The key critical factors in defining, measuring and delivering on the effects are:
- Goal hierarchy:
- Create a hierarchy of goals that should be reached. The top goal is the critical effect you want to create. Make sure that goals means something concrete and valuable for your stakeholders and customers. If not, revise and rephrase until it does so.
- Under the top goal define sub goals that needs to be reach in order for the top goal to be accomplished. Break down each sub goal into third level goals.
- As you go from top goal to sub goals you answer the question How will I reach the previous level of goals. As you move upwards you answer the question Why should I reach this goal.
- Visual management:
- Decide on how, who and when you communicate the goals and progress. It's important that you have a clear view on who the recipient of each message is and what they expect from the project.
- Make the communication visible. Put it up so that everyone can see it and follow it. Make it everyone's interest to follow progress and contribute.
- Decide on progress reporting structure. How will reporting add up the ladder and counter measures ripple down?
- Measurement:
- When setting goals make sure you know how to measure progress. Where will you find your data? How fast and with which frequency?
- Setup automatic data capture that collects data as they are created avoiding double entering of information.
- Make the data measurement near realtime, at least once per day and create project heart-beats showing current status.
- Celebrate success:
- Define small steps for mankind but giant leaps for the project. It is important to acknowledge even the small steps forward towards the top goal.
- Find all kinds of ways celebrating success. Involve the project team, top-management, key stakeholders and family. After all it's often your family that has paid a high price when achieving a hard to reach goal.
Once you have defined your critical effects in a goal hierarchy, communicated it visual throughout the organizations to to key stakeholders, measured the progress and celebrated success along the way you will reach your desired effect. I'm saying will because there is no way you cannot reach that goal. The sum of these activities are that you set the entire team's mindset on these effects and they will focus on them.
You will have avoided active inertia - the state where all you do is running around doing a lot of activities not moving progress forward.
The question is: Are these the critical effects or not? That can only you and the future answer.
You will have avoided active inertia - the state where all you do is running around doing a lot of activities not moving progress forward.
The question is: Are these the critical effects or not? That can only you and the future answer.
