Do Not Enter Unless You Know Where the Exit Is
Getting in is easy…it’s getting out that is a problem. Specifically, knowing, how, where, when and why to exit can mean the difference between success and failure of a project.
As soon as you get on an airplane, one of the first instructions to the passengers is to look around and locate the nearest exit. In an airplane emergency, exiting the plane quickly is important to survival.
I saw a body board surfer trying to get out of the ocean on a rocky shore. Although the waves were not big, they kept knocking him down onto the rocks and he was bloodied and stuck eight feet from the shore. Unfamiliar with the shoreline, four feet to the right or left would have enabled him to get to shore without a beating. Unfortunately, he assumed that he could exit anywhere long the rocky shore. He didn’t have an exit strategy before he entered.
Do you have an emergency exit strategy for your projects? Most projects have a fair amount of vetting prior to the start of a project because they need justification for the cost including who will benefit and the effects on the business. The amount of pre-entry investigation is usually determined by the estimated project cost. Many of these questions are asked in the course of project planning to develop a timeline. An exit strategy needs to be laid out at the time the project timeline is built. The exit strategy encourages continuous evaluation at a higher level where projects pieces are integrated. Many projects suffer literally from a lack of a big picture view.
If there is no exit strategy, then the ongoing evaluation and predetermined exit points do not exist. Here are six questions to ask that will help you determine when to exit a project that appears to be a growing disaster.
- Have deliverables been missed and the project end date is no longer acceptable? If the project’s business owner cannot reap the benefits of the project because the finish line is too far out, then it is time to re-evaluate. Find out what functions are critical and when they are required.
- Which of the project deliverables will have the largest impact on the organization’s strategy? Large projects are usually part of an organization’s strategy for improving the business. A project that does not finish can affect the overall business strategy. An examination needs to be done on what parts of the project are key to enabling the overall strategy to go forward.
- Which project deliverables have the largest impact on the business? These important deliverables constitute the revised project plan. The canceled deliverables should be called out in the revised plan.
- Prioritize and divide. After deciding what stays in, based on #1-3 above, review the remaining deliverables, assign priorities, and divide them into one or more smaller projects.
- Unfinished does not equate to failure. Sometimes, large projects try to deliver too much to too many parts of the business. If a project has a long timeline, the risk of changes to the original goals and objectives increases. In these cases, de-scoping the project allows for a successful conclusion.
- Shut down costs. It is a mistake to think that shutting down a project stops all costs immediately. Items subject to termination or renegotiation include outsourced contracts, external personnel, space, licenses, computer and office equipment. There may also be costs to other parts of the business because the project did not deliver what was expected and an alternative needed to be put in place. In addition, non-monetary goodwill, faith and trust will all pay a price.
Prevention is always better than the cure for projects. Plan an exit strategy. Monitor the project by actively looking for exit signs. Insert dates into the project plan that force a review of the overall condition of the project. This is not the same as weekly progress reports that tend to be detailed and too close in time. Think of a telescope that is on earth looking into space. The angle of the instrument is one or two degrees off. By the time the eye reaches the target a thousand miles away, the object’s angle is hundreds of thousands of miles off target. A project that is slightly off or behind in the beginning will be extremely off course by the time it reaches its destination deadline.
Your exit strategy will help you measure how far off course the project is and lead you to the safe exits.