Beware of the green

What’s wrong with green?

I’m sure that there are many readers who will read the title and think of the green sweets that most of us try to avoid — but, although very valid, that isn’t what I want to talk about here. Instead I want us to focus on green in the context of programme assurance reports which use ‘red, amber, green’ colour coding to convey the assessment of those areas presenting the greatest risk or opportunity.

In my experience, the green isn’t always green and we all need to ‘beware of the green’.

A programme manager in a large UK government department was recently relaying a story to me which perfectly illustrated the point. When he joined his multi million pound programme, all the project reports he received were showing green. It had seemed like an easy role for him to step into, but within a couple of weeks he realised that the programme wasn’t running green, but rather a crimson red — and he was in front of business leadership explaining not only why things had gone so badly wrong but why no one had mentioned it before. Does that seem familiar?

This happens over and over again, and I’m sure that most colleagues in the programme delivery world would be able to tell a few stories themselves. But why? And if this is so commonplace, why isn’t anyone doing anything about it? After all, programmes are strategically important and expensive to deliver and it’s important that they are delivered well.

Modern programmes are often highly complex, involving the implementation of new technologies and changes to operating models and processes requiring buy in from staff and strong supplier management, so it’s hardly surprising that they go wrong. When they do start to encounter problems, it’s much better to identify them early, consult with senior colleagues and come up with an agreed approach rather than sweep them under the carpet. What starts with a bit of a niggle can often lead to a serious and costly delay.

I’ve reviewed hundreds of technology projects over the years and have never come across one that went entirely to plan. If only tech programmes were as simple and nicely packaged as a Lego construction set with exactly the right pieces at hand and a step by step instruction set!

What’s behind the green reports?

So why is it that we see so many project and programme updates that show green?

One reason could be that it is personally difficult for project team leaders and their teams to admit that there may be problems they are struggling to overcome. How will this reflect on them? How will the motivation of the team be affected? There is often a tendency for programme teams to report status through rose tinted spectacles and receive a pat on the back rather than unwelcome increased scrutiny and questions from above.

Asking a project manager how their project is going feels a little like asking them how they feel. They might have had a terrible night’s sleep and feel awful, but would generally respond with the usual: ‘fine thanks – you?’. In other words, they don’t want to get into the painful details. It makes them feel worse. A bit like explaining a red and amber status report to a programme board.

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Another cause could be that the project team genuinely doesn’t recognise the issues at hand. The management of RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies) is core to a project’s self awareness of the challenges it is facing or could face. However, more often than not, this is viewed as an admin task and left to junior team members to complete. This leads to a lack of appropriate constructive dialogue amongst colleagues to ensure that issues are raised and dealt with. Programme Boards and leaders then see a green view of risk reported to them based upon partial and inaccurate data.

The importance of clear guidelines

Even when a programme team embeds a suitably skilled and experienced risk team into its PMO, there is a high degree of reliance placed upon the individuals allocated this task. There is no industry accepted definitive body of knowledge that claims to set out a strong risk framework for technology enabled projects and programmes. Rather, most guidance relates to programme delivery with only a passing mention of RAID. This means that the team isn’t able to test the programme against a definitive guide of what can go wrong, in general, let alone specifically in relation to the project they are working on.

No one would claim that predicting where problems may arise is easy, particularly on large and complex technology programmes. Issues will always arise that were arguably foreseeable but just weren’t spotted: but that’s just another reason why a programme report covered in green ought to be difficult to believe.

What can we do about it?

Programme and project governance groups play a key role alongside the senior responsible officers to ensure that risk management on projects is given the attention it deserves. A few questions you could ask are:

• How have we ensured that we have learned the lessons of past projects?
• Do we know how similar projects have fared elsewhere? Have we spoken to others who’ve been through this before and understood their challenges and how they might relate to us? Have we sought references from suppliers and spoken to their previous customers?
• Who is managing our RAID process? Do they have the right level of experience and support? Who can they speak to outside the programme if they have concerns?
• Have we thought about independent assurance to build confidence in the programme at critical points and help us to identify and address any issues early? Do we have an assurance plan for the programme?

Finally, the most important question: what is your definition of ‘green’? Does it mean that you are confident that all is well, or does it mean that you simply aren’t aware of any problems? If the latter, consider using a different colour. If the former, consider adding a confidence level against the assessment (such as high, medium, or low). By helping leaders to see where uncertainty exists, you will help them to focus in not only on the known red and amber areas, but also on the areas where there might be red hiding amongst the green.

And the next time someone asks how you are, you now know that a better answer would be ‘fine thanks, with a [TBC] level of confidence’.