What is extreme project management?

When the project defies accepted parameters, it may be time to employ extreme project management, Brian Wernham explains.

Some kinds of project are difficult to estimate. The technology involved may be too new to be sure of. There may be very different options in terms of implementation. Sometimes, the stakeholders do not know what they really want. In these circumstances, having a five-year Gantt chart of detailed activities is not just a waste of time, it can hamper innovation and flexibility.

So, why not plan on a micro-scale – just as far ahead as you can be sure of? Your plan might be for a week, a day or even just an hour. Welcome to the world of extreme project management (XPM).

If you can’t predict the future, don’t plan it in detail

Plan only the next step of work. Everything further into the future is ‘fantasy planning’ in XPM terms. When you are working on an innovation project, you should embrace and enjoy the unexpected – it can often reveal a shortcut forward that no one would have expected.

If your project has not changed, be afraid – very afraid

Throw out the risk register. An XPM project is so full of risk that the only effective countermeasure is to concentrate on ‘opportunities’. Focus on the opportunities that explore the unknown and that will give near-instant feedback as to any of the myriad options that your project is exploring.

A day is a long time

The New Zealand government instituted a disaster compensation system within three days of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The team responsible for the software used an XPM approach to visually track its work on a continual basis. Releases of working software were scheduled hourly. The system paid out more than NZ$200m and ensured economic continuity in the face of a natural disaster.

The five-step XPM Life cycle: visionate, speculate, innovate, re-evaluate and disseminate

I am not sure that ‘visionate’ is in the Oxford English Dictionary, but the idea is that the first step in each cycle of work (say, in 24 hours) is to espouse a vision of success for that day. The extreme project manager will draw upon the experts in the team to speculate as to possible ways to achieve that day’s vision. These speculations are then tested by the team’s action to innovate solutions. Many will fail. That isn’t a problem in XPM. In fact, if you do not fail often and frequently, your team is probably not trying hard enough. The learning comes through knowing what does not work, and from the occasional, often unexpected, breakthrough.

Finally, one must put a ‘time box’ on activity towards the end of the cycle to allow time to re-evaluate the work that day, and to disseminate the learning throughout the team and to stakeholders.

 Further reading: Doug DeCarlo, eXtreme Project Management, Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley (2004)

Brian Wernham is a main APM board member and ‘hands on’ programme management consultant. His book, Agile Project Management for Government, is published by Maitland & Strong.