Do you follow a PDCA cycle when dealing with managing your projects and programs?
Is an ounce of prevention worth more than a pound of cure? Often times referred to as the "Deming Cycle", many know it yet fail to understand the importance of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle. Do well-intentioned staff and managers simply plan out their work and just do it without checking out how effective their efforts have been and then adjusting to do it better? Are we in a societal norm of "Just do It" like a famous sneaker manufacturer once advanced? Failing to plan causes most issues. It is said that anywhere from 50%-75% of issues in a project or program implementation comes from ineffective initiation and planning. That can surely be debated and the impact depends upon the implementation scenario. However, what cannot be dismissed or heavily debated is the existence of the negative consequences of not checking how your "plan" and "do" are going and then making necessary adjustments. Negative consequences will always rear their ugly heads when one fails to check and act upon any findings of deviation. Helmuth von Moltke, an 19th century German Field Commander, simply stated that "No plan of operations reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main force." So, who is the enemy? The enemy is anything and everything that works consciously or unconsciously towards impeding the success of your plan of operations. It can be as simple as unknown technical considerations to alienated and adverse stakeholders. You see the PDCA cycle in everyday life. Football coaches will often script the first 10-20 offensive plays in a game to test, probe, and consider the defense (enemy) being deployed against their ultimate success, scoring and a win. Aircraft, ships, and other vessels constantly are having to adjust course due to the effects of winds, waves, etc. that may be in contrast to their ultimate goal, their port of call or final destination. So, why do so many program and project managers plan and implement but not check and act (adjust) as necessary? What good is a risk management plan if the risks (and opportunities) are not updated, re-qualified, re-quantified, and re-prioritized? What if your stakeholders and their power and interest in your project/program change, especially towards the negative? Those that fail to check and act on a regular basis eventually become nothing more than an ad hoc firefighter getting buried by that which should be planned for and managed in a forward and predictive management plan. The old wive's tale that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure certainly applies here and is very true, even if it's not used in a medical nature. ESCO Contractors, LLC OBP3 #projectmanagement #programmanagement #pdca
