5 Immutable Project Success Processes (Again)

As the year comes to an end, it's time to remind ourselves of the 5 Immutable principles of any project success.

1. Identify Needed Capabilities that achieve the program objectives or the particular end state. Define these capabilities through scenarios from the customer point of view in units of Measures of Effectiveness (MoE) meaningful to the customer.
2. Define The Technical And Operational Requirements that must be fulfilled for the system capabilities to be available to the customer. Define these requirements in terms that are isolated from any implementation technical products. Only then bind the requirements with technology.
3. Build The Performance Measurement Baseline describes the work to be performed, the budgeted cost for this work, the organizational elements that produce the outcomes from this work effort, and the Measures of Performance (MoP) showing this work is proceeding according to cost, schedule, and technical Performance plan.
4.  Execute the PMB’s Work Packages in the planned order, assuring all Performance assessments are 0%/100% complete before proceeding. No rework, no transfer of activities to the future. Assure every requirement is traceable to work and all work is traceable to requirements.
5. Apply Continuous Risk Management for each Performance Based Management process area to Identify, Analyze, Plan, Track, Control, and Communicate programmatic and technical risk.

These are assembled into a cohesive Performance Based Management method, applicable to nearly ever project.

This approach starts with defining the outcome of the project. These outcomes are the capabilities.

What does a Capability Sound Like?

• We need the capability to pre‒process insurance claims at $0.07 per transaction rather than the current $0.11 per transaction.
• We need the capability to remove 1½ hours from the retail ordering process once the merger is complete.
• We need the capability to change the Wide Field Camera and the internal nickel hydride batteries, while doing no harm to the telescope.
• We need the capability to fly 4 astronauts to the International Space Station, dock, stay 6 months, and return safely.
• We need the capability to control the Hell Fire Missile with a new touch panel while maintaining existing navigation and guidance capabilities in the helicopter.
• We need the capability to comply with FAR Part 15 using the current ERP system and its supporting work processes.

What is a Requirement?

A Requirement is …”A statement identifying a capability, a physical characteristic, or a quality factor that bounds a product or process need for which a solution will be pursued.” — IEEE Standard 1220–2005.

When we speak about requirements we need to remember

The hardest single part of building a system is deciding what to build …

... No other part of the work so cripples the resulting system if done wrong. No other part is more difficult to rectify later.

– Fred Brooks “No Silver Bullet,” 1987

The Performance Measurement Baseline

The PMB is time–phased network of activities describing the work to be performed, the budgeted cost for this work, the organizational elements that produce the outcomes from this work, and the Performance measures showing this work is proceeding according to plan.

The Plan and the Schedule look like this...

• The Plan is the strategy to successfully complete the project, described through Significant Accomplishments and their Accomplishment Criteria.
• The Schedule is the sequence of the work activities measured by the Accomplishment Criteria, that follow the Plan of the Significant Accomplishments.
• A credible Plan and Schedule means there is a statistical model of cost, schedule, and technical Performance of outcomes as the foundation of the credibility of the project’s probability of success.

Executing the PMB

With the PMB in hand it needs to be executed. This is done with 5 simple steps

1. Perform the authorized work -Using the Work Package sequencing, release work to be performed as planned.With the responsibility assignments, identify the accountable delivery manager to guide the development of the products or services for each Work Package.
2. Accumulate and report work package performance -Using Physical Percent Complete or Apportioned Milestones, capture measures of progress to plan for each Work Package. Report this Physical Percent Complete in a centralized database for each Work Package and the project as a whole.
3. Analyze Work Package Performance -Compare the Physical Percent Complete against the Planned Percent Complete for each period of performance.Construct cost and schedule Performance indices from this information and the Physical Percent complete measures.
4. Take Corrective Action -With Cost and Schedule Performance indices, construct a forecast of future Performance of cost, schedule, and technical Performance compliance.Take management actions for any Work Packages not performing as planned.
5. Maintain the Performance Baseline - Record past Performance based on Work Package completion criteria. Record past future forecast Performance estimates in a historical database. Forecast next future Performance estimate against the Performance Measurement Baseline. Report this next future Performance estimate to the project stakeholders.

For Each of These Process apply Continuous Risk Management

1. Identify Risk, Issues, and Concerns
2. Analyze, evaluate, classify, and prioritize the risks
3. Plan what should be done about each risk - the risk handling strategy
4. Track and monitor risk metrics and verify and validate the risk handling processes are being effectivey applied
5. Make management decisions using this information