In the Projects profession, time and time management have become an oxymoron. On most projects there is a constant underlying sense of urgency – like what you are working on today should have been done yesterday, and what needs to be done tomorrow seems perpetually on the critical path. Yet conversely, projects can also take months, years, decades even, to materialise and complete. This is a crazy contradiction that successfully managed can give huge levels of reward and job satisfaction, but unsuccessfully managed can lead to mental exhaustion and burn out.
So how can we better set our projects up for success? How do we ensure that a project keeps moving forward in a way that is proactive rather than reactive? And how do we ensure that we retain the many talented people that work on our projects on the right side of overwhelm?
As a Project Manager who has worked across a wide array of projects & across different industries over the last 10-15 years, I think that one of the answers is the need for a week 0 on all schemes. I have started working on projects at all stages of the project lifecycle – from project inception, to coming on board mid design, mid procurement and mid delivery. But even at the very start of a project, it is rare that any member of the project team has time to sufficiently set the project up for success. And if you don’t get things right at the start, how can you expect the rest of the team to make things go right as the project progresses?
What a week 0 actually is
Simply put, a week 0 is a week set aside without any expectation of output. Week 0 allows a consultant to gather and establish the essentials. What is the vision for the project? What makes the project viable? What will make it a success? It allows time for interrogation - to ask questions, for example around funding, KPIs and structure, and establish what information is missing. To ensure gaps are covered in the project scope, or that the right specialist advice is bought in.
Not just at the start, & not just for the core team
The week 0 concept should also be applied to any new member of the project team, no matter what stage they are onboarded. Each consultant is bought into the team for a reason and they need to be allowed to understand and examine the project too. New people and new areas of expertise should be opportunities for innovation, to challenge and question assumptions and offer fresh perspectives. But people cannot be expected to do this if they are pushed immediately into contribution and deliverables.
Why procurement deserves one too
A week 0 concept should apply to the procurement process of external services too. How often are tendering times squeezed down in the master programme as a project progresses? I get it - time has a cost and getting a project started is often perceived to result in less expense and result in earlier income (although most would argue that this is rarely realised). But getting market certainty on a price, especially on fixed price contracts, takes time. Everyone up and down the supply chain deserves time to prepare a robust tender response.
Often too, external consultants and contractors are left alone to review tender documents with little or no touch points with the Client-side team. How often is the vision of a project properly explained to anyone tendering to join a project? How often are the already established principles and ethics of the established team relayed? And if this isn’t part of the procurement process, how can we expect our external teams to fully and quickly integrate and align with out internal teams?
Give people a week 0
Give people a week 0. Spend time creating and explaining the vision and the mission. Get people excited, motivated and ready to collaborate. Allow them space to ask questions so that when they turn up on week 1 they are able to contribute in a more meaningful, tailored and authentic way. Allowing people time to align with the vision will result in better projects. Better projects result in a better built environment - and that benefits everyone.
So, Project Managers, let’s start planning in a week 0 for ourselves and our teams. And Clients, please allow your teams this privilege. It will result in a successful, more aligned team and ultimately in a better, more successful end product.