Software initiatives are seldom predictable. Initial needs may be difficult to execute or have an incorrect strategy. On top of that, people may be illogical under duress. Many projects fail because project managers fail to understand and account for these underlying elements.
In reality, failure is quite probable at many phases of a project. Therefore project managers’ desire to create tactics to prevent failure looks sensible. They feel that the more predictable and tidy things are, the less likely their initiative will fail. An outline of the work necessary to finish the project sounds like a decent place to start.
And thus, when project managers seek certainty, they try to control the variables that may impact it. The individuals surrounding them tend to get the greatest attention—those responsible for delivering the project’s deliverables. Suddenly, the project team is constrained, and management promotes conformity. They focus the team’s efforts on achieving a predetermined result.
The main lesson for project managers seeking transformation is cultivating the correct mentality for themselves and others. Encourage increased cooperation, individual accountability, and team self-organization. Stop fussing about planning and procedures and start leading initiatives.
All mentioned above does not, however, imply that product development is a free-for-all. Instead of measuring the completion towards a predefined goal based on anticipated customer reactions, you should measure the team’s capability to resolve issues and deliver features. The more efficient your team is at delivering the outcome, the more likely you will be to solve your actual problems.
An added benefit is less micromanagement and chasing new senior management impulses, but focusing on long-term improvement of the same metrics.
Your focus should be on measuring and improving your CycleTime, Flow/Work in Progress, and TimeToFix. These metrics can be scientifically determined and measured, and progress can be shown – when you combine them with your business metrics, you have a sound governance model for your teams.
How ProductDock can assist:
We can support you with experienced Agile coaches who will track and improve the metrics mentioned above together with your team. Our Agile coaches and consultants will also assist you with reducing your lead times, allowing you to collaborate interactively with your customers and end-users, ideate new solutions, and quickly validate them. The repeated delivery of valuable outcomes will earn you much more trust than good explanations of why the outcome is not as hoped.