Do you need to take on an impossible project: a project nobody thinks can be done? Or maybe a project no one thinks should be done!
You need to convince people that it’s worthwhile and then deliver it against the odds.
I’m not talking about mega-projects or crazy-ass stupid ideas. Just your common-or-garden, every day impossible project. That is, a project that you know makes sense, but nobody else believes in. And I’m going to have to trust you here. This is a good rule to follow:
Don’t do stupid things on purpose.
Some of the very greatest achievements have been made by people taking on what others considered to be impossible projects. Those people had
What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
The Right Thing to Do
As a project manager, your job is to turn those visions into reality. Yet sometimes, you feel that you can see more clearly than your colleagues. No one else thinks you can do it, but you know just one thing: you have to. It’s the right project, and you need to pursue it.
Eight Principles for an Impossible Project
So, for when that’s the case, I have eight principles to offer you. For each one, I’ll break it down into:
- The Fundamental Principle
- A Pragmatic Elaboration
- An Advanced Approach
Here then, are my 8 Principles for Impossible Projects
I know you. You’ll read those and think ‘I got it!’ and move on. Don’t. I believe that my perspective on these eight powerful principles is well worth your reading time.
But, if you really must, here is a video summary…
So, no more waffle: let’s dive straight in.
Commitment to Your Impossible Project
The fundamental behavior at the heart of this principle is perseverance. Stick with your idea until either:
- You win through, or
- The evidence persuades you that everyone else is right
(I underline ‘evidence’, because I do not mean that the weight of advocacy merely grinds to down!)
One member of our OnlinePMCourses community told me:
I proposed such a project in the past and it took me 5 years before getting all the green flags to start the project that finally resulted in the discovery of a first in class asset!
L, a member of the OnlinePMCourses community
In fact, she was the person whose response to me, on the most difficult project challenges, prompted me to write this article!
Pragmatic Step: Build a Concrete Plan
Not only does a well-crafted plan show your commitment; but it also creates a reality. It demonstrates that your project is achievable, and how. This is important because any sponsor, investor, or supporter will need to see this before making their own commitment.
But I’d like to sound a note of caution (and we’ll come back to it when we look at getting a decision for your impossible project. Sometimes a plan can look good, but be riddled with complications and flaws. Take the time to iron those creases out
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Advanced Tip: Pre-commit to Your Idea
Sometimes the best approach is to get started and build something.
You Can’t Build a Reputation On What You’re Going to Do.
Henry Ford
Getting started has two strong impacts on you:
- You create some ‘ground truth’ that people cannot deny.
So, therefore, you change the presumption from ‘it cannot be done’ to ‘it’s been started’. - You strengthen your authority.
Anyone can promote an idea with words. But the ‘do it then say it’ approach shows greater integrity and inspires real confidence.
Impose Control on Your Impossible Project
There’s nothing a project manager craves more than control. Our whole process is designed to create control of a messy, complex, uncertain jumble. And the place to start is the fundamental concept of control: preparation.
There are lots of variations on the British Army saying that:
Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance
Preparation comes before planning. We need to consider:
- What you know
- Who you know
- What to plan
- How to plan
- How to monitor your plan
- What could go wrong
- How you’ll handle those problems
- How you’ll handle the people
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Pragmatic Step: Build Rigorous Control Mechanisms
First, preparing a set of rigorous project controls will give confidence to doubters of your so-called ‘impossible project’. But, more practically, you’ll need them when you get started. If people do consider your project to be impossible, then there’s a good chance that, at the very least, it will be tricky. Robust monitoring and control will be vital.
We’ll pick up on a number of vital project controls (like scope and control of change) later in this article. Here, I’d like to
Be sure to identify these and build processes that allow you to track changes to these and act rapidly to address the implications they throw up.
Advanced Tip: Contingency
Of course, it should not be an ‘advanced’ tip. Every project manager should know the importance of:
- Budget contingency
- Schedule contingency
- Scope flexibility
- Supply chain contingency
- Contingency planning
But, too often, these are honored more in the breach than the observance… We talk the contingency talk. But sometimes we fail to walk the contingency walk.
Too often, contingency plans are honored more in the breach than the observance. We talk the contingency talk. But sometimes we fail to walk the contingency walk. Share on XAnd our doubters and sponsors rarely want to pay the cost they imply.
So, what do we do? We cut the cost to make our project an easier sell. It seems more compelling if we trim the costs and the timelines to the bone. But the smart investors and clients will spot this and say, ‘That’s impossible.’ And, it will be. Because without sufficient contingency, you really do have an impossible project.
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- Contingency Planning: How to Create a Contingency Plan
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Get a Decision on Your Impossible Project
The fundamental tool that we use to drive a decision to go with a project is a Business Case.
