What am I doing here?

Have you ever been on a project where everything seems to be wrong? A project when even doing the right thing seems wrong? A project where nobody does one thing completely without problems? A project that is so complex and big that nobody is able to see how the pieces fit together? A project where as soon as there is a change in any piece everything else start failing? A project where nobody feels responsible for anything? A project where managers just want you to do something with one goal "make him look good in front of upper managers"? A project full of wishes but no requirements? A project you are not proud of being part of? A project everybody ask themselves... What am I doing here? Well, I have been in projects like this, and I would like to share my thoughts on it.

I would like to start with a story.

The Story

There was an ancient community living on a desert. They always saved a lot of water on the rainy season because they knew they had to survive with it when the dry season comes. They did that year after year for long time. They had to work really hard, and moderate their use of water to be able to survive.

A particular year, an elder of the community started to practice a ritual. A ritual dedicated to the god of rain. It consisted on stepping over a small rock, and pray to the god of rain very hard. If his prayer were good, then a big rain will start. The elder knew when there was about to be a rain, and he used that trick to convince people the god of rain existed. Therefore many people started to believe in the god of rain, and thinking he will be able to give them rain on the dry season.

That year, the community saved lot of water for the dry season, while the elder keep praying to the god of rain before each rain. Somehow that year they had rains over the dry season, so everybody was really happy and celebrated. They finally found a solution to their problem. They just have to pray over a small rock to the god of rain. The god of rain was going to give them rain whenever they need it.

The dry season didn't appear for many years. It was a great time for the community, because they finally got time to do other things, things they always wanted to do. After a couple of years, everybody forgot about the dry season or saving water.

A few years have passed, and they started to stop praying to the god of rain, because they had more important things to do. They were doing things like looking for the best outfit or coffee in town. Unfortunately, a dry season came back, and the whole community started to run out of water. They thought it was because they stop praying, so they started praying to the god of rain again. Another month passed, and they look at the elder for answers, what is happening? Why is not raining now? We are running out of water. The elder had the answer for them, "you are not praying hard enough, or you are praying over the wrong rock". Everybody run for find a rock to pray on it as hard as they could, but still they couldn't get any single drop of water from the sky.

A few months later, everybody was desperate for water. Everybody in the community blamed everybody else, because other don't pray as hard as they. The elder kept telling them, they were not praying right, so the god of rain got mad at them. Many people from the community left it in search for water somewhere else. The ones who stayed died before the next rainy season arrived.

What does the story has to do with my failing project?

You might be asking, "What does the story has to do with my failing project?"

Blame everybody else

The first thing that happens when project starts failing is everybody points their fingers to others. People blame others, because nobody followed the process as hard and good as they did. Nobody wants to be responsible for anything, because they know it will be used against them. Everybody always have a reasonably good excuse not to do things right. Nobody is able to backup what they did in the project. Bottom line, nobody and everybody at the same time is responsible for the project failure. As you go up in the hierarchy, more weight you have in the results of the project, so more responsible you should feel.

A process leading to nothing
Nobody ever asked themselves if there is actually a god of rain. They blamed how others followed a process dedicated to a god that does not exist. None was capable to realize there is no god of rain, and they had to start collecting water again to save them. Nobody wanted to challenge the elder just like nobody challenges managers. And if you do have the guts to do it, most of the time your manager will put you aside, because that is not the right attitude. They will also tell you it is because you are not praying hard enough. It will never be because they are asking you to go in the wrong direction, in a direction that only creates more problems. It seems like being wrong is the worst sin for a manager.

The Parasites
There will be plenty of villagers telling their peers, "I always knew this was going to happen". That was their excuse to do nothing, neither collecting water, nor praying over rocks. I'm sure you have this type of people in your failing project. They are parasites, they live from others effort, and they are no able to do anything on their own. Everything is always wrong, or others made it so complex, that they are not able to explode all their potential. They limit themselves to do the least possible, because they do not feel valued. They could also spend their time doing a side project for their aunts to organize weekend dressmaking workshops. The only way to get value from parasites is to push and control them all the time. You might need to evaluate how much time a manager has to waste to have a parasite doing something right.


The Followers
These are the guys who just follow orders. They do their work, and leave on time. They are committed to do what is asked, but they will not seek for any highness at work. They are there to do what they are paid for. With a good direction, followers will be enough to save your project. Still, as soon as the project gets into trouble, they quickly search for other places to work. Their commitment to the project increases as they get benefits from it. If they are not enough benefits for them to justify staying, they will leave.

The Lifesavers
If you are lucky, there will also be a few member unconditionally committed to the project. They will be overloaded, trying to get the water out of the sinking boat. The parasites will stick to these guys, because they know those can help them. Lifesavers will be able to fix whatever they can't. The lifesaver will assume the responsibility of the job because that's what they naturally do. It is easy to recognize a lifesaver, will be the one everybody asks questions, the one everyone runs for help. He might not be able to do things perfectly, but he is able to do things. Once the lifesaver passes his limits, he will leave searching for water somewhere else. If you are not able to create an environment to maintain them, you will only keep the parasites that are not even able to leave. Once you run out of lifesavers, the project will just sink faster.

Process Managers
There is an elder telling them which process to follow and they weren't doing it right. Same thing you get from your manager when the project is failing. They define or inherit a process to follow for the project, and they think by just following the process they will lead to results. They only focus on the process adherence, instead of looking to add value to the project.

They spent their time updating reports, and asking for time logs, status updates, and looking at to-do lists. They do not care what the lists are about, or why you had to spend twice as time as you should. They never review what has to be done, just review if the process was followed. They do not attempt to create a process to add value and reduce waste. They just aim to copy something they learn from internet or on a two day course. If there is no value in the project coming from managers, then for sure the project will fail.

The only way they know to save a project from failing is to push the team harder. Sometimes this works, because parasites need to be pushed to get them doing something. Most of the time, they only get something from the lifesavers, putting those on the verge to leave.

Value comes from people, not from the process. The process will only help to increase or decrease the value from people. If your team cannot create value, then the process is useless and might just waste the little value the team has to give. If you cannot get value from the team, then you need to stop, reconsider and start again.

Is leaving the only option?

First think what a project is. A project is created with an objective to generate value, with a time frame and limited resources. Projects are used in companies just to give work a frame or boundaries, to make it measurable and manageable.

Can a team provide products or services without doing it in a project? Yes, they can, and they are probably better without projects, because they can really focus on what is needed when it's needed.  They will be completely based on value driven work.


Some companies are project driven, some are value driven, some are wish driven and some are not driven at all. If a project does not have an objective to create value, a time frame, and resources well defined, then you should reconsider your project, and call it a wish.

Wishes are the main cause of failure, because a wish is hard to express and understand. A wish is not measurable or manageable. They are hidden as projects and the lack of measure gives management the sense of everybody is not working hard enough. Management sets an impossible end date to make the lazy team work hard. That generates the sense of failing to all the team. This causes every body to run and trash things to get to that impossible date making things worst.

Your management expects everything to be done by the end of the time frame without committing to the project at all stages. Your management only focuses on process adherence and not on how to get more value from the team. Your are working on a wish without realistic planning and measurable goals. Your company does not create an environment to keep the guys who can make a difference. You should start asking yourself  what am I doing there?