Have you ever observed an organization that manages projects by heroics? There are a lot of high-tech firms, especially start-ups, that are at the “ad hoc” or lowest level of capability maturity – and it is not unusual to see them rely on management by heroics.
These firms have not established any significant degree of project planning or project control. They often have a fun-loving, “cowboy” style of operation. In the absence of project management, sooner or later the project that is developing the next great product requires someone on the development team to be the hero who brings the product to completion.
The company at that stage almost always rewards the hero, and in doing so, they are rewarding behavior that will not serve them well if they want to develop products in a predictable and reliable way. Senior management may know better, but usually at that point in their development as a company, they are reluctant to start putting best practices and repeatable processes in place.
However there always comes a time, usually once the first product has been released, that the smart CEO or development director will realize that it’s time to grow up a little bit. If they want to have a manageable product plan – with any ability to plan and control a product release schedule – they must have agreed-to processes for managing the development and release of products in a repeatable way.
I’ve worked for software start-ups, both product companies and client engagement firms, and I’ve seen it several times. Start-ups often have very talented and creative people, and start-ups are almost always high-energy, fun environments. But companies must mature if they want to eventually succeed and grow.
Project management requires discipline – that is, it requires the team to subscribe to certain behaviors and follow certain rules. By doing so, the team as a whole, and management outside of the team, better understands the overall development process, what to expect from the team, roles and responsibilities, and so on.
Discipline can be seen as a loss of freedom, and that’s why there is reluctance to take the first step on the ladder to greater maturity as an organization. But discipline also brings its own sense of freedom because it is a move from raw energy and chaos to a level of control and predictability. When you have predictability, you can begin to invest more energy in collaboration and team performance as opposed to individual performance. And strong team performance always outweighs strong individual performance.
Heroics – when that means rescuing a project – is usually an indicator that there is a lack of process maturity and organizational maturity, at least to some degree. Maybe there is a project management process that is not fully developed in some aspect – such as risk management or monitoring and control. So project management, or certain aspects, may be lacking and need attention.
Project Success Tip — If you witness heroics and know that it saved the project, you also know that the process, or execution of the process, has room for improvement.