4/19/2021 Mastering the Art of Innovation in Project Management | Business Improvement Architects

Mastering the Art of Innovation in

Project Management

Mastering the Art of Innovation in

Project Management

 October 15, 2014  Michael Stanleigh  Innovation

Projects and Programs are managed in a world of certainty.

Innovation is managed in a world of uncertainty. However, there are
opportunities to combine these into the creation of new products and
services for your customers. To do this we must understand how to

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create projects and programs that integrate the uncertainty with the
certainty.

Why Aren’t We More Creative?

While many of us may understand the need to think more creatively in
the management of our projects we just can’t find the time. Why is this?
There are three main reasons:

We’re off track—so we focus on the technical aspects of our project –

under the illusion that the problems we’re encountering must be
technical.
Our methodology is rigid–we are told to go through the stages and
steps within our project management methodology and not to stray
away from it. We are assured this is designed to create success but it
is too rigid.
It’s not the PMI approach–even though we know, fundamentally,
there is no such thing as managing a project by following the PMBOK
(because it doesn’t provide a process – only terms and definitions);
we remain constrained in how we will manage our project.

The Project Manager’s Dilemma

How can we be creative in a structured (project) environment and how
can we be more innovative? Creative people always say they can’t be
structured and project people say they must have structure. Can these
two groups really co-exist? Yes, they can, but it’s time to throw out these
pre-conceived notions. Rather, we must identify where and how we can
be more creative in our projects. We don’t need to throw out our
structure and processes. Rather, we need to understand how to be
creative within them.

The Triple Constraints

As project managers we often throw up the Triple Constraints; scope, time
and cost. We usually ask our Sponsor, “What is most important to you? Is
it to complete the project fast, good or cheap?” We think this is a
reasonable question; after all, how can we possibly deliver all of them?
Then we explain that there needs to be “trade-offs” between time, cost
and scope. After all, how can we deliver all of them? Based on our
experience it doesn’t seem possible. But we rarely produce any data to
support this discussion. It’s just our feeling (based on our experience of
course) but without any data to back it up. So the Sponsor patiently
listens.

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If I were the Sponsor, this is how I’d respond back to you, “Thank you for
raising these concerns. I’m glad I’ve given you an opportunity to vent
your frustrations. I hope you feel better. Now go and complete the
project.”

The current thinking around these Triple Constraints is that it is no longer

a model that is referenced. Review the PMBOK Guide ® – 4th Edition and
the reference to it stopped there. In 1.3 – What is Project Management?
The guidelines states that “managing a project” typically includes:

Balancing the competing project constraints including, but not

limited to:
Scope, Quality, Schedule, Budget, Resources, Risk

So, the bottom line is that that we must become more comfortable with
integrating the certainty with the uncertainty. Our Sponsors expect us to
figure it out. We must be able to manage within these constraints. This is
where the application of innovation in our projects becomes important.

There is a certain amount of creativity inherent in all of us. It just might

take a little work to draw it out. So let’s talk about what makes a project
manager and team innovative and how you can apply more creativity to
your projects.

Innovation and Creativity

We often use the words “creativity” and “innovation” interchangeably but
we shouldn’t. Creativity is about individuals coming up with ideas.
Innovation is about “bringing ideas to life.” For example we use creativity
in our project teams to come up with the ideas. Then we use innovation to
move these ideas from vision to reality.

Albert Einstein, the German born physicist who developed the Theory of
Relativity, believed that a requirement for innovation is a strong culture
of asking questions rather than delivering answers. He taught:

Creativity begins with asking questions…

Innovation happens when you find answers…
More questions, better answer
No questions, no answer
The important thing – never stop questioning

Stephanie Kwolek, an American chemist who invented Kevlar believed

that another requirement for innovation is to move beyond the status
quo. He said, “A large part of innovation is welcoming difference. You
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have to be open to the unusual and understand that difference is often

positive, not negative. A lot of people see something unusual and assume
that it’s wrong. Innovation is the ability to see something unusual and
recognize that the answer may lie in its difference.”

The lessons from these two wise scientists are clear: always question what
we do and challenge the status quo.

Understanding Innovation
Innovation is not the result of some lonely genius inventor hiding in a
dark corner, coming up with great ideas. Nor is it just about ideas or
about individuality in thinking. Innovation is about involving people who
will challenge the status quo.

Innovation is a collaborative process; where people in many fields

contribute to the implementation of new ideas. This occurs throughout
the execution of a project.

