Mouth To Mouth

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

This week I was listening to a news item on the radio about pensions. For most of us, it's going to be a long time to wait but we will eventually be pleased to move over to not working any more.

30 years is a long time for humans to imagine, even 3 or 5 years is difficult to focus on, if that's when your deadline was. Most business change projects, which are modular in nature, you know like estate mobile working, EDM or group Asbestos Register setup, generally can be completed in between 9-18 months.

In the many projects I have worked with over the years, by far the most successful have all been between 12-18 months long. I have a theory that the human mind has problems focussing on modular projects of longer duration that that. In fact if the duration is longer than that, often the project is never finished or implemented properly.

Projects with too shot or unrealistic time-scales or outcomes are another matter, certainly from me worth special focus in its own blogpost.

Users, suppliers and often project teams lose faith, momentum and the will to live frankly. Ultimately time, effort & Money can be seriously wasted.

Look around your organisation. How many projects have you got in that state? I am thinking of Tenant Self-Service portals never switched on or with pitiful take up, EDM systems that are pretty empty, partially used or docs still fester on your shared drives, Mobile systems that are poorly used or utilise forms that are filled in, when your users get back to the office. 3 ideas just for starters. I am certain there are many more you can share with me.

Isn't it about time we collated the 'Lessons Learn' from these ghost-ship projects? I am unsure if we could set up witch hunts to punish the guilty, but we should at least stop keep doing it, don't you think?

My advice is to scope properly initially, resource with a suitable project team, set & keep to realistic dates and communicate widely. Then document what went well, less well and do it better on the next one.

The good news is that most projects seemingly dead in the water, can be given mouth to mouth to revive them. Although like in a post A&E situation, recovery should be expected to be slow, expensive and far more painful than preventing the project going wrong from day one.

Related Post: Do you think you have got 'Team Spirit' in your project & other teams?

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You can link with me on LinkedIn here - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy It would be great to connect !

Faith No More - Mouth To Mouth.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

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