Project Management: Do Accidents Really “Just Happen”?

I've heard the phrase "accidents happen" and it seems to echo along the same lines as "projects just fail". When someone says that it seems as if they have made up their mind that there isn't anything that can be done to prevent the failure or the accident from happening. Who is accountable for keeping a project out of the failure zone? The project manager is accountable just like a motorcyclist is accountable for keeping themselves out of an accident. Depending on others to keep a project from failure works in a similar nature to depending on a driver to not pull out in front of you. It is a recipe for disaster.

Every time I get on my motorcycle I know that I’m taking a risk with my life. The statistics are clear that motorcycles are a high risk form of travel. Why would anyone in their right mind take a vehicle that some call a “donorcycle”? The argument is that a motorcycle is an extremely economical form of travel, besides, it is outrageously fun, a wonderful way to unwind and a great way to stay in the moment and leave the distractions of the world behind. That being said, how do I avoid becoming a negative statistic? I think the answer is that is it my responsibility, and only my responsibility, to keep myself safe, protected and alive on the road.

Early on in my riding career I was told a number of things that have served me quite well. Each of these nuggets deserves their own post because of the magic that they contain in the simple truth that they contain. The first thing I was told is that I should always assume that I’m not seen by any other driver on the road. Even if I can see them look directly at me or clearly in my direction that I should assume they do not see me. I translated that into, if I’m on the bike, I am responsible for making it my destination. No one else is responsible or accountable. I’m the one that is supposed to be in control, the one that has taken on the risk. I’m not in control of the environment that I’m traveling in which would include the weather, the road condition, the route that I have to take and other drivers. I am in control of the road that is used, the direction the bike is going on the road, the velocity, the health of the rider and the health of the bike (to name a few). I’m ultimately responsible for how the ride is executed and accountable for my safety. I cannot give that to anyone else. If an accident does happen, there was probably something I could have done differently to avoid the accident, to keep the accident from happening in the first place.

I believe the same is true as a project manager. I am accountable for the delivery of the project, for getting the project to the destination. I cannot give that responsibility to anyone or anything else. If a project fails, i.e. it does not achieve the business value for which it was undertaken, there was something I could have done along the way to avoid that failure. I am accountable from the moment I agree to manage the effort to the point that the project is closed and complete. I cannot control the environment within which the project is being performed. I can control other aspects of the project such as my reactions to the environment, my communication about the environment, my leadership through the environment and many other aspects of the project.

In yesterday’s blog I made a clear distinction in defining the start and stop for measuring project success. Measuring project delivery success (the act of building the product or service) and measuring project definition success (the act of developing the scope/use case/architecture at the right level to be able to appropriately predict the needs for successful delivery) is, to me, an important distinction. This does not mean that the project manager is not accountable from the inception through the implementation. That accountability does not change, how success is measured and when the timer starts the measurement is what yesterday’s blog was meant to question. Just like a motorcycle ride, determining the destination and planning that ride are all part of making it a safe journey, the point is that the dynamics change exponentially once you get on the bike.

I am accountable. When I make the commitment to manage a project I am accountable for every aspect of that project. It doesn’t belong to any other team member or the organization. I am accountable for determining whether or not the destination is achievable, for ensuring the plans that are created can achieve that destination and for cancelling a project if those two things are not true. I’m accountable for the delivery of the effort once the decision has been made to build the product or deliver the service. I am accountable for the success or failure of that delivery.
Just as a note, I don’t think my accountability changes depending on the organization, the methodology, or the delivery approach (waterfall, iterative delivery, agile delivery). Yes, this is a bit of a hard line from someone who is usually more comfortable in the gray space. If I am riding a motorcycle and I have an accident I could blame so many things around me as the cause. The fact of the matter is that I still have the accident and, more than likely, there is always something that I could have done to avoid the accident.

Ride On, Manage On