Projecting success: Get more value out of your law firm's IT investments

It may seem obvious, but project management is important to the success of all new technology investments. There are many different resources to help us to get things done.

So, why is it that we continue to see negative statistics associated with project management?

Two of the most concerning facts I found whilst conducting research for this article are:

1. the average failure rate of projects is between 30 and 70 per cent;¹ and

2. only 2.5 per cent of companies complete 100 per cent of their projects.²

As we all know, there are 'lies, damn lies and statistics'. While the two above make for interesting reading in isolation, what happens when you apply those statistics to your own firm? To illustrate, let's take the case of an imaginary firm, Acme Law.

Looking at the statistics highlighted above, if Acme Law invests £1m each year on new programmes and projects, it is potentially risking between £300,000 and £700,000 on initiatives that have no chance of success. Even worse, the projects that fail don't just consume budgets - they also divert resources away from other important areas. Based on this scenario, it is easy to see how negative spirals can start to form in organisations where staff morale takes a huge hit as despondency and change fatigue sets in.

Of course, to compound the problem, projects are not always developed singularly. Many law firms will have at least six support divisions and, if each division is estimated to deliver one project per quarter, then that is 24 projects a year. That would result in a project being delivered every two weeks within the firm. Imagine how that impacts on those earlier statistics.

We are all acutely aware that law firms only have a finite number of resources to deliver projects. So the question is, how can we improve on our delivery and the success rate?

Allow me to share some experiences which may provide you with some insights in order to help you make changes.

Changing approaches

Communication is vital to the success of any project. To improve the communication between project delivery teams and our wider firm, we reviewed the communication channels and media that were being employed. The review highlighted a number of challenges:

1. use of different 'language'; and

2. flow of information from the project team to the wider firm, i.e. communicating the right message to the right individuals at the right time.

Once these issues had been identified, we set about making changes to address them.

One example was the need to create similarities between a project and a legal matter in terms of the adopted language, methodologies, principles and structure. We identified areas where we could align the language used between project teams and other staff in order to build a common foundation.

As a result, we found that one of the key areas we could address which required a minimum effort or resources was to rename and restructure the project initiation document (PID). A PID will typically include all of the necessary section documents and plans to successfully deliver a project. However, the term 'project initiation' was not one that was particularly familiar to, or featured within, the day-to-day vernacular of our lawyers.

In a legal environment, the client engagement letter would include a similar collection of information as the PID. So, to break down a potential barrier to successful cross-departmental communication, we simply changed the name of the PID to a more widely-recognised descriptor - the project engagement letter (PEL).

Although it may appear to be little more than semantics, the change of name enabled all of our departments to recognise the purpose of the document and the expectations arising from it. The PEL (as with its predecessor) includes elements that are familiar to the recipient and requires successful completion of the project.

Included in a PEL are the following fields:

• project goal - provide a SMART (specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time bound) overview of the project;

• primary scope - state exactly what has to be achieved as part of this project;

• secondary scope - state what else might be achieved as part of this project;

• out of scope - for the avoidance of doubt, the following are out of the scope of this project;

• project organisation - identify the roles and responsibilities in the project;

• success criteria - provide measureable success criteria;

• communication - define the communication channels for the project;

• constraints - list anything that will impact on the success of the project;

• risks - list anything that might impact on the success of the project;

• timescales - provide realistic timescales for the project; and

• costs - link back to the business case.

The PEL forms a contract between the delivery team and the recipients of the project, where each party has responsibilities to ensure that any project is embedded into the firm and all of the benefits are realised.

Ensuring success

Think how many projects have been delivered but then are metaphorically 'put on the shelf'. To help avoid this, ensure all participants have a clear understanding of what success is in the context of the project (i.e. what is required by the project delivery team and the recipients). Success should not simply be the delivery of the product, but should look beyond that (i.e. the impact of the product on the firm or workforce). Many technologists view success as the 'go live' date of the technology, whereas the business views success as when the benefits of working more effectively and efficiently are realised.

