Any project managers here? How is right-to-left planning meant to work?

[martymcarty]

I've worked on IT development projects for 25 years in various technical and analytical roles, using both waterfall and loosely hybrid waterfall/agile methods. They've always had a planning phase up front, to work out a list of tasks, which we would estimate effort against, and that would give the overall timeline for the project. If a task took longer than expected, then it would push the timeline out. This was all very visible on the plan. But ...

A new senior leader at my organisation has kicked off a "transformation programme" consisting of more than a dozen inter-related projects. He has hired some contract project managers to help with delivery, and the one I'm working with has been set a deadline of delivering a complex new system within 6 months. My high level estimate is that it will take at least 18 months (and probably more, as many of the people we need input from are working on multiple projects at the same time). Whenever I suggest creating a task breakdown and putting estimates against each task I'm brushed off. Whenever I say I don't think we can meet the deadline I'm told we have to "challenge ourselves". The contract PM has been presenting highlight reports to the senior leader that suggest everything is on schedule. The senior leader doesn't know enough about IT development to question them. This will unravel very soon, and no doubt those of us on the project team will be blamed for not meeting fantasy deadlines. Is this how "right to left planning" generally works? I know it can't be - I suspect the PM is just naive and is sadly trying to stay on the right side of a senior leader who is deluded.

They sound like nobs.

How does it go? "Better, faster, cheaper, you can only ever have 2 out of the 3".

We can also write a fantasy project plan, but how will he deliver it?

And "challenge ourselves" is total BS! No wonder you are pissed.

OP, I used to work as a PM in IT. It was quite common for contract PMs to be hired for big projects whose sole aim was to say the 'right' things to higher-ups, knowing full well they'd be working elsewhere by the time the shit hit the fan, and the blame naturally fell on full-time employees.

The only advice I can give is to keep plugging away in your weekly status reports, and make sure they are shared with all stake-holders so at least you can prove you were warning people all along.

Thanks. I feel like the little boy in the Emperor's New Clothes story.

I am applying for other jobs. If I leave, no doubt I'll be blamed for derailing the project, but it's looking like the least worst option right now.

I was just about to say exactly this.

The contract market is notorious for this.

Jump in, claim your £5-600/day for 6 months; leave before everything goes down the pan.

Just make sure your thoughts and accurate updates on progress are written down and captured somewhere. Even if it is by raising risks or something if you don’t have the opportunity to publish reports of your own.

Just to add.. I've been in IT also 25 years, but the last 4 as a contractor after being made redundant. I'd never behave like this!

Contractors can be mercenaries and never take responsibility. Always long gone by the time their cock ups come to light too

Apologies to @BrassicaBabe - not lumping you in with my experience of them!

No project planners working on this? I've never worked on a project without a planner.

Lol @Glittertwins you aren't wrong though either!🤣

Sometimes when I'm having a crisis of confidence (er, woman in IT, so ALL THE FECKING TIME!) I think about just how many totally crap PMs I've worked with over the years and that even on a bad day I walk on water in comparison 🤣🤣

Right to left planning simply means you have a set delivery date and you work backwards from that to figure out what needs to be done, and when, to meet it.

It's usually because there is an urgent or fixed date that the deliverable needs to ready for - often a launch or a regulatory cut off.

Surely there must be a plan? You're right to highlight that resources/stakeholders are a risk if they aren't prepared and are also stretched across other projects.

Senior leader has the issue here. They should know enough to know when a plan isn’t achievable or ask pertinent questions. I assume you’ve highlighted your concerns to them?
The only thing I’d say is no one likes a negative Nelly and that’s why you might not be being heard. Might be better to show what can be done by when and present it as more realistic and see what contractor and senior leader say and if it raises any questions. Otherwise odd.

This sounds absolutely standard. It’s a complete joke. I’m a BA and have spent lots of time telling people how long something will take. Get shot down, and sure enough the deadline just gets pushed out again and again. I’ve given up now and just smile and nod

Ayup.

Everyone running around like excited puppies shouting about agile and waterfalls and what have you.

I now call my carefully laid, funded and well thought out plans whatever the flavour of the day is. Not worth arguing about that. But I haven't really changed how I plan things, though I do use any new tech available.

OP, all you can do is cover your own arse. Document that you have raised the problems with the timeline and keep shouting into the wind. Try not to take it too heart. They won't listen. It isn't your fault. Just do what you can do. And if you can, prepare any mitigations you can in advance for when it falls over.

But mostly document, document, document.

"Faster, better, cheaper - pick any two"

• in IT it's always been scope, time, price - pick any two.

The right to left snake oil just means the scope gets reduced to whatever ends up being defined as the 'minimum viable product' which will then be further cut as time runs down.

Golden rule of good pm is "no surprises" if pm hides bad news from the sponsors, the project will not deliver because the scope, time, cost equation doesn't get revisited.

If I was invested enough in the project to continue I'd get the mvp definition ASAP and work out whether it's deliverable in the time/cost budget