Not everything is an organizational problem. You don't succeed in a cross-cutting project because you manage a Gantt chart well. Methodology remains important, but the challenge of project management concerns above all the human and the team at the center of the project.
This article reveals all the keys to the success of your next transversal project. Pragmatic and concrete advice to lead your project to success!
The sponsor, often a member of the Management Board, must have enough influence among the other members of the General Management and in the company in order to be able to facilitate the creation of transversal projects and have the opportunity to put the necessary resources in place for its success - in particular by allocating time and availability to key actors. He must have the will to make a difference and he is one of the first promoters of the approach and the change of point of view as to the benefits of moving away from the traditional functioning of services.
It sets the strategic line, challenges progress and plays a key role in arbitrations. Also, it will facilitate the work of the project manager, by defending the project in the management committee, by suggesting ideas related to the business strategy. He can also participate in the management of conflicts in the event that transversal management is not sufficient.
It is highly recommended to iInvolve all the people who will have a link with the project as soon as possible. To do this, you can set up a specific committee, whether it is a steering or innovation committee. But here we will talk about the team, which will take most of the operational actions of the project. As much as possible, you will try to find the following attributes in your cross-functional team.
Whether it is in the technical aspect of a profile, or the increased knowledge of a business environment, you will seek to join the team of specialists in the skills sought with, if possible, influence. In particular, this will make it possible to evangelize the approach among other employees of the company.
At the forefront of achieving the objectives, the members of the team of a transversal project must be drivers in managing change. They are the first actors in this process, often new. Therefore, we will want to avoid as much as possible the obstacles and blocking factors linked to humans, by composing the team of profiles who share a positive state of mind. as for the launch of the transversal project. Enough to motivate all the stakeholders in the organization involved in your transversal project!
Working transversalally is above all working without hierarchical links, with people who often do not work in the same department with whom it is difficult to share time.
In addition to the elements mentioned above, there are elements that must be well in place before operational start.
One of Golden rules to follow for project managers like Guideline are the alignment of its project with the business strategy. Even if it seems only common sense, it can be difficult, depending on the stages and hazards during a transversal project, to know if you are still in line with the company's vision and strategy. When in doubt, contact the sponsor and always make sure they have the right information.
In the best practices of successful transversal projects, we find at the top of the list the importance of The problem that the project must solve. It allows you to characterize whether the objective you want to fulfill makes sense, and if it provides real value.
The good treatment of a problem through a transversal project has other advantages such as:
This problem must be HARD: Painful, Urgent and Recognized
It will be much better to spend time fully understanding the problem and qualify it as tough before launching operations, than to finally realize that the project or solution does not provide enough value, and that the economic equation is not favorable.
Just as not having well defined a problem (and its impact) can be a cause of the failure of a transversal project from the beginning, not having a precise budget allocated is another. Setting up a team and implementing changes in the way the company operates can be very harmful for the continuity of this type of approach. Indeed, if after several months of work we realize that we do not want or that we do not have the necessary budget to bring the project to an end, disaster is assured. Hence the importance to define a budget and especially to quantifying a problem in order to prioritize investment plans.
After addressing the importance of a well-defined problem, he now needs its pragmatic solution. Indeed, we naturally tend to want to set up a complete solution to solve everything as soon as we mentally visualize the perfect solution. However, it turns out that ideal solutions on paper (when you are outside of your core business) will not be feasible, because they are too long and too expensive to implement - especially when you are looking for the “wow effect” above all.
Try to answer 80% of the problem - but in the best, fastest, and cheapest way possible. For this, working on the problem and the key features can help.
When we attack a problem, one of the very effective solutions is to re-divide the problem into several sub-problems that make it up. Prioritize these sub-problems according to the impact/consequences they generate, and finally ask the question: “Why has this sub-problem not been solved yet?”. The answer to this question will be your lever of action, and will allow you to define a functionality of your solution to solve it.
The idea here is to focus on the most important sub-problems and to compose your main solution on it. You can always plan an evolving solution with the implementation of new functionalities later in the transversal project, to complete the resolution of the global problem.
It often happens that, in the first phases of a transversal project, motivated by the desire to show value and “quick wins”, we lose sight of the global and long-term vision of the project. It is therefore not necessary do not forget that the main objective is to solve the problem in the long term. The first phases of your project management should essentially serve to feed this aspect.
For that, keep an ROI approach of your actions and what remains to be put in place is decisive for the permanent validation of your recommendations and the final solution.
We can often be tempted to leave with an external solution or partner that causes a “wow effect”, it will certainly appeal to employees and enhance the image of your project, but make sure of the capacity of your partners to execute within the framework of your project. We will prefer a solution that may be less sexy but that works and partners that deliver.
To do this, do not hesitate to do a thorough audit of the solution/external partner to ensure that the solution will work and have the capacity to be maintained over time.
In order to de-risk your project in the long term, it is always advisable to put your solution into the test phase. For this, it is important to put into situation and monitor: The key functionalities, a perimeter representative of the long-term project, the environment and the constraints of the solution.
To do this, based on the key functionalities that you will have defined thanks to the sub-problems of your problem, identify hypotheses that you will have to answer to ensure that the key functionalities make it possible to solve the problem and that the solution will be maintainable in its environment. Once these hypotheses are defined, find the right KPIs to set up to measure whether or not you will be able to meet the hypotheses during the test phase.
Especially in a transversal project, it will be very useful in order to set the pace of actions and to put everyone in agreement, to endorse all aspects of the project in a specification validated by all the stakeholders. To do this, remember to properly integrate each of the actors in the development of the document for the parties that concern them. Then draw the critical paths of the project to define an adapted and coherent roadmap. It will allow you to give visibility on current, past and future actions, as well as to monitor the health of progress.
Another aspect of effective operational phases is to cut down the size of the deliverables as well as the frequency of feedback, in order to limit the mental load on employees (especially if they are on several missions in parallel) and to have a finer follow-up of planning excesses in order to take the right corrective actions.
This will also make it possible to pace the project and the exchanges as well as to value the work and progress of each one.
One of the key points and best practices to pace projects and make progress more effective is to establish a project monitoring weekly project between the members of the task force and more operational external parties. For this, setting up a flash report is a very good action to monitor progress and allow everyone to keep a 360° vision of the project.
In order to maintain operational efficiency for transversal projects and in order to avoid the inertia associated with complex organizations in the company, during the creation of the transversal project team, a short decision-making circuit is also set up with a sponsor and a few key decision-makers (if necessary), a steering committee every 30 or 45 days in order to present the progress and the arbitrations necessary for progress.
To learn more, we recommend that you read the following article: How to be a good transversal project manager?
