One Christmas tree project and many lessons to learn

The most-discussed project during Christmas was the project to build the world’s tallest Christmas tree in Sri Lanka, with the aim to attract tourism and to celebrate the Christmas as one bright nation. As a result of a project initiated by Minister Arjuna Ranatunga with the involvement of many volunteers, the Christmas tree was shining bright on the first day of the Christmas. 

The project claimed a success as it was delivered on time. Time was the main constraint since there was no way Christmas Day could be delayed. The impact it made on scope, cost, quality and resource constraints are yet to be estimated. 

Did it come as planned? Was the shape of the tree the one planned in the original design? How much was the total project cost, and did the team meet the budget constraints? Taking all these factors into consideration the project success or failure will be measured by the project team. The team must compare the actual project outcomes with the planned success criteria and document their lessons learned. 

It is not evident to the public that the project had any success criteria defined rather than making it the tallest in the word. If the only project success criteria was building an artificial Christmas tree taller than the 55-metre tree-like tower erected in China last year, it might have been a success. However, it could not deliver its promise of the 100-metre tall Christmas tree. Media reported that the 73-metre (238-foot) tree, built in capital Colombo, is 18 meters taller than the current record holder, and the Guinness World Record Committee is yet to make the judgement.

We have seen this shocking and continuing trend of our projects not completing the agreed scope. Project management strategies used by Sri Lankan project teams have not delivered value in almost every large project that has been managed in recent years. The sad truth is we still don’t learn.

Lessons we can learn from our projects 

Projects are failing at an alarming rate, because of our attitude that we know everything and we have it all under control. Our focus in very narrow when it comes to project management. We do not look at the holistic view of the project. Instead, we focus on only one thing. 

In the case of Christmas tree project, the team must have focused on completing it by the Christmas Eve. Many other factors might have been neglected. The Christmas tree was taken to demonstrate one example only, in an environment where projects fail year after year. 

Lesson #1: Poor understanding on what project management is all about.

In most of our universities and education institutes, project management is taught in a very traditional way that no practical outcome is delivered. Project managers walk out with the book knowledge on very technical areas. They believe that project management is all about drawing the network diagram and managing the critical path, as a lot of emphasis is put on these areas of teaching, sometimes with a compulsory question in the exam in drawing a network diagram and calculating the critical path.

Even in the case of the world’s tallest Christmas tree project, they have achieved the time constraints in the critical path. Last-minute work might have put a large amount of stress on the teams which built the tree, however they have achieved the deadline. To meet the critical path, the project team might have decided to cut a large part of the scope, from a 100-meter tower to something which has been far lower in height.

Project management is not just about managing the critical path. There are many other areas a project manager must work on while managing a project, such as scope, quality, communication, risk, and stakeholder management, and ultimately delivering the estimated business, social or environmental benefits.

Project management has been popular in Sri Lanka for decades, at least now it is important that Sri Lankan managers open up their hearts to the world’s best practices in project management and continue to learn new things as project management evolves every day.

Lesson #2: Planning the details at the beginning is still important in large and complex projects

In a large and complex project, importance of detailed planning at the beginning should never be neglected. While many projects in the construction industry still follow a plan driven approach, the Christmas tree project should also have applied more flexible method of project management without a proper plan. It was evident that some risks have shifted the project from achieving its original scope.

While traditional project teams focus on delivering projects according to the identified critical path and the detailed planning process that happens before the start of the project execution, new generations of project teams focus on more agile or adaptive planning methodologies where you planned in detail only as you go through the project. Due to its complexity and the importance of the Christmas tree project, a plan driven approach would have been the most appropriate.

A plan where scope, time, cost, quality, resources and all other aspects of project planning were integrated into one clear plan would have directed the project to a tremendous success.

Lesson #3: Manage project risks, not just the changes

With all the challenges that came their way, the project team has managed to complete the Christmas tree on Christmas Day, decorated with natural pine cones, shining bright with 600,000 LED bulbs topped by a six-meter-tall (20-foot) shining star. The city was packed with people from all around the country. The tree brought happiness to the hearts of people in all religions, becoming a symbol of joy this Christmas.

While we enjoy the beauty of the tree, it is important to note that risk management was another area this project could have thought more about. A week or two before the expected date of completion, messages were sent by the media that the Christmas tree project was put on hold or abandoned temporarily due to an external risks. 

One of the priorities in any project is identifying risks early in advance so that the negative impacts can be avoided and the project will deliver its expectations. If the risks had been identified early, the project would have been a better success, where we all could proudly say the world, ‘hey, we did it’. We did it anyway, but we could have achieved the planned 100-metre height showing our project management maturity.

Lesson #4: Let’s learn from the lessons 

At the end of the project, not just the Christmas tree project, any other project, do not neglect a project closure meeting where the team can celebrate their success and look at the things they could have done better. Even in a failed project, there are successes you can always celebrate. 

Listen to what all the stakeholders have to say, rather than reacting to feedback saying ‘we did it well’. You will find that there are many ways a project could be managed better when it takes the lessons learned from a previous similar project. Start by completing this short list of lessons learned with all the other lessons you can learn from this project and the real life projects you manage. And always remember to apply project management with a holistic view to enjoy the success.

(The writer is a Project Management Consultant and Trainer and can be reached via [email protected].)