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What I learnt...managing a high pressure technology project

Our team were engaged to take over the management of a core system development project for a telecoms operator.  The project had been started with the intention of replacing core customer management, billing, fault management and service provisioning systems for the B2B division in time to launch a new product that would be supported by the new systems.

The CEO was concerned that the project was drifting.  A sizeable team (40+) of independent contractors had been brought on board but as the CEO said "contractors were hiring contractors" and there seemed to be a lack of accountability.  Our role was to provide that accountability and manage the project to meet the deadline, a mere five months away.

There were some specific challenges that increased the pressure on the programme manager (me):
  • a sizeable portion of our fees were contingent on the product being able to be launched as planned in five months
  • the new B2B product was not fully confirmed so system and product development would have to be carried out simultaneously.
  • the product launch dependency made our work very high profile within the organisation.  Delivering late or delivering faulty IT would have large reputation repercussions for the company and individuals
  • the technology solution was a best of breed design so we have multiple vendors involved for the customer management, billing, faults, provisioning and middleware applications
  • new call-centre staff were being recruited and had to be trained to handle the new product, adding yet a further key dependency on the system development
  • existing project team were naturally concerned about our role and what it meant for them and not immediately inclined to accept our leadership
  • the target go-live date meant that we could not afford the luxury of key contractors walking out, we had to bring them along however difficult they became
  • our own consulting resources were stretched and this project required a sizeable team (16 consultants in total).  All of our team were good consultants but there were some who lacked the experience to cope with an environment where the pressure was high and the next steps could not come out of a manual
However, we did it.  We kept the whole project moving forward, kept individuals engaged and met the project launch target. I personally received many pats on the back because we did it without any blood on the floor.  No one had to be sacked, no one quit and despite many vociferous disputes over the course of the five months, the whole project was proud of what it achieved.

What were they key factors?
  • CEO relationship - although actual face time with the CEO was limited I formed a good rapport with him.  He appreciated the challenges I faced as the programme manager (he joked my job was the only one harder than his in the organisation) and was consistently supportive.  I repaid that with honesty, positivity and dedication.
  • Diplomacy - a vital skill for any programme manager when managing competing stakeholder interests.  In this case it was also necessary to keep the factions within the programme pulling in the same direction. 
  • Trusted lieutenants - I had experienced consultants facing off to the major workstreams; customer management, billing, provisioning, faults, integration, training and testing.  I also had a PMO manager who was a contractor I had worked with previously and who I knew would be  excellent in the role.
  • Consulting team development -  I was lucky enough to have had a mentor who demonstrated the value of post working hours briefings and I applied that learning with our consulting team. Most of us were staying in hotels for this project and it is common for management consultants to work late back in the hotel. Whilst we did have a lot of work on our plates, the main benefit of these sessions (at least two per week) on this programme was team communication.  Having strong and trusted internal lines of communication within our consulting team allowed us to move quickly (quicker than the client) to address potential issues and act in harmony.  Clients do expect this but consulting teams need to make time on large, longer implementation projects to make this work and be able to act in a coordinated way.  We had to avoid any team member being lost in the rabbit hole of their particular workstream.  These sessions also helped those less experienced team members get a full picture of the programme, understand where their role sat and get support and advice from me and other senior members of the team.
  • Support from base - I was fortunate to have the trust of the partners and directors back at base.  They supported me with resources when required, came to steering committees as directed but otherwise gave me the space to run the programme.
  • Testing like a military operation - on any system implementation testing, especially user acceptance testing, is where all the work in design, development and training comes together.  For this programme, I had an excellent testing manager who marshalled all the resources to get the job done.  He was on the team from the start so he was working on this vital activity throughout the project making sure the whole programme was working towards it.  It was a major effort and the most of my consulting team (including me) had to spend several weekends in a row working, but it went smoothly.






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