We tapped the collective expertise of more than 700 respondents in a May 2008 online survey that posed four questions (search “lessons learned” at packworld.com for the previous articles in this series). The third of our four questions: What is one important lesson that you have learned to develop a successful project?
Once again, the responses were as broad as the audience, but they tended to cluster around several key themes, such as communications. We’ll present them, edited for clarity, in logical order, starting with the importance of preproject planning.
A number of participants noted the value of doing the homework upfront, starting with information gathering as it relates to due diligence. Wrote one, “Complete the due diligence for the project before spending any money.” Wrote another, “Perform due diligence: Determine barriers, risk versus reward, competitive environment, potential for success, market share, where you are on the maturity curve, etc.”
A manager with Orchid Healthcare in Asia offered this summary outline:
• Aim—Ultimate outcome required at the end of the project and must be relevant to the company’s overall business strategy. It should be clear, specific, and recognized by all people working on the project.
• Objectives—Major tasks to be completed at different stages of the project. It should include only the major milestones and provide a basis for more detailed project planning.
• Constraints—Provide the framework, limits, and restrictions that ensure the project is consistent with the company’s strategies and capabilities.
Detailing the project from the very start was also emphasized by many respondents. Examples include, “Get as many of the critical details established upfront,” and “Plan at the detail level early on. Execution is then easy.” Similarly, another wrote, “Proper planning on the front end pays off on the back end.” One person suggested spending more time in planning to gain a smoother implementation.
We conclude the planning theme with this cautionary advice from a respondent: “You cannot plan ahead enough.”
On another issue, a respondent wrote, “Be certain all affected areas (stakeholders) are linked in early to the project and are aware of its impact.”
Several gave succinct, one-word advice that noted the importance of certain attributes, including patience, commitment, perseverance, focus, and attitude. Others wrote each word in triplicate to underscore its importance, for example: “research, research, research,” and “mock-ups, mock-ups, mock-ups.” Then there was this triple of triples: “Plan, plan, plan. Organize, organize, organize. Double check, double check, double check.”
A Clorox manager wrote, “Define the goal of the project early and stick to it. Don’t keep changing the project as it goes. It will bog down the project if expectations are continually changed, and it may never see fruition. After the project is completed, start new ones that have arisen from the ideas of the previous.”
Somewhere between planning and starting a project is to get buy-in. “Get support from top management, then from sales and marketing, and finally the supply chain,” wrote one. Another commented, “Engage all functions that will have a role in the project and define responsibilities before implementing the project.”
Advised another manager, “Planning is important, but more important is the execution.” However, before execution can start, a team must be formed, according to the recommendations of many of the survey takers.
True teamwork
Various responses revolved around the concept of a true, hard-working team. A manager with a nutritional products company captured several crucial aspects with his reply: “Robust teamwork requires a good, technically proficient, and professional team sharing a common vision and knowing individual roles each has to deliver, along with a strong communication base.” It is also important to have a good cross-section of individuals from throughout the organization noted one. As another wrote, “It is also crucial to have the right people involved with the right skill sets.” And in order to be a team, everyone must be on the same wavelength, according to one manager. Another summed it up nicely: “There is no such thing as too much knowledge and too much teamwork.” Finally, noted another, “Without a powerful team approach, the plan is just a piece of paper.”
Another respondent had this team-enhancing advice for top management: “Watch over the team members, but leave them alone.”
The importance of inclusiveness was also emphasized: “Include everyone from the first day, or at least solicit comments from everyone—this avoids pockets of resistance later.”
Then there was this advice that aligns with one of the key pitfalls outlined by consultant Sterling Anthony (see sidebar above): “Get involved as early as possible in the project-planning phase. Too often, when packaging is at the tail end of the project, problems that may have been easily solved end up jeopardizing timelines and launch dates.”
Numerous respondents had suggestions for what to do—or not to do—once the project is set into motion. Wrote a Bristol-Myers Squibb manager, “Face-to-face communication is best. Conference calls can serve for distant participants, but I find little excuse for someone whose office is down the hall, and they still choose to dial in to the meeting. They are most likely a disengaged team member or multitasking while on the phone. It is just not as effective.”
One respondent underscored the need for good note taking during meetings in order to provide minutes afterward for those who weren’t present or were on the phone, as in the previous example.
Many respondents mentioned themes relating to time, time management, and staying on schedule, including the following:
• Have a reasonable time frame.
• Budget time for fixing the unavoidable surprises, failures, mistakes, and all the other little things that conspire against even the best planned project.
• Time management is essential. Knowing the dates you need to meet, especially when multiple components are involved, is crucial to getting a project to launch successfully and with few complications.
• Keep focused on the main objective, be careful to avoid getting sidetracked.
One manager noted the importance of setting a realistic goal, then added: “Yet never be afraid to trash a failed course.”
Finally, there were those who touched on the end-of-project lessons such as one who advised to not only have clear goals, but also to have measurable outcomes.
Some lessons are not easily categorized, but nonetheless are worth passing along. Examples include:
• Assume worst-case, not best-case scenarios
• Plan, continually follow-up, and hold people accountable
• Good design does not always translate into good packaging
• Know what is expected of the packaging upfront before designing begins
• Projects must be more bold
• Be realistic in project goals, timeframe, and costs
• Stay consistent on specs
• Collect the right information from all concerned parties and correlate the information to eliminate mistakes
• Time to market is more important than anything else, irrespective of what technical or financial managers tell you
• Be organized and methodical in every aspect of the project regardless of how trivial it may seem to the outcome, because it is the little things that will trip you up every time!
And lastly, noted one respondent, “Listen to those who have been there.” That’s the whole idea behind our Lessons Learned series, which focuses next month on packaging machinery.
