Blueprint for Project Recovery

Blueprint for

Project Recovery—

A Project

Management Guide

Ronald B. Cagle

AMACOM

TEAMFLY

Team-Fly®

Blueprint for

PROJECT

RECOVERY—

A Project

Management Guide

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Blueprint for

PROJECT

RECOVERY—

A Project

Management Guide

The Complete Process for Getting Derailed Projects Back on Track

Ronald B. Cagle

American Management Association

New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Buenos Aires • Chicago • London • Mexico City

San Francisco • Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D.C.

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Various names used by companies to distinguish their software and other

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throughout this book for editorial purposes only, with no intention of

trademark violation. All such software or product names are in initial

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A list of these trademarks can be found on page 273 following the

bibliography.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cagle, Ronald B.

Blueprint for project recovery : a project management guide : the complete process for getting derailed

projects back on track / Ronald B. Cagle.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8144-0766-8 (hardcover)

1. Project management. I. Title.

HD69.P75 C345 2003

658.4
04—dc21 2002011733

2003 Ronald B. Cagle

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Although this publication is subject to copyright, permission is granted free of charge to reproduce the forms

that are required by each user and to print and use pages from the enclosed CD-ROM. Only the original

purchaser may make copies. Under no circumstances is permission granted to sell or distribute on a

commercial basis material reproduced from this publication.

Except as provided above, this publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or

otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management

Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE xiii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii

CHAPTER 1

GETTING STARTED 1

1.1 General 3

1.2 Requirements 7

1.3 The Search Methodology 7

CHAPTER 2

CHECKING PROGRAMMATIC PERFORMANCE 9

2.1 General 9

2.2 Programmatic Performance Checklist 9

2.3 Programmatic Explanations 10

CHAPTER 3

CHECKING TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE 38

3.1 General 38

3.2 Technical Performance Checklist 38

3.3 Technical Explanations 41

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vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 4

RECOVERING FROM PROGRAMMATIC PROBLEMS 56

4.1 General 56

4.2 Programmatic Recovery Checklist 56

4.3 Programmatic Recovery Cause Descriptions 58

CHAPTER 5

RECOVERING FROM TECHNICAL PROBLEMS 109

5.1 General 109

5.2 Technical Search Tables 109

5.3 Technical Recovery Cause Descriptions 112

CHAPTER 6

EXPANDING THE CAUSE BASE FOR YOUR PROJECT 156

6.1 General 157

6.2 Brainstorming 158

6.3 Researching Appropriate Benchmarks 160

6.4 Researching the Processes 161

6.4.1 Standard Processes 161

6.4.2 Customer Processes 162

6.4.3 Enterprise Processes 162

6.4.4 Project/Program Processes 162

CHAPTER 7

GROUPING THE CAUSES FOR ACTION 165

7.1 General 165

7.2 Ordering Techniques 165

7.2.1 85:15 Rule 166

7.2.2 Cause and Effect Diagram 167

7.2.3 Affinity Diagrams 171

7.2.4 Relationship Diagrams 173

7.3 Interrelationships of Causes 176

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TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER 8

SELECTING THE BEST OF THE BEST 177

8.1 General 177

8.2 Evaluation Techniques 178

8.2.1 Pareto Analysis 178

8.2.2 Force Field Analysis 180

8.2.3 Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) 182

8.2.4 Monte Carlo Simulation 184

8.3 Eliminating Holes and Overlaps 186

8.4 Choosing the Causes 187

CHAPTER 9

IMPLEMENTING THE TAILORED CHANGES 188

9.1 General 188

9.2 Implementation Techniques 188

9.2.1 Slipping in the Fix 189

9.2.2 Creating ‘‘On-Ramps’’ 189

9.2.3 ‘‘Dumping’’ the Fix 190

9.3 Selecting Your Technique 190

CHAPTER 10

CONCLUDING 191

10.1 General 191

10.2 The Concluding Process 192

10.2.1 Quantum Improvement 192

10.2.2 Documentation 193

10.3 Data Trail 195

10.4 Modifying Methods 196

CHAPTER 11

USING THE COMPACT DISK (CD) 197

11.1 General 197

11.2 Loading 198

11.3 Using the Tables 198

11.4 Using the Attachments 198

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viii TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUMMARY 199

