JOHNSON’S THREE RULES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Use as the basis for the project team’s reporting procedures.
Kelly Johnson famously devised 14 Rules and Practises for project work at the aircraft manufacturers Lockheed Martin. Many of these related to the working practices of the company, but contained within the list were three rules that have come to be seen as essential to the effective implementation of any change project in the public or private sectors.
JOHNSON’S THREE RULES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Rule 1: The number of people employed on the project must be kept to the minimum. The more the people the more complex communication and control become.
Rule 2: Meetings must be kept to a minimum. Johnsons suggests a weekly team meeting to review progress and consider if any changes to the project are required and a monthly meeting between the project manager and project sponsors. Further meetings, he argued, were counterproductive and increased admin.
Rule 3: Only two regular reports should be produced. Weekly the project team should receive a report detailing progress to date against plan. Monthly, the sponsors should receive a copy of the most up to date progress report and a detailed project finance report. Any additional reports take up time which can be better spent working on the project.
HOW TO USE IT
- Keep your team small and manageable. This will aid communication and clarity of purpose within the group. In addition team spirit and group identity are established more quickly in small teams.
- Once the project is up and running and it looks like it’s going to be a success you’ll be amazed how many glory hunters want to jump on the bandwagon. Repel all boarders.
- Hold a single short progress meeting with the project team each Friday afternoon or Monday morning. Use the meeting to monitor progress against plan and to prioritise the next week’s work.
- Learn to say ‘NO’. Every time you agree to a change in the programme of work you reduce your chances of meeting the deadline.
- At the weekly progress meeting reject all requests for changes or enhancements to the project unless they are absolutely essential. Record all rejected suggestions as issues to be dealt with in Phase Two of the project.
- At the end of the month table a budget/actual report at the team meeting and take corrective action required.
- At the end of each team meeting list the ‘must achieve targets’ for the following week using SMART Targets (see Theory 97).
- At the monthly sponsors meeting present the latest progress report and a finance report. The finance report should compare the spending to date against budget and provide details of committed, but not yet incurred, expenditure and a forecast of total cost to the end of the project.
- Other than providing your sponsors with the information they require your main task at these meetings will be to say ‘NO’ to suggestions for how the project could be improved. Stick to your guns. Take on board and record all suggestions but make it clear that unless the suggestion can be shown to make achievement of the original aim easier/quicker it will have to wait until Phase Two (see Theory 91).
- Remember, if you say yes to changes and the project fails to meet its deadline it will be you who carries the can.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
- How assertive am I? Do I need to say NO more often?
- At sponsors’ meetings who can I rely on for support?