Let’s Stop MY Project!

It is interesting to think about how projects are initiated and how they are concluded. Today I’d like to discuss the ending phase of projects. There are only a few conditions that should mark the endpoint of a process-focused project: #1…Successful creation of a new process #2…Realized and implemented step-change improvement of an existing process #3…A process project that is halted because it cannot be made to work, despite best efforts being made When I think about the halting of projects, a particular project comes to mind. I was the project leader. We were trying a novel approach to simplify an existing process that was already in production. The idea we were testing was clever and elegant and the merits of the concept were obvious. Annual savings of $100K were predicted. Work in the lab and production showed that the new concept could be made to work. Beautiful looking samples were produced that created enthusiasm and support for the project. However, the new process relied on precision alignment and interchangeability of tooling that was difficult to achieve day in and day out in a production environment. No clever solutions could be found that would make this method “plug & play”. Reluctantly, I realized I had two choices. Either I could recommend that the project should be stopped or I could wait for someone else to tell me to stop working on it. I called a meeting and recommended the project I was leading be stopped, so we could work on more fruitful opportunities. There was a lot of objection to stopping the project, because of the momentum that had been generated. I pointed out that although the new solution was elegant, it was just too complex. After some reflection and more discussion, the stakeholders agreed with me and the project was canceled. My boss was glad I had had the courage to recommend the end of my project. He told me that was the first time that had happened at the company as far as he knew. My main learning from this was the responsibility that I had to recommend ending a project when it became clear it was not workable. I still had this responsibility even if it was my project!

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YOUR CHALLENGE THIS WEEK

Please think about the process-focused projects your organization has worked on and stopped over the past few years…

• Have any of these projects been stopped based on a recommendation of the project leaders?

• How many projects should have been stopped but were not stopped when they should have been?

I’d enjoy hearing about how your organization ends projects when they appear unworkable. As always, please email me and I’ll get back to you promptly.

All the Best, Marty

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