GLOSSARY 203

ATTACHMENTS 217

1 Standard Program Plan Outline 219

2 Standard Technical Plan Outline 223

3 Risk Mitigation Plan 227

4 Contract/Subcontract Outline 231

5 Configuration Management Plan Outline 234

6 Quality Assurance Plan Outline 237

7 Requirements Traceability Matrix 241

8 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix 245

9 Data Delivery Matrix 247

10 Capability Matrix 249

11 Policy-to-Plan Trail 251

12 Experience Window 253

13 Standards Traceability Matrix 255

14 Vendor Evaluation Process 258

15 Design Review Approval Form 263

16 In-Process Review Approval Form 265

17 Negotiation Checklist 267

18 Critical Success Factor (CSF) Matrix 269

BIBLIOGRAPHY 271

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FIGURES

Figure 1-1 Project/Program Environment 2

Figure 1-2 Project/Program Requirements Control

Relationships 4

Figure 1-3 Documentation Interrelationships 5

Figure 2-1 Vendor Evaluation Sheet 32

Figure 4-1 Vendor Evaluation Sheet 93

Figure 5-1 Requirements Allocation 123

Figure 5-2 Design Review Approval Form 128

Figure 5-3 In-Process Review Approval Form 130

Figure 7-1 Fishbone Diagram 168

Figure 7-2 Tree Diagram 169

Figure 7-3 Affinity Diagram 172

Figure 7-4 Relationship Diagram 174

Figure 8-1 Pareto Analysis: Raw Data 179

Figure 8-2 Pareto Analysis: Ordered Data 179

Figure 8-3 Force Field Schematic 181

Figure 10-1 A Typical Traditional Library 194

Figure 10-2 Schematic of an Electronic Library 195

Figure A3-1 Risk Mitigation Form 228

Figure A13-1 Policy-to-Program Plan to Support Document Flow 257

Figure A14-1 Vendor Evaluation Sheet 260

Figure A14-2 Vendor Evaluation Summary 261

Figure A14-3 Vendor Selection Summary Score Sheet 262

Figure A15-1 Design Review Approval Form 264

Figure A16-1 In-Process Review Approval Form 266

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TEAMFLY

Team-Fly®

TABLES

Table 2-1 Programmatic Performance Checklist 11

Table 2-2 Experience Window 13

Table 2-3 Meetings and Reviews 16

Table 2-4 Specification Types 18

Table 2-5 Experience Window 19

Table 2-6 Task Qualification 19

Table 2-7 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 22

Table 2-8 Standards Traceability Matrix (STM) 23

Table 2-9 Standards Traceability Matrix (STM) 24

Table 2-10 Standards Traceability Matrix (STM) 25

Table 2-11 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix (RFM) 27

Table 2-12 Subcontracts Requirements Traceability Matrix

(SRTM) 27

Table 3-1 Technical Performance Checklist 39

Table 4-1 Programmatic Recovery Checklist 57

Table 4-2 Experience Window 61

Table 4-3 Task Qualification 62

Table 4-4 Meetings and Reviews 66

Table 4-5 Task Qualification 69

Table 4-6 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 73

Table 4-7 Problem Cross-Reference Table 74

Table 4-8 Standards Traceability Matrix 75

Table 4-9 Standards Traceability Matrix 76

Table 4-10 Standards Traceability Matrix 77

Table 4-11 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix (RFM) 84

Table 4-12 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 84

Table 4-13 Task Qualification 86

Table 4-14 Meetings and Reviews 90

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xii TABLES

Table 4-15 Meetings and Reviews 96

Table 4-16 Data Delivery Matrix 104

Table 5-1 Technical Recovery Checklist 110

Table 5-2 Critical Success Factor (CSF) Matrix 112

Table 5-3 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 119

Table 5-4 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 121

Table 5-5 Issue Pairs and Recoveries 131

Table 5-6 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 134

Table 5-7 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix (RFM) 135

Table 5-8 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix (RFM) 135

Table 5-9 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 136

Table 5-10 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 137

Table 5-11 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix (RFM) 137

Table 5-12 Standards Traceability Matrix (STM) 138

Table 5-13 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 143

Table 5-14 System Effectiveness Parent Organization 155

Table 6-1 Expansion Methodologies 158

Table 6-2 Brainstorming Software 159

Table 6-3 Policy-to-Program Plan Cross Reference 163

Table 7-1 Ordering Techniques 166

Table 7-2 Cause and Effect Table 170

Table 7-3 Cause and Effect Software 170

Table 7-4 Affinity Diagram Software 173

