Expert Insights: 20 Tech Leaders Share Lessons From Difficult Projects
Experienced leaders understand that valuable lessons often emerge from projects that face challenges or even fail. The members of Forbes Technology Council have collectively overseen numerous Tech projects, from successful endeavors to disappointments. Here, 20 Tech leaders share enduring lessons from projects that encountered difficulties and how these insights have shaped their approach to new initiatives.
1. Small, Focused Teams Yield Better Results
Scaling a team rapidly often leads to failure. Adam Tornhill of CodeScene emphasizes achieving more with a smaller, focused team through efficient communication and minimal coordination.
2. Identifying Unknowns Early Leads to Success
Bobbi Alexandrova from Loopio stresses the importance of addressing unknowns at the project’s outset to prevent potential obstacles from derailing progress.
3. Importance of Having the Right People
Ravi Kurani of Sutro highlights the necessity of assembling a team equipped with the essential skills, communication, and technical expertise to successfully deliver a project.
4. Delegating Responsibilities to the Team is Crucial
Boris Lapouga of WorkHQ stresses the significance of not shouldering the entire burden and allowing the team to contribute effectively to the project’s progress.
5. Prioritize Seeking Expert Guidance
Net Kohen of LinkMe advocates consulting with top talent to proactively address challenges and implement best practices, ensuring smoother and successful project outcomes.
6. Applying Lessons Learned from Failure
Pawel Rzeszucinski from Team Internet Group PLC emphasizes the importance of conscientiously applying lessons learned from past failures to future opportunities, despite the difficulty in going against intuition and experience.
7. Precision in Defining Project Scope and Objectives
Shelli Brunswick, from Space Foundation, underscores the necessity of establishing clear project objectives, delineating the project scope, and aligning stakeholder expectations to ensure effective resource allocation and early issue identification.
8. Setting Realistic Expectations
Greg Coticchia of Sopheon emphasizes the importance of setting realistic expectations to mitigate potential project failures and discussing possible setbacks and contingency plans upfront.
9. Importance of Visual Product Blueprint
Shiboo Varughese from CirrusLabs.io emphasizes the need for visual product blueprints during the inception phase to drive successful product delivery and value realization.
10. Emphasizing the Importance of Thorough Surveys
Tom Roberto of SG Network Services highlights the significance of rigorous surveys, planning, and piloting to avoid potential pitfalls that may prove fatal to the Tech project.
11. Balancing Quality with User Feedback
Lewie Dunsworth of Nuspire advocates prioritizing quality in the initial release while remaining open to user feedback for continued improvement, realizing that perfection is subjective and converges with positive user experience.
12. Proactive Assessment of Product Shortcomings
Mark Heymann from Mark Heymann & Associates, LLC emphasizes the proactive identification of development gaps to establish a partnership with customers and uphold transparency in addressing project shortcomings.
13. Embracing Legal Innovation
Marlene Ronstedt from Play by Ear highlights the potential need for legal Innovation alongside technical Innovation for success, especially in regulated industries, stressing the importance of adapting to evolving regulatory landscapes.
14. Agility and Adaptability are Essential
Neelima Mangal from Spectrum North emphasizes the significance of identifying and addressing challenges promptly while remaining agile, nimble, and adaptive to ensure project success.
15. Letting Go of Failing Initiatives
Martin Taylor from Content Guru stresses the importance of acknowledging and letting go of failing initiatives to focus resources effectively on promising projects.
16. Reinforcing the Value of Large-Scale Projects
Lou Senko from Q2 emphasizes the need to convey the value of large-scale projects to employees impacted by change, ensuring sustained commitment and realizing enhanced organizational capabilities.
17. Importance of Ownership for Project Success
Seth Wasserman from Menin Hospitality highlights the critical role of ownership support in driving project success, regardless of the project’s merit and impact.
18. Achieving Alignment with Customers
Edin Deljkic of Klika underscores the necessity of aligning with customers on trust, chemistry, and expectations to ensure a successful collaboration and project outcome.
19. The Role of Change Management
Mani Padisetti from Digital Armour emphasizes the importance of change management to avoid user alienation and ensure executive support, embedding communication and training into the planning process.
20. Prioritizing Performance and Speed
Robert Mao from ArcBlock Inc. underscores the necessity of prioritizing performance and speed from the project onset to avoid potential pitfalls and issues in the future.
Conclusion
These insights from experienced Tech leaders provide valuable guidance for navigating difficult projects. From assembling the right team to embracing change and agility, the lessons learned from these experienced leaders can serve as a roadmap for future success.
Source: forbes
No Comments