Project Poisons and Antidotes
Authors: Hill V.F. 
Published: December 2007

A project poison is anything that damages performance when introduced into a project environment. The antidotes discussed are largely measures to prevent introduction of project poisons on the grounds that prevention is the best cure. The paper describes seven project prevention is the best cure. The paper describes seven project poisons and their antidotes. poisons and their antidotes.

Introduction

Project poisons can be compared with those that affect Project poisons can be compared with those that affect living organisms-some are more virulent than others. The instantly fatal ones-like cyanide in humans-such as radical increases in taxation and drops in oil prices are normally beyond the control of people closely involved in project work. Therefore, these are beyond the scope of this paper, which discusses seven poisons that can be controlled by people involved directly or indirectly in project execution. project execution. The antidotes mainly are measures aimed at preventing introduction of poisons into the project environment. although they also can be useful in healing a sick project.

Bad Attitude

One definition of attitude is a feeling or emotion toward a fact or state. Bad attitude, then, is a bad feeling or emotion toward something. If project managers have bad feelings or emotions about their projects then they have a bad attitude. A bad attitude can be general defeatism about the prospects for an entire project. It can be destructive feelings, such as contempt for contractors on the part of clients or contempt for clients on the part of contractors. It can be an unjustified lack of self-confidence by a manager about reaching some goal. Bad attitude is a potent project poison. It is disastrous if the project manager has it. It is destructive for any part of a project if the manager of that part has it. This is because the attitude of a manager is transmitted through the entire organization so that one person's defeatism or optimism becomes that of an entire group. Groups with a bad attitude not only accomplish little or nothing, they are a constant source of infection to all other croups or individuals. Bad attitude causes poor morale, point scoring, the development of project cliques, and destructive behavior such as (1) the refusal of an engineering manager to plan work and develop schedules to fit the needs of the materials management and construction forces on the project, (2) the application by a quality assurance/quality project, (2) the application by a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) manager of unnecessarily rigid standards to project activities, or (3) the refusal by a construction manager to consider the needs of commissioning and operating people. Other examples of destructive behavior caused by bad attitude are deliberately allowing people to make mistakes and deliberately exhibiting people to make mistakes and deliberately exhibiting uncooperative behavior. These all harm the performance of project work-causing delays, increasing cost. and project work-causing delays, increasing cost. and generally damaging the project. What can be done about bad attitude? What antidote can be applied against it? The best antidote is to prevent bad attitude from being introduced into projects. Only experienced project people with positive attitudes toward project work should be assigned to senior project positions. These people must be mentally tough project positions. These people must be mentally tough so that the pressures they encounter on the project will not cause them to develop bad attitudes. Fair weather sailors tend to lose their good attitudes when the weather turns sour. Good attitude should be as clearly expected of all project personnel as good performance is the loss of it project personnel as good performance is the loss of it should clearly lead to removal from the project just as poor performance does. Executive sponsors of projects poor performance does. Executive sponsors of projects should actively inculcate good attitude in their project managers by displaying it themselves. The project manager should inculcate it within the senior managers in the same way; likewise, they should pass it along to the rest of the project personnel. Contractor and client managements that manage and organize projects can do a great deal to establish and to maintain project conditions conducive to good attitude. They can draw up a contract between the two companies that is fair and equitable to both parries and flexible enough to accommodate project evolution without imposing unnecessary financial stress on either party. They can insist that some of the people negotiating the terms of the contract be people who will be assigned to the project so that there are contractor and client personnel project so that there are contractor and client personnel on the project who are familiar with the contract and with the spirit of the negotiations leading up to it. They can insist that fairness be the spirit in which all contractual and commercial dealings are conducted. that project procedures be as simple as possible. that decisions be taken procedures be as simple as possible. that decisions be taken on experience rather than trying to prove, beyond doubt, that a particular course of action is correct, and they can insist that auditors be kept under strict control so that both client and contractor personnel aren't forced to justify decisions made and actions taken over and over again each time a new team of auditors arrives on the project. Finally, they can insist that auditors be at least project. Finally, they can insist that auditors be at least as experienced in project work as the people being audited: being audited by a pompous amateur causes bad attitude.

Poor Project Organization Poor Project Organization Three organizational structures are known from experience to be deadly project poisons.

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