Post Mortem of a Project in Italy

I am continuing the sequel from my discussion post to the blog. For those who have not read it I have re-posted it again.

I was preparing a training course for a rollout of a new application to improve the supply chain management programme especially on the logistic side as deliveries were always delayed causing customers to be discouraged. The stakeholders were the executive director and the managers of the sourcing office in Florence, the project manager was someone from San Bruno, CA and the instructional designer was from Hongkong and I was the instructor/facilitator. As Allen & Hardin (2008) state that preparing the different phases of a project requires time. I would like to add that the final project is an evolution of a scaffold process built on hours, days and weeks up to months of preparation.

The project was proposed to rollout after 6 – 8 months of preparation. I was part of the every process since I was handling the logistic department in particular in the IT aspect of it. During this period, I struggled to communicate with the stakeholders because they wanted the end product without looking into the process. The Project Manager had scheduled every aspect of the project but did not include the time difference amongst us not to mention time needed for each aspect to be organised. Our instructional designer did not understand the culture of the people to whom I was going to deliver the training – they were Italians! Two weeks before the actual rollout, I had to call a conference call for everyone to meet after I had sent an extensive email explaining how entangled various aspects had become. As a facilitator, I no longer understood what I was going to deliver.

This was a project that needed a good and efficient project manager. If I had the opportunity to manage this project, I would have considered the timeline and check if all the deliverables would have been met. Also the staffing was essential for the project to succeed. The time differences between its members almost led the coordination into a very tight position. I really would not know how to solve this aspect as the staff selected was highly qualified. Meeting up was one of the greatest frustrations in this project. One way or the other someone had to stay awake in the wee hours of the morning.
If I had a magic wand, I would have flown everyone into Italy for a week or two so we could discuss issues properly without obstacles of time and space. The stakeholders who have been more included in the discussion and not during decision making alone. In this way, they see the process and understand what it means to plan a new application that will correct the previous problems causing the delay of deliveries into the retail stores. The new application rolled out a year later due to various issues.

Having said this, I immensely enjoyed the discussions and the exchange of ideas from people of different cultures and walks of life. It was extremely enriching to see other points of views and consider them in my training. This gave me a possibility to look into other systems and consider what is valid for my office. Yes, it was exhausting but however you put it, the learning experience was the best part of it.