Images of Projects

Mark Winter, Tony Szczepanek

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780566087165
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351928816
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

In this very distinctive book, Images of Projects challenges how we think about projects in the most fundamental way: it rejects outright the idea of a one 'best way' to view all projects and also the idea of following a prescriptive approach. In contrast, Images of Projects seeks to encourage a more pragmatic and reflective approach, based on deliberately seeing projects from multiple perspectives, exploring the insights and implications which flow from these, and crafting appropriate action strategies in complex situations. Based on real examples and the authors' work over the last ten years, Images of Projects presents seven pragmatic images for making sense of the complex realities of projects. Illustrated using various models, these images are presented in ways that allow the reader to reflect upon their own mental models in relation to the different perspectives in this book.

Part 1
Introduction to Images of Projects

Chapter One
Why not “JUST DO IT”?
The Image-Action Connection

Introduction

In the early 1990s when the lead author started teaching on executive programmes, he was introduced to what he thought was a new management approach called JDI. “We don’t have time to think” said one delegate in an MBA class, “We use an approach called JDI”. Curious to know what this was, the author naively replied, “That’s interesting, I’ve not come across that before, what is JDI?” Of course, once the delegate said what the letters stood for, the author then realized it was not a new approach and the class were highly amused! But the MBA delegate also said that from his experience this was the approach to projects within his organization and it was very ineffective in his view. Moreover, many of the other delegates agreed and said JDI was the dominant approach in their organizations too. So, what is wrong with JDI as an approach to projects? Apart from some obvious practical reasons, the approach is misguided in two respects: firstly, thinking and doing are not two separate domains, as it suggests, and it also fails to recognize something fundamental about all projects. Whilst all projects are clearly about action and working to timescales and so on, such action is always based on an image of what needs to be done, and it is this image-action connection that has very important implications, as this chapter shows using the following real example.

Illustrative Example

Equipment Direct Project

The Hampshire Coalition of Disabled People, in partnership with Hampshire County Council and the NHS, are embarking on an exciting and innovative project, which will greatly improve access to equipment for disabled people. The project will provide disabled people in Hampshire with improved access to and greater choice in equipment services. Funded by a Government ‘Invest to Save’ grant it will pioneer the development of the country’s first Internet-based equipment service, Equipmentdirect.org.uk. The new service will use the latest website technology to give disabled people more choice and faster access to a wider range of equipment for daily living direct from independent suppliers or through specialist social and health care services.¹

What sort of project is this?

To answer the question of what sort of project is the Equipment Direct Project, there are many possible answers to this question, just like there are different ways of seeing the old woman/young woman picture. Consider the following answers for instance:

The important point is not that the Equipment Direct Project can be seen or categorized in different ways, but rather that each answer is a different image of the project with its own implications for action. In other words, each answer is a different perspective on the project and each perspective suggests different activities that might need to be carried out. For example, seeing the project as an IT system development project would lead to a different set of activities to say those associated with viewing it as a service development project, or a quality of life improvement project. In all cases, the main focus of the project is different: the first perspective focuses on the development of an IT system, the second focuses on the development of a new service, and the third focuses more broadly on improving the quality of life for disabled people. Clearly, all three perspectives could be linked if we were to explore this further, but this is not the main point of the example, as we now explain.

The Image-Action Connection

The message here might seem obvious perhaps, but the point is very important for any project as the Equipment Direct Project shows: if the image is that of an ‘IT project’ for instance, then no matter how much resource is put into it, the project will be organized and managed as an IT project. Once this image is fixed at the start, it drives the action of the project, unless of course the image changes at some later date. A counter argument here could be that most of the answers listed above are really just synonyms or labels for the same project, and that “it’s obvious really what the project is about”. Unfortunately however, this rather misses the point about the image-action connection and the importance of understanding how this fundamentally affects the work of projects. Moreover, what is obvious to one person may be less obvious to another, and here again the implications for action could be important. For instance, just the difference between project and programme, as in the first two images of the Equipment Direct Project, could have significant implications for how the work is organized and managed. Moreover, any individual image may also invoke different ideas about the work that needs to be done: for example, one person’s image of an IT system development project could be quite different to someone else’s image of an IT system development project. In summary, no matter what kind of image it might be, each has its own implications for action, and being mindful of how this works in both directions is also very important, as shown by the diagram in Figure 1.1. As the diagram shows, the image-action connection is another version of the knowledge-experience cycle used in the Overview. Basically, any image is knowledge acquired from experience, as represented by the lower arrow in Figure 1.1, and it is this knowledge that guides action in the world, as shown by the top arrow, but without people being necessarily aware of this. Also, as the next section shows, this continues until there is a need to change this knowledge or image in the light of new experience.

Figure 1.1 The image-action connection

Sector example: projects and programmes involving IT

A good example which illustrates the importance of the image-action connection is the area of IT-related projects, where many organizations are now moving away from the traditional image of an IT project, to business projects involving IT, or business transformation programmes for instance, as shown in the three examples below.

[Sainsburys] are investing … £1bn in new systems … this isn’t an IT programme – it’s a business transformation programme, and that’s such an important distinction.²

[GlaxoSmithKline] requires that all IT projects are really business projects with an IT element.³

[Birmingham City Council] don’t have IT projects, we have business transformation projects.⁴

The reason it’s such an important distinction for Sainsburys, for example, is because it has important implications for how the programme is organized and managed. In other words, the image of a transformation programme is different to the image of an IT programme, or an IT project, and this is the message behind the other examples too. They have different implications for action which are highly significant from a project management perspective. Indeed as a UK Government Report stated in 2000:

Thinking in terms of ‘IT projects’ is itself a primary source of problems. Delivering IT is only ever part of the implementation of new, more effective, ways of working. A change of approach is needed.⁵

UK Government Report, 2000

What is particularly interesting about the statement above is the implied link to the image-action connection, namely that ‘thinking in terms of ‘IT projects’ is itself a primary source of problems.’ In short, it is the very image of an ‘IT project’ which is seen as one of the main problems with the action of projects involving IT; change the image and the action should change with it.

As an aside, what is rather alarming about the statement above is that despite it being one of the top findings published by the UK Government in 2000, recent reports continue to highlight major problems with projects and programmes involving IT. In January 2008, for example, The Guardian Newspaper reported that ‘the cost to the taxpayer of abandoned Whitehall computer projects since 2000 has reached almost £2bn.’⁶ Moreover, it also seems many publications since 2000 continue to take as given, unknowingly it seems, the very concept of an ‘IT project’, which previous research has shown to be one of the main problems. Two examples of this can be seen below.

This study, conducted by a group of Fellows of The Royal Academy of Engineering and British Computer Society (BCS), seeks to improve the understanding of how complex IT projects differ from other engineering projects, with a view to identifying ways to augment the successful delivery of IT projects.⁷

Royal Academy of Engineering and BCS Report, 2004

Anyone involved in or affected by IT projects could benefit from this [text] including users, buyers and directors. … the point of [this text] is to improve the management of IT projects, where there have been cases of huge losses caused by project failure.⁸

Project Management for IT-Related Projects, BCS, 2004

Fortunately,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Brief Contents
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Overview of Images of Projects
• Part 1 Introduction to Images of Projects
• Part 2 Seven Core Images of Projects
• Part 3 Applying the Images in Practice
• Appendices
• Index