Page: 1 © ENHANCE Consortium June 2002 MANAGEMENT OF THE ENHANCE PROJECT Lessons Learned...

Page: 1© ENHANCE ConsortiumJune 2002

MANAGEMENT OF THEENHANCE PROJECT

Lessons Learned

Jean-Claude Dunyach — Airbus France


ENHANCE AT A GLANCE

• “ENHanced AeroNautical Concurrent Engineering”

• Framework:

– European Commission RTD project (DG III + DGXII) in FP IV

• Project features:

– A wide partnership representing the whole aeronautical industry

• 53 partners (14 main partners and 39 associated partners)

• 10 European countries represented

• Co-ordinated by Airbus France

– A large R&D project (~260my effort), 38.2 Meuros

• More than 350 ENHANCE workers

– Starting date: February 1999, duration: 3 years + 3 months


THE SOURCE OF COMPLEXITY

The size of the Consortium

The very large budget

Two European Commission DGs involved (DG XII and DG XIII - formerly DG III)

Mono-sectoral project - strictly an aeronautical project

Experienced partners Strong leader - Airbus - industrially linked with

most partners

Rule 1:

Minimise the size of your Consortiu

m!

Rule 1:

Minimise the size of your Consortiu

m!

Rule 2:

There is never enough travel budget!

Rule 2:

There is never enough travel budget!

Rule 3:

Raise management budget to 12% if >

20 partners

Rule 3:

Raise management budget to 12% if >

20 partners


BEFORE THE START

• Very detailed Project programme– Detailed planning of the first 6 months for all tasks

• Consortium Agreement– IPR are a key issue

• Internal sponsor(s)/champions in your company– Ensure that your company will remain involved in the

project till the end

• A commonly agreed political and strategic statement– Dissemination activities start before the project

Keep IPR ru

les in your C

onsortium

as simple as possible!

Keep IPR ru

les in your C

onsortium

as simple as possible!


WHEN STARTING

• Quality Assurance plan• Document Templates

– This is the responsibility of the management team

• Dissemination and advertising documents• List of contact points in a practical format• “To do” lists for each task and WP• Glossary of specific terms used by the project• List of agreed tools (i. e. Office 2000, Outlook…)

Rule 4:

The Co-ordinator must p

rovide templates at

the very beginning of the project

Rule 4:

The Co-ordinator must p

rovide templates at

the very beginning of the project

Rule 5:

The start of a

large project is

always costly

for the co-ordinatin

g company

Rule 5:

The start of a

large project is

always costly

for the co-ordinatin

g company


RUNNING THE PROJECT

THE MANAGEMENT TEAM: 5 full time workers– General manager — Head of Executive Committee

– Technical manager — Head of ENHANCE Technical Operation team.

– Administrative manager — contract and budget issues.

– Communication manager — communication & dissemination events

– Logistic assistant — supporting this team and the wider Consortium and pushing everything!

Rule 6:Choose your best multilingual secretary!

Rule 6:Choose your best multilingual secretary!


RUNNING THE PROJECT

PROJECT IDENTITY AND MOTIVATION

• Create as early as possible an official logo and a project motto

• Create and share a detailed PowerPoint presentation of the project

• Create an international Jokes book ("Celebrate your differences and learn from them")

• Brief/induct new workers - a summary of the project objectives and state must be available

• A public web site available at the start of the project is also a good tool to develop the project identity


RUNNING THE PROJECT

A GOOD KICK-OFF MEETING

• Gather as many workers and partners as possible (expensive but effective)

• Present Company’s role in the project• Distribute documents:

• Who’s who (with pictures)• Management Team description• Templates

• Agree on “rules” (use of templates, agreed tools…)• Plan a warm up event and/or a social event!

Rule 7:

Actual EC ru

les for K

ick-Off m

eeting should be

amended for la

rge projects

Rule 7:

Actual EC ru

les for K

ick-Off m

eeting should be

amended for la

rge projects

A kick-off meetin

g can be follo

wed by tasks

kick-off in th

e same locatio

n

A kick-off meetin

g can be follo

wed by tasks

kick-off in th

e same locatio

n


RUNNING THE PROJECT

ENGLISH, A COMMON LANGUAGE?