We use a business case to gain agreement and justify the decision that we want.
But a good business case won’t be simply a piece of advocacy. That could lead to bias at best, and to manipulating a decision at worst. Either way, that’s not good governance. Your business case needs to put forward options and evaluate them with objectivity and fairness.
My tip would be to show only the one, two, or three most compelling reasons to support each option. More than that, and you’ll diminish the impact of your case. On the other hand, do document all of the costs, risks, and reasons not to do your project. This a
- If your top three reasons outweigh all of the downsides, your case is compelling. And, if they do not, then minor additional benefits are unlikely to tip the balance. Your project will always remain marginal at best, and impossible at worst.
- If you do get approval to run your impossible project, then it’s likely that things will go wrong along the way. What you don’t want is for your stakeholders to lose confidence and even throw recriminations at you: ‘Why didn’t you tell us… ?’ If you articulated all the negatives before they made their decision, you are covered.
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Pragmatic Step: Construct a Robust Governance Framework
Once your impossible project is underway, create a robust governance framework. No project needs this more than one that has some serious detractors. You need to be able to wrap strong controls around all future decision-making, to ensure that decisions are both solid and auditable.
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- Agony Angels: Setting up Project Governance – with Rich Maltzman
- AI Governance Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide for Enterprises and AI Projects
Advanced Tip: De-bias your Decision-making
There are a lot of reasons why people make bad decisions. We succumb to a number of biases.
The Sunk Cost Bias
‘We’ve spent so much time and money, we really ought to complete the project.’
Well, no. If the cost of completion outweighs the value of the completed project, then you’ll just be pouring away good money after bad.
The Gambler’s Run Bias
‘We’ve had so many problems that our luck is bound to turn soon.’
Not so fast there, tiger. Two things militate against that conclusion:
- Those problems may highlight a systemic issue that means you need – at the very least – a shift in direction
- Random events don’t know about the past. After tossing 5 heads in a row, unless the coin is weighted (see 1 above), then the chance of another head is still 50%.
Framing Bias
‘How you ask the question can influence the answer’.
For example, people prefer low-risk and status quo options. When you impose a bias on how you state a problem, you undermine the whole decision-making process.
Precision Bias
We tend to mistake precision for accuracy. Therefore, we give undue credence where we see a lot of detail.
These are just a few of my favorite examples of decision-making traps that arise from innate and learned human biases. I feel a long article coming on…
Get the Scope of Your Impossible Project Right
The fundamental idea behind this principle is to minimize the scope of your project, to make it as possible as you can. The Agilists may have come late to this particular party, but they aren’t wrong. Those of us working on planned projects, using predictive methods, have been starting small since the dawn of man.
It doesn’t only make great sense to reduce the scope of a seemingly impossible project. But you can also reduce its complexity – and therefore risk – by breaking it into a number of smaller projects. There are few interdependencies within the project, and this will make it simpler to manage and easier to control.
Pragmatic Step: Keep a Firm Hand on the Scope
Good Scope Management and a robust Change Control process are both necessary components of good project control.
We have written two important articles that I recommend you read:
Additional Recommendations:
- The Basics of Scope Management: How to Manage Scope | Video
- Establish Project Scope: How to Master Your Toughest PM Challenge
- ‘Could You Just…’ How to STOP Scope Creep | Video
- How to Prevent Scope Creep | Video
- What’s the Difference? Variations, Scope Creep, and Gold-plating
Advanced Tip: One Thing at a Time
I’m not really arguing that you cannot run parallel tracks of activity on a project. Multi-tasking may not work for us as individual human beings, but that’s the power of having a team and a work breakdown structure!
But you can improve your ability to control a difficult or ‘impossible’ project by sequencing your activities to avoid multiple deadlines within a short period. By focusing your team on one significant milestone at a time, you boost their motivation, reduce management complexity, and
Control the Rate of Progress of Your Impossible Project
The starting point for this principle is to start your project delivery with a pilot or prototype of some kind. This will give you and your doubters a clear idea (and some solid evidence) of just how possible or impossible your project is.
If things do go wrong, they will do so in a controlled and safe way, from which you can learn. That knowl
And, if things go well, you have the perfect PR material to enthuse your stakeholders and confound your doubters.
Don’t think of prototypes as a purely Product Development tool. And don’t leave pilot projects only to the realms of public service and not-for-profits.
