Rushing a project kickoff can be a reason for project failure. Use the OODA loop methodology to steer projects to success.
Have you ever been involved in project work? I’m sure you have if you are working in an organization. And most probably, you have been involved in project work even if you are a solopreneur.
And when do projects go wrong? When the dashboards suddenly turn from green to red — apparently out of nowhere.
Quite often, the root cause of project dashboards suddenly turning red is at the very beginning of a project, namely in the kickoff meeting.
You might ask: how come? The kickoff meeting intends to align all stakeholders in a project. That’s true, and there is nothing wrong with doing a kickoff meeting. In most projects, the timing of the kickoff meeting is the problem.
The OODA Loop
The OODA loop is a decision-making model originally developed in the military but can be used for any problem.
It’s an acronym for observation — orientation — decision — action.
And you can see already now that acting stands only at position 4. You will have to observe, orient, and decide before you act.
Jumping to Conclusions
The whole point of the OODA loop is to avoid jumping to conclusions. Let’s go through the four steps of the OODA loop, focusing on how they work in a project setting.
1. Observation
In this step, you observe that there is a problem in your organization that needs resolution. Based on the nature of the problem, you decide that you will initiate a project.
Don’t jump to conclusions now. Initiating a project is not the same thing as holding a project kickoff meeting.
2. Orientation
This step is arguably the most important in the OODA loop. It’s about making sense of the isolated problem in a wider context.
Is the project the right framework for the problem, or are we rather talking about a program? What organizational requirements come along with the project, are there formal requests to prepare? Do we have a project budget, or do we need to apply for one first? If we don’t have a project budget, do we know the estimated cost of the project? If not, would it make sense to start a preliminary project first to find out more?
There are many more questions to be answered in the orientation phase. If you schedule a project kickoff meeting before you have all those answers, you can already imagine how your project dashboard will turn red later on.
3. Decision
In this step, you compare the possible courses of action you developed in the previous step, weighing their advantages and disadvantages before making a decision. In this way, you can avoid running off in the wrong direction with good intentions, but ultimately missing the target.
And you know what missing the target means in a project setting: red project dashboards, delays, cost overruns.
4. Action
Once a decision has been taken, you can start acting or executing. Because a project always involves multiple people, you will need to give proper instructions and assignments to them. Otherwise, they cannot succeed in their assigned roles in the project.
This assignment happens at the project kickoff meeting. No earlier and no later.
Conclusion
It’s an old saying, but it’s very true:
If it’s urgent, take your time.
A casual saying compares project dashboards to watermelons:
Everything looks green until you dive deep into it. When you cut the watermelon, you discover that most of it is red and not green.
If you want to avoid watermelon project dashboards, take the time to follow the OODA loop steps described above before you kick off a project.