Howard Gardner is an American developmental psychologist and a

professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard University’s
Graduate School of Education. He believes that creative individuals are
too often ostracized by society and their ideas are often overlooked. He
has said, “Most cultures throughout human history have not liked
creative individuals. They ignore them or they kill them.”

This is an important thing to be aware of if we wish to be innovative in

the managing of projects. How well do we react to the ideas and
suggestions of our team? Do we tend to undermine them? I believe we do.
Too often we either evaluate or criticize a team member’s suggestions or
come up with other ways to identify “rational” reasons why they’re not
acceptable at this time. Essentially, we kill potential ideas before they’ve
had a chance to see the light of day. This is contrary to innovation. So,
while we may know that innovation is collaborative, somehow we
manage to miss this point and “rationalize” why other’s contributions are
not relevant.

Traditional vs. Creative Project Management

Traditional Project Management

Traditional Project Management starts with the assignment of a project

manager who will scope out the project; under the illusion that they have

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all the required knowledge. After all, they were asked to be the Project
Manager.

The Project Manager will then develop the project plan independently;
again, under the illusion that they have the necessary project knowledge
and that this will save the project resources time by not having to engage
them in this process.

The Project Manager will then delegate portions of the plan to the project
resources who will be responsible for carrying out the planned activities.
There will be no commitment on the part of these resources to do these
assigned tasks and it is uncertain if they’ll actually complete their tasks
within the required time.

The Project Manager will hold regular meetings to review project issues –
the lack of detail in the project plan forces these meetings to focus on
project issues rather than planned vs. actual schedule and budget
progress. They’ll manage project problems as they arise because there are
usually many of these each week. It is common that there will be several
meetings a week and that the project manager will supplement these with
a lot of one-on-one meetings with various project resources

Creative Project Management

Creative Project Management requires that the Project Manager will

create a project team. This will begin the process of engagement and
commitment. The team will collectively develop their team’s roles and
responsibilities – so that everyone knows who’s involved in project
success and what skills, knowledge and experience each of them adds to
the overall team.

The project team will scope out the project to ensure there is a common
understanding and agreement of scope. By engaging the entire team in
the process it will be done faster, with more comprehension and complete
team buy-in. The project team will then develop a detailed project plan.
At Business Improvement Architects our research has shown that by
creating the entire plan with the full team, teams will get a plan that has
four (4) times the detail. And they will accomplish this in about one-
quarter of the amount of time it takes compared to the project manager
creating the plan on their own.

The project team will hold regular meetings to review project progress.
Having a detailed plan will make reviewing project progress much easier.
This entire process will give the project team more time to think
creatively about how to manage any issues that arise.

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Traditional Project Management Can Be an

Organizational Challenge
On one major project I recently audited I identified that a major
constraint on the project was the traditional approach that had been
taken to this project. The project manager created the scope document
and plan and then shared it with the key resources on the project.
Consequently, they lacked commitment. They viewed this as the project
manager’s project – not theirs. This resulted in individual resources doing
what they thought was required of them but not reporting when their
work got completed. Working independently led to problems with project
communication because other resources were not made aware when they
could begin their portion of the work.

The most important lesson for them was to work as a team. This ensures
that all resources are fully engaged in the entire project management
process.

Let me close with some basic thoughts about management that may
further help you master the art of innovation in project management:

Regarding productivity—Consider American Management

Consultant, Peter Drucker’s famous quote about productivity in
which he states: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that
which should not be done at all.”
Regarding change—Don’t hold on to the past. Honour it but move
on. In our organizations we must stop doing that which is not driving
our projects forward, that which is not meeting all of our customer’s
expectations and that which is not engaging the entire project team.
Regarding goal setting—Aerospace Engineer and Inventor, Bert
Rutan’s suggestion, “Set a really difficult goal. Half the team should
think it’s impossible” This is what will drive into your project teams
to be more innovative.

Michael Stanleigh

Michael Stanleigh, CMC, CSP, CSM is the CEO of

Business Improvement Architects. He works
with leaders and their teams around the world
to improve organizational performance by
helping them to define their strategic direction,
increase leadership performance, create
cultures that drive innovation and improve

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project and quality management. Michael’s

experience spans public and private sector
organizations in over 20 different countries. He
also delivers presentations to businesses and
conferences throughout the world. In addition
to his consulting practice and global speaking
he has been featured and published in over 500
different magazines and industry publications.

For more information about this article you

may contact Michael Stanleigh at
mstanleigh@bia.ca

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