Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure Review

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Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure ReviewIt is almost certain that an experienced Project Manager has, at one time or another, run up against a project that is over-budget, running late, or otherwise out of control...a project that is "in the red." Rescue the Problem Project by Todd Williams presents methods for recovering red projects, reminds us that recovery is itself a project and provides insights into keeping projects out of the red in the first place.
The book presents suggestions and prescriptions based on the author's 25 year experience as a "Senior Audit and Recovery Specialist" and each chapter is peppered with very readable, brief case studies highlighting examples of his applying the techniques he describes. While there are a few examples that come off as a bit self-aggrandizing all are immensely helpful in understanding how and why the techniques work which provides a degree of credibility lacking in many business books.
A seasoned Project Manager will recognize their own experience as the author notes that poor scope definition, lack of executive leadership, and ineffective change management are barriers to project recovery (and most likely contributed to problems in the first place). And no PM should be surprised at the need to perform an audit and engage with stakeholders to collect data and understand the current and desired states. However the author follows his own prescriptions providing specificity in his examples of how each of these is often done wrong and how to do them right.
It may be unsettling to some PM's to read the suggestion that a specialized, external "Recovery Manager" rather than the Project Manager him or herself is the best person to perform the audit and analysis. The chief argument in favor of this approach is that "An objective view is critical to a proper audit and reducing any preconceptions of a solution." The book notes the potential for resistance to this notion but it seems a reasonable approach and calls to mind the frequently cited Einstein quote that "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."

The audit is the second of the five steps in the recovery process with the first being the problem realized and the remaining three being analyze data, negotiate solutions, and execute the new plan. The "how to" of each step is well described and the book's companion website provides templates and spreadsheets to assist in rescuing your own projects should your organization decline to hire a recovery manager. Another of the recurring themes of the author's method is to start performing root-cause analysis early and to respond to the findings quickly, "This is a distinguishing feature of my approach; other approaches often omit root-cause analysis or leave it for the end of the process." The reason for this is straightforward...until the root causes are found and mitigated; they are still able to exert the same kind of pressure on the project that put it in the red in the first place.
Identifying and recovering from project failure are not the only goals of the book; prevention is an essential theme to which the last 40 pages are dedicated and again the author's experience proves valuable as he provides details for improvement in, and specific examples of the areas of leadership, team management, risk and handling change. Chapters 10 through 13 are not officially part of the section on prevention but clearly could be. These chapters provide some of the best primers on and comparisons of classical, agile and critical chain methodologies that I've read and I couldn't agree more that when it comes to methodology, "This philosophy--one size fits all--really fits no project." The idea is to treat methodologies as tools in the bag where the marrying of the right methodology to the particular project can go quite a long way toward avoiding problems.
While many of the 261 pages of Rescue the Problem Project present ideas with which an experienced Project Manager is likely familiar, there is much to gain in the detailed examples and the way in which the ideas are presented. New PM's (those who have some education or experience in the field) will certainly benefit as they learn from the author's advice and experience how to prevent projects from going into the red.
Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure OverviewWhen budgets are dwindling, deadlines passing, and tempers flaring, the usual response is to browbeat the project team and point fingers of blame. Not helpful. For these situations, what is needed is an objective process for accurately assessing what is wrong and a clear plan of action for fixing the problem. "Rescue the Problem Project" provides project managers, executives, and customers with the answers they require. Turnaround specialist Todd Williams has worked with dozens of companies in multiple industries resuscitating failing projects. In this new book, he reveals an in-depth, start-to-finish process that includes: techniques for identifying the root causes of the trouble; steps for putting projects back on track audit the project, analyze the data, negotiate the solution, and execute the new plan; nearly 70 real-world examples of what works, what doesn't, and why; and, guidelines for avoiding problems in subsequent projects. Many books explain how to run a project, but only this one shows how to bring it back from the brink of disaster. And with 65 per cent of projects failing to meet goals and 25 per cent cancelled outright, that's essential information.

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