Programme recovery: prepare to recover or prepare to fail

24 June, 2019

It continues to be a surprise that many executives have a big blind spot when it comes to programme and project delivery. There are a myriad of surveys that say that somewhere between a third to a half of all projects will go awry. While most executives seem to accept that, they also seem to believe that troubled projects happen elsewhere. They think it will not happen to them, and many have not defined their approach to programme recovery.

This blindspot can be expensive and damaging to their reputation. Without a recovery approach it takes longer to identify a failing project thus making recovery more difficult. Even when identified, if there isn’t an agreed playbook, recovery actions can be reactive. It can cause more damage to the project and its business case. The very people with the skills required to recover the programme may start disassociating themselves from it.

While we need to set all our projects up for success and have good project management and quality assurance baked into our standard approaches, there will still be programmes and projects that need to be rescued and recovered. Managed well, recovery can be a real opportunity to get the right attention on the project.

Organisations that have a recovery playbook in place are quicker to identify and address these problem projects. Doing so prevents significant damage to their project investments and business cases. It can save costs, prevent the loss of business value and enhance the reputation of those involved.

Below, we outline one approach and playbook for programme recovery. You could use this to help address a problem project you have, or develop an ongoing capability within your organisation to identify and address troubled projects.

Prepare for programme recovery

Where a process is in place to recover troubled programmes research indicates a 74% success rate. Organisations that do not have programme recovery approaches in place are losing a quarter or more of their change investments.

Where a recovery process is not in place, programme managers and stakeholders may delay escalating that their programme may be in trouble as they do not know what will happen or are fearful of the implications. Without a recovery process, if a programme is identified as in trouble it can elicit an emotional or knee-jerk reaction that can further damage the programme and its business case.

Executives should recognise that a number of their programmes will get into trouble at some stage. They can improve their return on investment by having defined recovery processes and capability in place to identify and recover or halt troubled programmes.

Approach to programme recovery

The SARA approach to programme recovery involves four phases to recover the programme:

Stabilise
Analyse
Reposition
Action and Sustain

Once a programme is in trouble and recovery is needed, the speed of the first two phases, ‘Stabilise’ and ‘Analyse’ is key to building momentum and trust. The ‘Reposition’ and ‘Action and Sustain’ phases will take more time. The ‘Stabilise’ and ‘Analyse’ phases should happen as quickly as possible, within two to six weeks. The duration of the ‘Reposition’ and ‘Action’ phases will be determined by the assessment completed during the ‘Analyse’ phase.

However before you start, to ensure buy-in to the programme recovery and hit the ground running there are three prerequisites you need to have in place.

Recognition that the programme is in trouble

The programme sponsor, executive management or steering committee should realise and acknowledge that a programme is in distress. Indicators of failing programmes include uncontrolled changes in scope, schedule or budget, and a lack of deliverable quality.

Initial assessment not a simple cause or remedy

At this point, the recovery sponsor has validated that the programme is in trouble. They have verified that it is outside of defined tolerances, generally agreed by the organisation. There also needs to be an initial assessment to determine that there is not a simple cause and remedy that can be put into place. We can assist in undertaking such an assessment as a programme health check type review or a more detailed programme assurance review.

Assign an experienced Recovery Manager

The next step is the selection of an experienced recovery manager, which is critical. The recovery manager needs to have a proven background in managing recovery programmes and also have strong leadership and interpersonal skills to gain the trust of the stakeholders. They must engage positively with the existing programme manager and team. They need to have strong analytical capabilities to identify root-causes and remedies, but also be able to manage the emotional aspect of programme recovery combining both the art and science of project management.

Establishing a capability and playbook to recover troubled projects requires a relatively small investment. If your organisation manages a large number of projects, the return on investment in developing a recovery function will be large. Your project success rate will increase and the stress levels on your key people will reduce.

If you are interested in finding out more on how you can recover a troubled project and develop a programme recovery playbook and the capability to run one in your organisation, we’d be delighted to talk to you. We have distilled our experience locally and globally in PwC into a repeatable approach and methodology that will reduce risk, time and effort for you and your business.