3 steps to drive your project team forward

Finding lost simplicity

So why is this simple perspective lost in business? It’s an easy answer: the scale of the game is much bigger than anyone can hold in their head. The previous diagram can fit on a page and is not in a state of constant flux. Most teams have to process a continual stream of scope changes, issues, new projects, and changes to strategy. Yet the principles remain the same. If you want better results, people are going to have to visualise the game mechanics, increase forward moves, and reduce lateral moves. To do so takes (at least) three steps.

Step 1: Transparency
Work will have to be identified and loaded into an online project management system that everyone can access. LiquidPlanner is built for this, but other products offer shared, collaborative project management environments, depending on your scale. If your project team is small enough, even a whiteboard can work.

This transparency thing is critical. If you can’t see the forest for the trees, then you are not going to care if the forest is on fire. If you can’t see that somebody else will fail if you choose poorly, then you won’t decide in favour of forward motion if a lateral move is more interesting at the moment.

Step 2: Tag what’s important (and track it)
Tag every task that moves a project to completion with [FM] for Forward Motion. Just tack it on to the end of the task names like this:

• Design mockup for start screen [FM]
• Design mockup for customer profile [FM]
• Code sign up form [FM]

Now, ask that your team track time on all tasks for the next 90 days, including the Lateral Motion tasks, like these:

• Meetings
• Processing email
• Support work

Make sure everyone knows what you’re doing. Ask them to add the [FM]s when they add project tasks. Incentivise them to track with pizza, coffee, or bribes.

Step 3: Evolve
At the end of the 90 days, pull the data, sum up the hours spent, and then compare them against known availability. Make sure that you’re sitting down when you review the results – you might be shocked. If you’re lucky, you will already see improvement just from the transparency that was introduced. Continue learning by showing everyone the results and asking them to help figure out how to get more Forward Motion and less Lateral Motion.

This is not a ‘one methodology to rule them all’ story. Rather. ‘motion theory’ is a stepping stone to help your organisation find its way to an enduring methodology that fits just right.

The approach is simple, transparent, and gives everyone a chance to focus on making better decisions. The principle that ‘Lateral Motion is okay, but Forward Motion is better’ should keep a project manager on solid ground even with the most change-averse holdout, yet still is tangible enough for execs who want a productivity solution yesterday.

If that’s not enough to convince you, consider the risks that come with trying to drive a big process change. The more complexity you put into a change initiative, the greater the odds are that it will get scuttled. The old Keep it Simple cliché is popular for a reason: so many people have learned it the hard way. You can save your fancy PMP techniques for the day when Forward Motion is the norm, not the exception.