Back to Basics: Building Blocks for Successful Project Delivery

In kindergarten, we learned simple skills: how to work together, share, communicate, be kind, and make friends. These were basic social skills that would help us, in the long run, get what we want out of life and our work.

As we grew older, we may have gotten involved in sports or group activities. We were taught a simple mantra: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work.

At some point, once we entered the real world, we lost sight of these simple ideals. We stopped articulating what we need, stopped working together to achieve our goals… and stopped communicating altogether. And yet we’re surprised that our projects run weeks, months, or even years behind schedule, and we can’t get anything done on time. And it’s not fun anymore.

Successful projects stem from basic concepts similar to those you learned as a child. These concepts help improve productivity and reduce project duration. Together, they comprise the Basic Collaboration level of the ViewPoint Project Execution Maturity Model.

Basic Collaboration is pivotal to successful projects. It is the simplest level, but it creates the foundation for all the others to build upon. It helps boost on-time delivery, task velocity, and overall productivity by eliminating the biggest threat to project success: multitasking.

Each of the four elements has its own article; this is the short version. The middle level of the model is Improved Coordination.

Collaborative Execution

For projects to succeed, informed collaboration is essential. Both managers and team members must be able to see beyond the limits of their individual tasks to the project’s overall direction. They need a map. Roles, reporting, and accountability must be crystal clear (Who’s going to drive?), so everyone knows what needs to get done today rather than driving through the rearview mirror. Collaborative Execution makes the team’s work visible to everyone involved, so the team stays informed and can collaborate.

Functional Alignment

Everyone brings their function's objectives to a project. Functional alignment takes people out of their organizational silos and puts them on the project. Each team member acts in the best interest of the project as a whole, rather than their own silo’s objective, eliminating conflict between departments or teams and accelerating decision-making and action. They need to know the right behavior. Functional alignment happens when everyone involved in the project focuses on the project’s overarching goals rather than their own silo’s objectives.

Priority Control

Managing priorities is essential to eliminate multitasking and achieve Basic Collaboration. By collaborating more effectively and aligning functional goals, you can easily create a transparent, simple priority system. With a simple priority system, teams can ensure people work on the right tasks at the right time and, most importantly, that everyone focuses on the most important priority to advance the project.

Control WIP

The easiest way to reduce project duration is to eliminate task wait time in the workflow. Establishing control over work in progress is the final building block of Basic Collaboration. Managers must set criteria to control tasks, ensuring that nothing is started that cannot be finished. By limiting the amount of work in the queue, teams simplify project management. They can set clear criteria for releasing work, use clear methods for managing it, and set established targets for total system work in progress.

These four elements work together to lay the foundation for ultimate project success, reducing project duration, ensuring on-time delivery, and boosting productivity. The twelve factors are in Why Do Projects Succeed or Fail?