• As many “English” as European countries…• Misunderstandings happen…• Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification, in particular

during meetings• Avoid being too subtle or too sarcastic!• Build a glossary of Common terms

Rule 8:

Deliverables w

ith m

ultiple contri

butors must

be edited by an Englis

h native person

Rule 8:

Deliverables w

ith m

ultiple contri

butors must

be edited by an Englis

h native person


RUNNING THE PROJECT

TAKING DECISIONS

Empower key partners (WP leaders and their deputies) Make sure the work package leaders and task leaders

lead and not just manage! Have deputies that are totally au-fait with the work Teams need leaders who are prepared “to stand up

and be counted” Start every management meeting by browsing the

current list of actions — with identified owner(s) Some confrontational behaviour is good for getting

decisions

The Co-ordinator must s

peak softly

and carry a w

hip!

The Co-ordinator must s

peak softly

and carry a w

hip!


RUNNING THE PROJECT

CIRCULATION OF INFORMATION (1)

Apply strong rules for e-mails Don't systematically put everybody in copy Use explicit title: example "[WP4] Meeting minutes 20/03/2002" Rules for e-mail attachment (use zip files).

Make your deliverables easy to evaluate Executive summary Detailed table of content List of keywords (Include all this in the template)

ENHANCE: 1 gigabytes of a

rchive per year

60 e-mail m

essages a day

ENHANCE: 1 gigabytes of a

rchive per year

60 e-mail m

essages a day

A navigation to

ol with

in the deliv

erables was

requested halfway th

rough the project!

A navigation to

ol with

in the deliv

erables was

requested halfway th

rough the project!


RUNNING THE PROJECT

CIRCULATION OF INFORMATION (2)

Create summary documents with regular issues:• Monthly/bimonthly 4 box progress reports for Tasks/Workpackages• Project Gazette/Newsletter (4 issues a year?)

Organise regular events• Workshops (not talking shops)• Forums Watch the travel budget Do not underestimate the administrative effort required for these

Rule 10:

Informatio

n circulatio

n management is

one of the

most diffi

cult tasks of th

e management te

am

Rule 10:

Informatio

n circulatio

n management is

one of the

most diffi

cult tasks of th

e management te

am


RUNNING THE PROJECT

CIRCULATION OF INFORMATION (3). YOU NEED:

• A shared accessible filing system via the Internet• Agreed document numbering system and review

process• Agreed classification of documents (public,

confidential, restricted…) + Guidance on audience targeted

• Simple copyright rules and a common © mention in each document

• A list of Frequently Asked Questions• An internal review process• A CD-Rom Copy of everything every 6 months

Rule 10:

Don’t forget in

ternal reviews of d

eliverables

in your budget e

stimatio

n

Rule 10:

Don’t forget in

ternal reviews of d

eliverables

in your budget e

stimatio

n


MAIN PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

MULTI-CONTRIBUTORS DOCUMENTS

• The co-ordinator of the document sends an empty document mentioning the company responsible of each sub-section — in red.

• If a sub-section is not received in time, the document is delivered to the Commission with the name of the defaulting partner(s).

Rule 11:

Always shows w

ho is dire

ctly re

sponsible

of any actio

n that is

late

Rule 11:

Always shows w

ho is dire

ctly re

sponsible

of any actio

n that is

late


MAIN PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

DEFAULTING PARTNER(S)

• Ask for a stable contact point in each company

• WP and Task leaders should name a deputy from another company

• The co-ordinator has no real power

• He can’t block the payment of defaulting partner(s)

• He can’t force a partner to transfer its Men/Months to another one

• He can only report to the European Commission

Empower the co-ordinator

Empower the co-ordinator


BACK TO OUR MOTTO ...

Page: 1 © ENHANCE Consortium June 2002 MANAGEMENT OF THE ENHANCE PROJECT Lessons Learned...

Documents

Transcript of Page: 1 © ENHANCE Consortium June 2002 MANAGEMENT OF THE ENHANCE PROJECT Lessons Learned...