The WOW factor

Some of the important insights gained in this column have come together through the eyes of Tom Peters, particularly in a recent article in Fast Company, entitled "The WOW Project". As usual I include some of my own opinions and continue to look forward to your views and feedback.

This is certainly not the first time I have thought and worried about this as it is constantly on our minds, mine and thousands of you out there. The issue is: What is the radical change that needs to take place to organise work in the new world? It is clear that traditional structures don`t deliver.

The world is driven around fast, fast, fast delivery and quick gratification, and value has to be demonstrated constantly.

The article says more than 90% of White Collar jobs are in jeopardy today. We have realised strongly that the very nature of work has and will change, and that there is a continuous pressure to "add value". The world is driven around fast, fast, fast delivery and quick gratification, and value has to be demonstrated constantly.

Almost naturally when one then looks at what is happening in companies the idea surfaces that it is becoming increasingly about "projects". With that as an idea I quickly analysed my activities over the past few weeks to test the validity of that idea, and low and behold it works. A few examples: View the strategic planning process in your organisation as a project and suddenly it gets a new life. What about an acquisition - turn it into more than a series of steps but rather a project which has been well conceived, sold and executed. Or what about a customer event, the monthly management reporting or recruitment, in fact the list is endless. We clearly have to think a bit differently about the idea of projects.

Once we make this little shift to the project idea, the power of projects can be unleashed. A project is a wonderful opportunity to handpick the very best team to work together. It sets us free from organisational structures and allows the project leader (champion) to draw from anywhere in the company. Years ago I met a firm that organised itself around a concept it called "swarming" which is essentially the same thing. It is based on people pulling together around a passionate leader to deliver a particular project. The swarm forms and then disbands as the next swarm forms. I loved it then and I love it now. Peters puts it brilliantly when he says: "When it comes to projects, draft people as if you were a GM and invest as if you were a venture capitalist."

A key insight those many years ago was that many important projects form because an individual has seen an opportunity to make a difference and has had the passion to pursue it. Not all important projects are conceived in the boardroom or even financed in a major way in the early stages.

Project work is the way in which to apply the best talent in the organisation continuously. It is the ultimate empowerment programme. It allows individuals to apply themselves seriously on work that matters, on work that is visible and will add value. It is also the way in which talented people get to work on things that they are passionate about. It stands away from structure and politics and transcends organisational boundaries. It allows important work to get done, more quickly and is much more conducive to innovation.

There are, however, some fundamental differences between the way in which we are thinking of projects here and the traditional project management that we are familiar with (there are also some very important similarities, strengths and disciplines which apply).

In his article Peters introduces the idea of "WOW Projects" and this is a key issue. How to not only execute projects flawlessly but also to deliver the "WOW" factor.

There are four important stages to this: finding and creating a great project, selling it, executing it and handing it off.

Finding and creating a great project requires individual insight into what might make a difference. The truth about great projects is that they are not only the highly visible, very sexy, hugely financed projects, but also those where fairly mundane work is approached creatively and turned into great value for the organisation. It requires absolute passion from the leader, whatever the project, however boring it looks from the outside the project team has to see the potential for "WOW". The key is that is has to be work that matters to the organisation.

Selling the project has to be one of the most neglected aspects of projects anywhere. I have been evangelising this for a long time. Projects don`t become great projects because we keep them a secret. Not everyone in the organisation will immediately see the potential and real value as it materialises. We need to sell. This means selling to the team that you want to co-opt onto the projects, selling to the communities that will benefit from the project, selling to the sponsors of the project; in fact continuously selling.

Project execution is a pretty well defined domain, although there are some refinements that are important. In earlier columns I pointed to the need for finding smaller increments of delivery and delivering those increments more rapidly. This is crucial in most project work in the new world. There needs to be a constant flow of delivery and communication. This creates the climate for feedback and improvement. The lifeline of projects is timing and delivery. Once committed the timeline of the project becomes crucial. It needs to be managed daily, hourly, constantly. The whole point is to get it done.

Don 't forget though that real "WOW" projects run on passion and emotion. Keep it fun, celebrate the milestones, keep on evangelising and selling.

Finally handing off the project is one of the hardest things to do. The work is done, it is time to move on to the next project. This is how we will get important work done in the future.