I’m really pleased to offer this guest post by Francis Hooke, the founder, owner and Managing Director of Quality Project Delivery Ltd. I hope you enjoy Francis’ post which originally appeared in August 2013, on the Quality Project Delivery blog.

Thanks to Francis for his permission to reprint.

The Hare and the Tortoise

I’m sure many of you will remember the story of The Hare and the Tortoise from your childhood, or perhaps you’ve read the story more recently to children of your own. It goes something like this.

One day in the animal kingdom the hare was bragging about how fast he could run. He claimed that he was the fastest runner and that no one could beat him. Eventually the tortoise had had enough of the over-confident hare and decided to challenge him to a race. The hare laughed, “Ha, there’s no one who could beat me, let alone a tortoise!” However, the tortoise was quietly confident that he could win the race.

Later that day the hare and the tortoise were stood at the start line. The other animals counted down and the hare raced off leaving the tortoise in a cloud of dust! The tortoise took his first few methodical steps.

As the hare was racing along he saw the beautiful green grass in the meadows. He looked over his shoulder. The tortoise was nowhere to be seen. “A quick nibble on that lovely fresh grass won’t hurt”, he thought to himself. The grass was juicy and tasty. Then in the next field the hare spotted some lettuce ready to be picked and eaten. The hare looked for the tortoise, but again, he was nowhere to be seen. The hare hopped over the fence into the next field and feasted on the lettuce. It was delicious! Eventually his tummy was full to bursting. The hare sat down by the side of the field, and before he knew it he had drifted off into a lovely afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, the tortoise had been making steady progress. When he reached the lettuce field the tortoise tiptoed past the snoring hare. The tortoise smiled as he saw all the discarded lettuce roots and the nibbled lettuce leaves. He carried on down the road and left the sleeping hare behind.

Later that afternoon the hare awoke. In a jolt he remembered he was in a race. He squinted, and in the distance he could see the tortoise near the finish line. “Oh no!” he screamed. In a panic the hare ran as fast as he possibly could. But it was all in vain because the tortoise crossed the finish line moments before him.

The hare learned a valuable lesson that day.

This story was written by Aesop who was an ancient Greek storyteller. He lived from about 620-564 BC. His stories have clearly stood the test of time. This is one of many stories that he wrote, that are collectively know as Aesop’s Fables.

So why am I sharing this old story on a project management blog? Well, I think this story teaches us something important about how we run projects today. Let me explain what I mean.

Pressure to Deliver

Regardless of whether your project is delivering some software, a building or launching a business it will go through a lifecyle. It will start with preparation activities such as the business case and terms of reference. The end product will need designing, then building, testing and finally implementing.

In today’s economic climate many organisations are more focused on their costs than they have been in a long time. Because projects cost money to run project managers are under pressure to complete the project sooner rather than later.

Pressure to deliver quickly can also come from other quarters too. For example, in the wake of the financial crisis the banking industry is under greater regulator scrutiny than ever before, which brings non-negotiable regulator-imposed deadlines.

For the project manager themselves, early delivery is a project management Holy Grail and one way of creating a case for more pay and/or promotion. Many project managers won’t have had a pay rise or bonus for years, despite continual increases in the cost of living.

There are a myriad of reasons why a pressure to deliver exists. These are just a few examples to demonstrate the pressure that project managers feel.

The Temptation to Show Early Progress

A desire for progress is a good thing. A desire to show progress is perhaps less healthy.

With these two sentences I’m trying to draw a distinction between a project manager who wants to drive a project forward, and a project manager who is painting a certain picture to senior management.

I recognise the real world isn’t as black and white as this, and in reality project managers do have to use a certain amount of poetic licence. However, it’s a licence that I believe has to be used very carefully.

In the earlier stages of the project lifecycle it can be easier to show progress that doesn’t exist. For example, imagine a construction project. During the preparation and design stages it is relatively easy for a project manager to claim that his team have consulted all their stakeholders about the proposed development, when in reality not everyone has been spoken to. Later in the project it is more difficult to claim that build work is complete if the roof is missing. The unfinished work is more obvious and people are more informed about the project.

My argument is therefore:

Project managers are under pressure to deliver quickly.
Some project managers may exaggerate their early progress to senior management.
In the earlier stages of the project lifecycle it is easier to get away with exaggerating progress than in later stages.

Shaky Foundations

The final part of my argument is that whilst it can be both particularly tempting and particularly easy to show early progress… it can also be particularly damaging.

The earlier stages of the project lifecycle lay the foundations for the later stages. The earlier stages address really fundamental questions such as what is the business case for the project, how should we run the project, and what are the requirements for the software, building, aeroplane, etc.?

If these fundamental questions are not answered they will come back to haunt us later on. If the foundations are rubbish the building will fall over – literally and metaphorically.

I believe it is far better to move through the project methodically, getting the foundations right so the end product is fit for purpose first time around.

Back to The Hare and The Tortoise

In Aesop’s fable the hare dashes off and becomes distracted from his goal of winning the race. The tortoise wins the race by making consistent and methodical progress.

I believe that in project management, if we race through the early stages we will eventually become distracted. If we don’t gather requirements properly we will be distracted when our developer doesn’t understand what needs to be developed and / or builds the wrong thing. When a tester tries to test the product they find it simply isn’t fit for purpose and we have to make expensive, eleventh hour changes. Our project team become frustrated and demotivated, and start saying “we told you so.”

If we follow the tortoise’s example I believe we will get to the finish line faster than if we dash off at the start and inevitably become distracted.

It’s Not That Easy In a Commercial Environment

Agreed. If it were easy everyone would be a great project manager. In reality great project managers are hard to find.

It takes a lot of strength to avoid the temptation to claim early progress, especially if you’re a project manager with rewards or bonuses for completing the earlier stages of a project.

In the same way as the tortoise stood up to the hare, project managers will also need to stand up to their senior managers. Project managers need to be able to explain these principles to their senior managers to get support for taking a more ‘tortoise like’ approach during the earlier stages of a project. That’s a really tough thing to do, and perhaps I’ll write about communicating with bosses at a later date. This calls for honesty and strength from the project manager to do the right thing at a very difficult time.

On My Next Blog…

We live in a commercial reality and projects have to get delivered. There’s a balance that must be struck between delivery (the hare) and quality (the tortoise). Quality Project Delivery Ltd has been launched to help clients find that optimum balance.

What Do You Think?

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and it has given you something to think about.

Did you enjoy it? Do you agree with my arguments? Do you disagree with me? Do you have anything to add or any experiences to share?

Whatever you think, follow me, leave a comment or get in touch. I’m very interested to hear!

Thanks for reading.

Francis Hooke MAPM is the founder, owner and Managing Director of Quality Project Delivery Ltd. He registered the company in July 2013.

Francis launched Quality Project Delivery for two reasons. Firstly, he grew uncomfortable with some short-termist behaviour in the financial services industry that benefited a minority of people at the expense of the majority of people. Secondly, Francis saw the amazing results that can be achieved through business best practice, and he wanted to share that expertise with other industries who could benefit.

Francis has spent a decade working in financial services and technology. Half of this has been spent in RBS’s investment bank. In total Francis has managed over £18M of project spend and managed project teams of up to 100 people. Francis has successfully project managed in some of the highest profile change programmes in the investment bank, including the largest financial services merger in history. His experience comes from one of the most rapidly changing industry sectors and an organisation with particularly high levels of political complexity.

Francis is also a full member of the Association for Project Management. He is also a PRINCE2 practitioner.

Francis would be delighted to connect directly with website visitors via any of the following channels. Click the buttons to connect.