.
“I’m not done yet,” Gayle said as Tom avoided her gaze.
~~~~~
Before I continue, I want to articulate a principle that I have not only seen in countless projects but have also personally experienced:
The closer you get to the project delivery date, the less time you have to complete tasks started along the way from earlier project phases.
It’s rare that the availability to do the work increases as the project approaches its due date, and that tasks deferred throughout the project now have more time to get done. Typically, the project team is working hard to accomplish the most crucial tasks to meet the release, and other tasks are postponed until after release or not done at all. The attitude is that those tasks can be completed later when there is more time. I have two problems with this:
- If the task was important enough to include in the original plan, then why is it so unimportant now that it should be put off until tomorrow (or not done at all?)
- Tomorrow (almost) never comes.
To avoid the temptation to drop tasks by the wayside only for them to die on the vine, take a look at these five takeaways:
- Don’t underestimate planning – Choose your quote: Fail to plan, plan to fail; You don’t have time to do it right, but you always have time to do it again; Measure twice, cut once. The bottom line is to have a realistic and credible plan that focuses on deliverables, has an understandable critical path, specifically named task owners (not “the team”), and clear dates. Just make sure the plan supports the project and doesn’t become a project in itself.
- Resist the urge to procrastinate – Okay, sometimes difficult decisions have to be made and something may have to be postponed at a later date. This becomes a problem when it is more the rule than the exception. If you’re chronically procrastinating because you’re running out of time, maybe something in your schedule needs to change.
- When you have to postpone tasks, articulate the implications – Postponing something for later or cutting the task altogether means the project will incur incremental risk (assuming the task was value-added in the first place). Have mitigation measures in place to manage any incremental risk.
- Adjust the plan when things hit the fan – I have seen it many times: a project starts very well, the plan is regularly revised, life is good. Then something goes wrong. Most of the time, the plan is not updated to reflect reality or is abandoned altogether. Keep the plan up to date and drive decisions on tough decisions when tasks need to be deferred. Just remember to articulate the implications (see point 3) of the choice. Keep the plan current and realistic.
- If you really don’t need it, cut it. – When planning your project, do a reality wash to make sure only the must-do’s are included. Ask yourself, “What is the consequence if this task is not done?” If there is no clear consequence, then consider not doing it. Just make sure the project team agrees to cut the task before it goes to the shredder.
Remember, the closer you get to the project due date, the less time you have to complete the tasks that come your way in the future. Resist the urge to put off tasks until tomorrow, because tomorrow hardly ever comes.