10 Questions To Ask About Complex Global Programs
We have recently completed working with a wide variety of large global firms on designing & planning unique complex global programs. Though each is uniquely different, there are patterns and threads that are the same. These ten questions provide a quick way of assessing how well such programs are being designed , planned, and managed:
- Who's in charge and serves as the overall executive leader of the program?
- Is she 100% dedicated fully to the program? Anything less is a recipe for disaster.
- Does the leader have full responsibility and authority to deliver the desired results of the program?
- Who is the sponsor? Who has the money and provides a clear escalation path for the program executive?
- Are the boundaries (scope) of the program well-developed and understood by ALL on the team?
- Are key program parameters in writing and actually known by all team members?
- Are meetings designed and managed to reflect differences in culture, time zones, and work styles across the globe?
- Do schedules and timelines reflect reality of what is achievable given available resources and market conditions?
- Do you routinely assess the risks to successfully delivering the program and make adjustments for prevention and contingency measures as needed?
- Are you learning--do you conduct pre-mortems, lessons learned sessions, or after-action reviews periodically rather than only at the end of the program?
One more question - Is final business outcome defined along with required business justification to ensure the alignment across all the teams from executives to the team on ground running the projects?
ReplyDeleteOne other thing to ask - it may be obvious but I always do this. Why are we doing this project? Keep asking this of your executive team, eventually they will be able to justify why or like a irate parent they will say "Because!"
ReplyDeleteWhat is buy-in for this program from executive leadership teams? Is scope finalized? how flexible/agile the team to meet the dynamics in requirement?
ReplyDelete