Introducing The Breakfast Club
Getting people to believe that CCPM works was initially difficult. Experienced Leads hoarded the best people. The quality of work life is poor for the workforce (a common expectation/problem). People don't take CCPM seriously unless you turn on the metrics.
Managers claimed that the CCPM reports were simply depicting the project status incorrectly. They felt that: "Things are a lot better than they appear. They will be better soon." But they didn't get better. They got worse! Those who didn't believe that CCPM works had no end of troubles. In other words, things were "normal", as in any airplane program.
After six months, we were two months behind. The Chief Engineer required the Leads and managers to work 12 hour days, 7 days per week and attend a status meeting every morning at 6 AM, Sundays at 7 AM. Now it felt even more like an airplane program.
This became known as the Breakfast Club.
The Chief put the burden of proof on the teams. "Let the data tell us when we are healthy. Until then, act as if the project is in trouble." Behaviors within the teams changed quickly. Those who thought CCPM would work had no problem with it. Inexperienced Leads using CCPM ended up doing as well as the experienced Leads that resisted it.
Breakfast was finally served when we were on schedule.
|
Introduction