The benefits of a project will only be felt if the project is taken to completion - this can be many months after the 'go live'. Therefore, ensure you visit the original success criteria and, although there may have been changes to it as the project has developed, it will still provide a good benchmark, especially if the success criteria were well thought out at the beginning.

So, how can project teams enhance their communication during delivery? An important element of any project is the communication plan. A communication plan considers the flow of information from the project-delivering team to all recipients. There is no 'standard' communication plan, as each one needs to consider the recipient, have a clear purpose and be alert to the level of awareness.

A delivery team that is living and breathing a project, will have a much greater level of enthusiasm, awareness and interest in the project and in any associated communication. Do not leave your recipients behind - provide background information and explain new concepts, terminology and procedures carefully. The use of email needs consideration - we all receive too many emails, so consider if your message can be delivered in a different way to capture greater interest?

You could elevate your firm to the top three per cent of businesses simply by finishing all of the projects you initiate. It sounds easy, but how can you make sure this happens in practice? A rigorous approach to your project portfolio is a good start. Only start projects you know you can finish or that have the right level of buy-in from all potential participants - especially senior management.

A common mistake is to start work too soon, to get the project off the ground as quickly as possible. Of course you want to capitalise on everyone's enthusiasm at the beginning, but starting too soon can prove to be a false economy. Would you be as eager to get on a plane where the required safety checks had been bypassed? Equally, ask why it is acceptable to bypass the checks and balances associated with starting your own project.

At this crucial scoping stage, ask if the project has been fully analysed. This should include not just the hard elements of the project (i.e. quality of the product being delivered), but have an understanding of all of the soft elements of the project - the social and political implications, for example. To illustrate, here are some questions that may require attention:

1. Does this project have the required sponsorship to succeed?

2. How will my staff respond to the required change to realise the benefits?

3. What processes need to be stopped so that new ones will be embraced?

4. Which 'empires' or 'ivory towers' need to be removed or restructured to allow the project to flourish?

5. What governance is required to make the project stick?

The first question in that list is possibly the most important you can ask. If this project does not have the required level of sponsorship from the firm, then it has a higher than average chance of failure.

In order to get sponsorship, talk to the senior individuals concerned. Make sure they understand the relationship between the success of the project and the firm's overall aims and objectives. Do not cut corners; continue with this effort until either you have the required sponsorship or consider terminating the project altogether. It is better to call a halt at the early stages before precious time and resources have been invested in a potentially lost cause.

Better outcomes

Delivering programmes or projects into a firm is hard work and takes tenacity. But, there are ways to give each project a better chance of success (see box).

 

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How to avoid the common causes of project failure

1. Do not start a programme or project without the correct level of sponsorship

2. Know your starting point.

3. Agree the scope before the project commences.

4. Stick to the agree scope. Do not be tempted to keep adding to the scope as your knowledge and enthusiasm grows. Remember the project team is consistently moving forwards, which increases the gap in knowledge between the delivery team and its recipients. Furthermore, it is okay to change the scope if it was not right or external factors have changed, but make sure you validate any major changes.

5. Communicate – have a thorough plan which gives careful consideration to the recipients. Make sure every communication has a clear objective.

6. Ensure every success criteria is measureable. Some criteria might be hard to measure, but they still need to be done.

7. Know your staff and give careful consideration to who needs to be on the project team.

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If you do push ahead and a successful outcome is achieved, then it is also important that you communicate that success. Let's not forget the need for celebration and the associated 'feel good factor' that ripples through a firm after completion of a successful project. It will also provide the incentive and morale boost to see the other projects through to completion, and be another advantage when you sit down with colleagues to talk about your next 'big idea'.

References

1. See 'Combatting IT failure rates through IT program executive sponsorship', Cecily Macdougall, Project Management Institute, 2014

2. See 'The Cost of Bad Project Management', Benoit Hardy-Vallee, Gallup Business Journal, February 2012