Despite the best of intentions, public and private organisations alike have suffered years of programme and project failure, characterised by a lack of joined-up thinking and poor use of funds. One of the reasons behind these failures that comes up time and again is poor communication.
Whether in business or the public sector, the ultimate goal is to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from every single pound spent.
When it comes to programmes and projects, every decision at every level has a cost. Hence, decision-makers must be able to describe how and why every one of their choices will help to realise their organisation’s strategy. If they are unable to do so, then surely something is out of balance.
Alas, all too often that appears to be the case. There are endless examples of failures, and failures to learn from those failures; and we could list case after case of where this has led to waste, inefficiency and a loss of trust.
However, our purpose here is not to point fingers but to point out how we can improve things.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on economies around the world, as a result of both the severe decline in economy activity and the monies spent by governments to mitigate the impact of that decline. Understandably, current and future spending will be, and indeed already is being, far more closely scrutinised. Moreover, the current situation behoves us all, as individuals or businesses, to exercise similar diligence.
Learning from past mistakes
Before the pandemic hit, we had been begun pulling together a new training course. Its aim is to challenge traditional thinking about how programmes and projects are managed. In particular, it looks at:
- How we learn lessons (or not!) and other psychological factors that influence our decision-making; and
- How using the right language to communicate those decisions, and our thinking generally, is vital for success.
A specific focus of the course is the documents that decision-makers (should!) use, such as business cases, programme definition documents, project initiation documents and benefits management strategies.
All of these should be clear, accurate and impartial to support the best possible informed decision-making. Often, they are not and do not.
Exercising self-scrutiny
We thought it would be interesting to share some of what we found as we were compiling our training. For the purpose of this article we have transformed some of those early findings into pieces of advice. All nine items are based on shortcomings we found in real programmes and projects.
- Read the manual!
There is a lot of guidance available from the UK government, HM Treasury and professional bodies to help authors of business cases, policies or programme and project documents. It is based on extensive experience and is intended to help you avoid the mistakes of the past. So, read it; don’t just rely on a dodgy template or a cut & paste from an old document.
2. Always reference sources
People who scrutinise your document will test the evidence that you provide. Make sure that you reference all your evidence and that those references are up-to-date and accurate; equally importantly, make it clear what weight, authority and importance you attach to them.
For the same reason, try to use the active voice (e.g. many peer-reviewed studies have found) over the passive voice (e.g. it has been found). It keeps it clear who is behind any actions, decisions, advice, and so on, allowing readers to determine how valid and reliable your sources, and therefore your arguments, are.
3. Present evidence impartially
Data presented in a misleading way undermines the conclusions that flow from it. Anchoring, skewing, exaggerating and drawing spurious comparisons are just some examples of this.
Similarly disingenuous and self-defeating is omitting inconvenient information in order to present your arguments in a stronger light.
Both tactics are simply storing up trouble or challenge for further down the line.
4. Present numerical information accurately and in a way that readers will understand
For example, don’t use the term significant unless you are describing statistically tested findings; remember that changes in percentages are expressed as percentage points; and when presenting percentages, put the raw number in brackets so that readers understand the numbers involved.
Generally, we tend to think that we’re better with numbers than we actually are. Numbers can be potent influences, so it’s always worth taking the time to challenge them and to do a few checks of your own (see our example towards the end of this article).
… the problem was discovered in the second half of last year, and Navantia told defence officials that somebody had apparently put a decimal point in the wrong place. “Apparently somebody in the calculations made a mistake in the very beginning and nobody paid attention to review the calculations,” he said.’
5. Beware cognitive biases
Cognitive biases are shortcuts in our thinking that can cause us to perceive things in a subjective and distorted way. They are something that we have all evolved with; they keep us safe by allowing us to make quick decisions where speed rather than accuracy is essential. Less desirable, is their ability to cause us to make irrational judgments.
Groupthink is one such bias, directed at groups. Other biases affect our memory, attention, motivation and decision-making. Wikipedia currently list nearly 200 different kinds, and the list is growing. Please take a look at them and identify which ones you are more susceptible to.
6. Avoid the sunk-cost fallacy
This particular bias is one that we see time and time again. When you’ve invested time, energy, emotion and money into a project, it can be hard to let it go. But often the correct and rational decision is to stop throwing good money after bad and bring your project to a halt.
In these situations, a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself this: with the knowledge I now have, if I hadn’t already invested in the project would I do so now?
7. Use concrete examples to explain or understand abstract problems
Essentially what we mean by this is use tools to minimise your own biases. It’s easy to lose objectivity, especially when you have a lot invested in a particular idea, programme or project. But being aware of the kinds of biases you may be prone to should make you less susceptible to them.
One way of doing this is to consider the objective evidence that’s already out there. It’s much harder to maintain an irrational view when the rational truth is staring you in the face.
8. Be clear, concise and accurate in your language
In other words, use plain English. Keep business-speak, jargon and technical terms to a minimum. Your documents will be read by many people with different reading abilities and varying familiarity with your terminology.
Also, don’t be vague but instead be clear and precise. Where your content will be used to inform high-cost, high-impact decisions, your language should leave no room for doubt or misinterpretation.
9. Get an independent person to quality-check it
Finally, always get someone else to read over your documents and give you constructive feedback. Even for highly skilled and experienced writers, it’s very difficult to see your own mistakes and biases. A quality check can make all the difference, as the example below demonstrates.
In summary
You can find lots of technical information about building better business cases and programme and project management online (see HM Treasury’s guides in particular). This short article was intended to alert you to some of the less obvious things you should do to avoid repeating past mistakes.
If, after reading, it you think you might be interested in our training, are looking for that independent quality check or would just like some more advice, please get in touch.
About the authors
Bill Harkins
A highly competent and organised professional offering a unique blend of strategic leadership and business expertise. A First-Class Honours Graduate in Business Studies, I possess strong strategic management, critical incident and programme management abilities, strategic ICT skills and business acumen. Articulate and able to act as point of contact for colleagues and external clients, I am a committed team player, self-motivated and with the gravitas to communicate at all levels.
• Building Better Business Cases-registered practitioner.
• MSP Foundation-certified.
• Certified ISO/IEC 27001 provisional auditor.
• Prince2-trained.
Emma Fossey
A widely published writer and editor of a broad range of reports and other publications for and on behalf of the government, business, academic and wider public sectors. Educated to PhD level, my expertise is underpinned by strong analytical skills and an understanding of how to present evidence clearly and with impact. A plain English specialist, I am able to transform ideas and data into clear, concise and considerate documents for any audience.
• Owner-director of writing and editing company Reporting for Business Ltd.
• Plain English Campaign-trained.
• ‘Excellent’ trainer in plain English, report writing and editing.
• Judge for New Zealand’s Plain English awards.