Table 7-5 Relationship Diagram Software 175

Table 8-1 Analysis Techniques 178

Table 8-2 Pareto Analysis Software 180

Table 8-3 Analyzing Holes and Overlaps 187

Table 9-1 Spaces for ‘‘Slipping in the Fix’’ 189

Table 9-2 Spaces for ‘‘On-Ramps’’ 190

Table 12-1 Process Flow-Through Tables 201

Table A3-1 Risk List 229

Table A4-1 Specification Types 233

Table A7-1 Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) 243

Table A8-1 Requirements Flow-Down Matrix (RFM) 246

Table A9-1 Data Delivery Matrix 248

Table A10-1 Capability Matrix 250

Table A11-1 Policy-to-Plan Table 252

Table A12-1 Experience Window 254

Table A12-2 Capability Matrix 254

Table A13-1 Standards Traceability Matrix 256

Table A18-1 Critical Success Factor (CSF) Matrix 270

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PREFACE

Blueprint For Project Recovery—A Project Management Guide is a unique combi￾nation of text and interactive CD that provides:

❒ A tutorial for the aspiring project manager

❒ A text for the newly assigned project manager

❒ A checklist for the ongoing project manager

❒ A quick-response recovery tool for the project manager with a project in

trouble

If you are part of a small business, this book provides insight into all levels

of projects. It draws from the ‘‘best-of-the-best’’ to provide you with a consoli￾dated view into what all businesses, large, small, government, and commercial,

are doing.

xiii

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xiv PREFACE

If you are part of a large business or are associated with the federal, state, or

local government as an employee or as a contractor, this book has special mean￾ing for you. It uses many federal policies, plans, processes, and standards as

references. It uses these references for two reasons: first, they are thorough, and

second, you, as a taxpayer, have already paid for them—why not use them?

Projects and programs usually consist of three principal periods—planning,

conducting, and concluding. The conducting period is divided into two parts

that occur sporadically: normal and terrifying. The normal part consists of the

day-to-day activities that are going according to plan. The terrifying part is

when the project goes off track—roughly akin to a ‘‘near-miss’’ in an airplane.

This book was written to take some of the terror out of the ‘‘near-miss.’’

While this book won’t solve all your problems, it will give you a leg up on a

lot of them. In addition, this book will provide techniques to tailor or customize

the process to your way of doing business or for your specific business area or

your specific technical problems.

Many companies reward project and program managers for jobs well done.

These rewards come in a number of different forms. One of the rewards is in

the category of recovery. It is a coveted award because any project or program

manager who has been around for a while knows that it is considerably more

difficult to restore a project or program than it is to start up or maintain one.

Frequently, the recovery award is called the Phoenix Award. It is called the

Phoenix Award because it relates to the mysterious phoenix—the bird that is

the symbol of immortality, resurrection, life, and death. In ancient mythology,

the phoenix was said to consume itself in flames and then, three days later arise

from the ashes, allowing the cycle of life to continue. . . .

All too often, projects and programs are consumed in flames and turn to

ashes. The purposes of this book are to recommend up-front planning, provide

a checklist for ongoing projects, and, if you are really in a bind, effect the resur￾rection from the ashes and allow the project’s cycle of life to continue.

Now, let’s look at what is forthcoming in this book and how we are going to

handle these elements.

The first part of the book consists of Chapters 1 through 5. Chapter 1 sets

the stage with an overview of the project/program environment and the recov￾ery process. Chapters 2 and 3 present checklists for programmatic and technical

issues, together with the associated explanations that can be used as a checklist

for planning a project or checking an ongoing project. Chapters 4 and 5 follow

the same convention but, this time, offer a recovery approach for those issues

that have, or may have, gone off track.

The second part of the book, Chapters 6 through 10, provides techniques

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