I was at a conference recently and one of the presenters introduced me to a way of looking at projects that I hadn’t come across before. This applies to any project but it certainly applies to technology focussed projects within retail. Eddie Obeng (MBA PhD) is Learning Director at the Pentacle Virtual Business School and more details can be found in his book “All Change! The Project Leader’s Secret Handbook”.
Briefly, projects can be divided into four types (see the diagram below) depending on the experience of the team and the certainty of the objective.
Foggy – Projects are foggy when the objectives are not well defined and the team has little experience of the type of work.
Quest – On this type of project, everyone knows the objective very clearly but the team does not have much experience. An example of this is the project to put a man on the moon.
Film Making – When the team is very experienced in doing the type of work required to complete the project but the objective is not clear, projects can be likened to film making – the actors and the camera men are very skilled, but only the director knows how he wants the finished product to look.
Painting by Numbers – The least risk to a project is achieved where the team is experienced and the objective clear. In these circumstances, a realistic plan can be put in place and each section completed to achieve a successful outcome.
Which of these categories does your project fall into? How much risk are you carrying? What steps do you need to take to move into a less risky quadrant?
Posted by Rachel Maclean 
