Internal Projects - No Deadlines & urgency

Submitted by J b
in
Management and Leadership

Hey folks, long time no post.

 

My team is suffering from lack of a sense of urgency when delivering for our department - I've re-listened to the casts on this and know how to start tackling it, but I need help on internal deadlines.

We're pretty good at hitting external deadlines i.e. for external customers, but when we're delivering for the department of which my team is a part, we just are slow and take forever to close work out.

I think the problem is related to external customers getting the priority because the work we do for them is enablers for physical work - and this gets the managements focus.

the work we do for our department tends to be infrastructure based - i.e. compliance type stuff.  It needs to be done, clearly, but when it needs to be done is never clear.  Ideally 'as soon as possible' but this work always kind of slips when the external's start shouting for delivery.

I think it falls down to a couple of aspects:

1) The internal deliverables scope is never clear - our external customers know *exactly* what they want (or we help them to get to this) - which is 'good enough'.  How to focus individuals on 'good enough'  when the team is, generally by nature, high C?

2) There are rarely clear deadlines for our internal deliverables - the message will often come down 'I want x' or 'do y' or 'update z' but when asked 'when by' it's always 'fit in with your priorities'.  External customers know (well, sometimes) when they need things by/

3) We often get forced to slip our internal deliverables for external deliverables - as our work generally doesn't result in physical 'visible' work - it results in us maintaining compliance to enable others to do physicial work.

4) The team generally just is really bad at close out of projects because things have generally dragged out so long, it becomes laborious and they want to get onto fresh things.

Any suggestions how to help, or even start would be most gratefully received!

 

thanks

Fitch.

Submitted by Jeffery Bock on Tuesday August 3rd, 2010 9:30 am

This is probably due to a lack of focus by management and measurement of progress. I doubt it is primarily down to a lack of time.
Often when I am working on a high-priority "primary" project there is some lag time in-between smaller milestones on that project. I will press and make progress on lower-priority initiatives during that down time if I know that those initiatives are important and being monitored/measured. However, if there is no feedback on progress on those lower priority items and if no one is asking me me consistently when they will get done then I am more likely to spend my time on something else.
Actionable advice - Ask regularly about progress on those secondary projects. Make it clear that while they are secondary to the external projects, they are still important and you expect to see results. You will probably hear excuses and maybe some complaints, but I bet people will start to fit the work in with increased frequency.
 
-JIB

Submitted by Geoff Lind on Tuesday August 3rd, 2010 9:43 am

You're the team manager - how does your performance get measured? if deadlines are missed on internal deliverables do you feel the pain? Also, how do you in turn measure the folks in your team - do they have any goals around internal deliverables?
This is all really getting at the question "how important are the internal deliverables?" Seems to me that the importance of this work needs to be challenged.  Speak with your management and other vested parties re the internal deliverables and gauge the level of importance.  Who shouts if a deadline is missed on one of these internal deliverables?
If they are important, internal deliverables should be baked into your and your team members' objectives, and followed up by you as manager on a regular basis.  The work on the internal deliverables will also need to be explained to 'external customers', and taken into account with scheduling of work etc.  If the expectation is that you meet the deadlines for both internal deliverables and the external ones, then you may need to consider how realistic the deadlines are, or alternatively - resourcing - have you got the right resourcing (right people or right numbers of resources) to achieve this? Additionally, treat the process for internal deadlines in a similar way to external ones ie make sure you have good requirements, clear deadlines etc. etc.
On the other hand, if internal deliverables are not important and the expectation is just to complete them on a best efforts basis, then not sure if you have an issue...
 

Submitted by J b on Monday August 9th, 2010 3:52 am

Thanks Guys.
 
I do ask for status weekly, it's just tough to insist on progress when there's external deliverables that are being shouted for by customers.  Maybe I need to just insist on 'more' from the team - I often take the crap for non-delivery due to me not wanting to push them - there doesn't seem to be much of an ability to switch from task to task/work on multiple streams readily.
It's a toughie because the internal deliverables are important - as in legal compliance - but the scope/deliverable is always pretty vague when it's handed down from 'above' so either doesn't get started or is long-winded due to expectations not being clear.  I don't get much other than 'do this, do that' and - maybe I need to ask for more on this? As well as 'when do you need this by?'
 
Fitch.

Submitted by Michael Mann on Thursday August 12th, 2010 6:29 pm

Fitch,
The first thing you might want to look into... is a little too much 'S' coming out in your behavior?  Phrases like "tough to insist" and "not wanting to push them" sound to me like you might want to do a little introspection.  You could listen to the Downfall of A High S podcast, or watch the movie Bridge on the River Kwai and pay attention to Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guiness).
My advice would be to apply a deadline and anything else that's required to frame the request into an accomplishment that gets accomplished.  You're the boss of your directs, so it's ok for you to add rules if you want to.  If your boss says "Do this." and won't give you a direct answer to "When would you like that done by?" then make up a date you think is reasonable and lead your staff to deliver it on time.  That means you'll have to ask them to accomplish more.  They may have to think up ways to become more productive.  The cool thing is that some of your people will step up to the task, and actually become more productive.
One more thing, if you decide to take this advice... measure how long it takes them to do whatever you're asking them to do today.  Once you have them consistently delivering on an improved schedule this will become an accomplishment on your resume!
--Michael