Zachary is VP of Product Development for Acme Software, Inc.

He leads a team of 45 project managers, business analysts and programmers that is notorious -- for missing delivery dates and for delivering quality-challenged products.

Acme's CEO told Zachary at the end of last year that he had to improve the timeliness of his department's work, so he implemented a Performance Management Process. Under the new plan, the Senior team selected the new product introductions and set a top-level timetable for delivery. Zachary passed that on to his project managers and asked them to translate it into individual goals for each team member. Every team member received clearly specified goals, complete with specifications and deadlines.

Zachary requested monthly status reports, so that he could stay on top of the situation.  As the year progressed, a disturbing trend was revealed.  The reports showed the projects progressing according to schedule, but after three quarters, the on-time delivery rate was unchanged (at a dismal 60%) and quality issues persisted.

No one person or issue was the problem - the delays were across the team and frequently beyond the control of the team.

The CEO wanted heads to roll; Zachary knew that his head would likely be first.

Zachary devoted himself to resolving this problem - he looked at processes, reports, even bringing in additional contract personnel.

And he made a pivotal discovery -- he was the only person who was actually worried about missing deadlines. Somehow, the team had received the message that the deadlines weren't real. They did their work, completed the reports, but did nothing to actively move the projects forward to meet the deadlines.

After several sleepless nights, Zachary realized three things:

• His team simply wasn't concerned with the success of the department
• He had to stop managing the work, and start managing the people
• He still didn't understand the root cause for the delays

He needed to learn the truth from his staff, and he needed help from someone who was trained to communicate.

• He hired a facilitator to administer a customized, anonymous survey of his team
• He told his team he needed the truth, and provided free movie passes for every team member who completed the survey
• He asked the facilitator to conduct in-depth interviews with representatives from each function on the team

The results were startling and clear:

• Senior Management was considered too out of touch with the processes to establish realistic deadlines
• The team believed it had been set up for failure

And the root cause of the project delays?  The Programming and Quality Assurance staff were not dedicated to new product development - they were charged with doing maintenance on existing products. So Zachary's team members were never in control of their resources and delivery schedule. 

It took asking the question to get this critical feedback. As is typical of technical professionals, they did their best, but never expressed their opinions.  It was clear that the lack of personal contact and face-to-face discussion had reduced their sense of loyalty to both Zachary and Acme.

Zachary overhauled the goal setting process for the fourth quarter. The Senior team reprioritized the remaining projects.  Zachary’s team used a facilitator to complete a rigorous project planning process that identified actions, time frames, available resources and potential obstacles to completion.  Zachary was part of every session, listening and asking questions of the team. 

Zachary's team reduced the number of projects from 20 to 16, a 20% reduction.  Their rate of completion increased from 60 to 85%.  They completed 14 projects (instead of 12) in the fourth quarter, a 17% improvement over their previous record. 

Zachary's team's level of engagement as measured by a follow-up survey showing their satisfaction with leadership increased from 62% positive to 78% positive.  There is still work to be done, but Zachary and his team are on the road to success.

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