Pragmatic Step: Make use of Stage Gates
Stage Gates are the perfect way to control the pace of your project, by subjecting it to good governance. They de-risk your project and create clear accountability. Read our article: ‘Why the Stage Gate Process will Make You a Better Project Manager‘. It doesn’t just give you the ‘why’; but also the ‘how’. In the meantime, if you’re new to stage gates, take a look at this short video:
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Advanced Tip: Create Buffer Zones to Prevent Overrunning Your Schedule
A technique I borrow from critical chain planning is to divide my project delivery into
Engage your Stakeholders Positively
The fundamental strategy of any project must be to align your stakeholders around the goal, objectives, and approach of your project. This gives you the support you need. And the secret is very much to win over your key stakeholders one at a time.
There is no difference here between an impossible project and an outright easy project. It’s just the impact that doing so – or not doing so – will have on your day-to-day life. We’ve written a lot on stakeholder engagement, but I’d particularly draw your attention to the first articles in my list:
- How to Handle Stakeholder Objections
- Good Customer Service: How to Keep Your Client and Stakeholders Happy
- 4 Steps to Engage Difficult Stakeholders
- Do You Know the Top 20 Techniques for Stakeholder Analysis?
- How to Plan Your Stakeholder Engagement Campaign
- This Set of Stakeholder Engagement Strategies will Power You up
- Podcast: Politics and Stakeholders
Pragmatic Step: Take Control of Your Message
And no, I do not imply any form of lying: by omission or commission. But you do need a positive stakeholder communication process, and excellent formal project reporting.
For more advice on great communication, take a look at our roundup of Communication Skills for Project Managers | The Best Books.
And, if you need more guidance on Project Reporting, we have some valuable articles, of course:
- A Beginner’s Guide to Project Status Reporting
- Project Reporting Best Practice You Need to Know to Get Better Results
- What is an Exception Report? And what’s an Exception? | Video
Advanced Tip: The Story
To win over stakeholders so they believe that the impossible is not only possible, but desirable, you’ll need to weave a compelling, persuasive, and powerful narrative. The past is often the best predictor of the future. So, you’ll need to show either:
- How past experiences endorse your argument that this project can succeed, or
- Why the evidence of past experience is not credible, or not relevant to this case
Gather a Top Team for Your Impossible Project
It should go without saying that, for an impossible project, you’ll want an experienced team. The more
Pragmatic Step: Work Stream Leaders and Team Allocation
My preferred approach is always to appoint the best people I can find, to lead my workstreams. And work with them to plan t
Advanced Tip: Motivate Your Team
It’s not really an advanced tip to say ‘motivate your team’.
But it is an advanced project leadership skill to be able to do so – especially when you meet the issues that a nearly impossible project will throw at you. So, do take a look at a few of our articles on team motivation and leadership:
- Everything You Need to Know about Project Team Motivation
- High Profile Projects: How to Lead a Project with a Massive Public Profile
- Project Manager or Project Leader? What’s the Difference?
- How Coaching Skills will Make You a Better Project Leader
- The Four Essentials of Project Team Leadership
- Get Better Project Results with Personal Leadership
- How to Get the Best from Your Project Team with Situational Leadership
- LEAD: Your Four Project Leadership Priorities
- Project Leadership Wisdom: Your Guide to the Seven Pillars
Give Your Impossible Project a Touch of Brilliance
In my book ‘Brilliant Project Leader’, I talk about brilliant tactics and behaviors that create a brilliant project. This is a project that potential team members want to join in, and current team members enjoy being a part of.
Let your impossible project sparkle and shine.
Show how it may be challenging, but it is tremendously worthwhile. And create a real buzz around it by articulating a compelling vision that gets people talking about your project.
Pragmatic Step: Brilliant Team
Build a team that will do justice to your compelling vision. And treat them exceptionally well. Go back and read some of the articles on leadership I listed a few lines above. This stuff is important: VERY important!
Celebrate your team’s successes and give recognition for group and individual contributions. Make it your job to catch people doing their job well, and encourage everyone to cheer them on.
Advanced Tip: Brilliant Behaviors
Here’s a quicklist of brilliant behaviors that role-model the kind of environment you want to create for your Brilliant Project:
- Always smiling, confident, optimistic, and undaunted by setbacks
- Keeping focused on
the outcome - Being collaborative, generous, and supportive of your team and your stakeholders
- Giving people the opportunity to succeed and shine, and to develop and grow
- Approaching setbacks in a courageous way, and displaying
passion for your project - Demonstrating values-led decision-making and maintaining 100% integrity at all times
What are Your Thoughts about Making an Impossible Project Happen?
Do you have insights to share or questions to ask?
Please do use the comments below, and we’ll respond to every contribution.
By the Way…
Many years ago, I was recommended a book by one of the finest project management thinkers on the web, Glen Alleman. Its title resonates with this article, and it’s full of good advice. The project it documents was, for sure, a ‘mega project’. But the lessons it gives you will apply in any context. Please do take a look at ‘Making the Impossible Possible‘ by Kim Cameron and Marc Lavine.
