Knowing When To Pull The Plug A Review 2621i

Knowing When to Pull the Plug: A review (by Barry M. Staw, Jerry Ross)

1.Reference: Knowing When to Pull the Plug by Barry M. Staw, Jerry Ross, Harvard Business Review .

2. Introduction Managers often take projects well past the point at which they should drop them. To see if they have come to this point, managers must look closely at themselves and recognize which of the influences they may be under. Some influences are psychological, they’ve been rewarded in the past for sticking to their guns, so why shouldn't the same thing happen this time? Some are social as no one likes a loser. And some are structural because important of the organization are publicly committed to the project. The rest of the job belongs to top management. Its course is to rethink what behaviour it rewards and how it staffs projects and to ensure that its information systems report the real odds. 3. Main Focus of Project Project managers must focus on bringing a project to a successful conclusion. But what is about a project that shouldn't be completed? Knowing when to pull the plug on a project is an important skill to build, a skill that can cement your reputation as a project manager who is objective, credible, and rational. The project managers are greatly respected who, put the customers' interests ahead of their own by ending a project because it would not meet the customers' needs. 4. Why stop a project? Following are some of the key reasons which may be considered for calling off a project: (a) (b) making it

Lack of benefit

The anticipated benefit of the project will not be realized.

High cost anticipated costs of the project will greatly exceed budget, cost prohibitive.

(c) Priority issues Other projects have taken a higher priority because of a business environment change, resulting in diversion of resources from your project to the other higher-priority projects. (d) Design problems The project's proposed design will not meet the customers’ needs. (e) Execution problems Execution of the project is going poorly, and the project is unable to recover. (f) Change management problems large to overcome.

The change management issues are too

5. It is important that the entire project management team, led by the project manager, makes the decision to stop a project and that everyone agrees that stopping

the project is the best business decision. Whenever a project is stopped, carefully review the rationale behind the decision with the project team. Make sure that the team has an opportunity to give on the soundness of the decision. After the team agree to stop the project, the steering committee and project sponsor review the recommendation for approval. 6. Factors that can contribute to project failure (a) No specific checkpoints are established At the end of each phase in the project, the team should assess whether the customers' needs can still be met and the cost/benefit of the project is still intact. For example, on some projects mid-phase checkpoint assessments are to be reviewed to see what team has learned so far. This information could affect the customers' needs or the cost/benefit. Define logical checkpoints in the project so that to determine whether it's best to proceed. (b) The team loses objectivity In order to deliver successful results, getting the project team to "gel" and work well together is a key goal of project managers. However, It is seen that projects where the team gelled so well that they wanted the project to continue because they really enjoyed working together and were tied to "the cause." It's great when project teams work well together; but when they lose business objectivity, they're less willing to stop the project because they're having too much fun. But Just be sure that objectivity and sound business logic prevails. (c ) The team relies on a "silver bullet" to save a sick project Trying to rectify problems with due diligence is great, but don't let those problems linger too long while searching for an unlikely solution. 7. Warning signs of potential project failure (a) The customer or project sponsor loses interest If scheduling time with r customers or project sponsors becomes increasingly difficult, they may be losing interest. They may have more important priorities or may lack the faith that their projects will be completed successfully. Get clarity from customers or project sponsors on the relative importance they place on project. (b) The project sponsor changes At any time the project sponsor changes, questions will arise about the project, its business case, and its priority relative to other projects. The new project sponsor may have different ideas about the project and its importance relative to other ongoing or potential projects. Understanding the new project sponsor's expectations lets you know whether your project is on his or her radar. (c) Major issues are unresolved Major issues that go unresolved, despite efforts to address them, are a strong signal that the project may be in jeopardy. Clarifying the true consequences of the issues and creating resolutions to the potential problems are good guideposts in determining whether the issues have the potential to truly stop the project.

(d) Skepticism exists about the viability of the project's business case Questions about the business case could just be an issue of educating a customer, sponsor, or stakeholder. Conversely, questions could mean that the project isn't as important as it once was or that the original benefit statement is unattainable. Reconfirming the project's business case is important in determining whether the original business case still holds water. It may need to decide whether there are projects that more important than this. 8.Turning it around (a) Define checkpoint milestones Establish project milestones with sponsor at logical review points to determine whether it makes sense to continue the project. At review points, go through project continuation criteria and that continuing the project is still the right answer. (b) Assess the outstanding major issues Get a clear understanding of the issues, of the potential alternatives to dealing with each issue, and of the course of action that you will take under each alternative. Some of the alternatives may or may not include stopping the project. (c) Stop the project If it doesn't make sense to continue the project, be deliberate with project sponsor about driving a stop decision. Stopping a project is not a fun thing to do, but it might be the best business decision. 9.Conclusion project managers need to demonstrate that they are business managers who are willing to make difficult decisions, even if it means killing a pet project. When you make the right business decision, your credibility with management can skyrocket.