Is Disinformation Driving Your Business Projects?

It is very easy to be selective when it comes to choosing the facts and information that we prefer, and then use them in a way that suits us and our needs. Any facts and news that do not match our beliefs and ideals can quickly be discarded. This is often known as “optimism bias” and is a common cause of projects going over budget or time, or failing to deliver what stakeholders were expecting.

Over the last couple of years, the Internet and social media have been a significant source of false news stories and inaccurate statements. These “facts” and “statements” are often taken to be the truth and eagerly consumed by anyone who wants to believe them – so much so that recently, the new term “alternative facts” has been introduced.

To be honest, this is nothing new. It is something that has been happening throughout the centuries, and we certainly don’t need to look too far back in history books to find examples of this. Political purchases and wars of the past have often been justified as a result of misinformation. When it is so easy to ignore the news that we hear if it doesn’t fit with our preconceptions, it’s easy to see how “alternative facts” or disinformation can infiltrate other areas, such as projects.

The construction industry – a prime example

The construction industry is a prime example of this with many construction projects hiding the truth from those who have a stake in the project until the very end when the project can often fall apart. Then it shows significant losses and of course plenty of blame and acrimony between the various parties involved.

A couple of years ago, a West Australia construction company that everyone thought was doing well and had many years of successful growth under its belt, reported staggering losses of around $600 million. These are not losses that occur within the space of a few months but rather over the course of several years. The big question on everyone’s mind was, of course, how on earth could this have happened and stayed hidden for so long?

Possible reasons include:

1. The answers provided are wrong because incorrect information was used.
2. There is a fault in the system; therefore, the output is incorrect.
3. The information has been misinterpreted.
4. There isn’t the knowledge or experience in the project team to interpret any information correctly.
5. The problems have been covered up deliberately by a member of the project team.
6. The team has ignored the problems.
7. It is very clear however that disinformation will certainly have driven this issue and allowed it to get to the point of such significant losses.

The project schedule – is it accurate?

A fundamental principle of the APM project management approach is that a project schedule is essential no matter what type of project you are working on; it is important not to start a project without one. However, even when you have the best project schedule, it is entirely possible to report that the project you are working on is on schedule, even if it isn’t. Many project managers have found ways to manipulate their schedules to show the client and management that they are on schedule, although not, and that the project will be finished on time. There are, of course, also incidents where there has been a failure of communication and a project is completed late with the project manager caught unawares. This emphasizes yet another fundamental project management principle – the importance of effective communication.

There are, of course, multiple reasons for a schedule not being met, including:

1. The project schedule isn’t constructed properly, and there are errors with the logic, inter-dependencies, durations, and even resources.
2. The schedule may have included insufficient time for finishing and then commissioning the project.
3. The schedule hasn’t been updated correctly, and any progress appears to be more advanced than it actually is.
4. The project team has analyzed the progress on the percentage completeness; however, they are not looking at the progress measured against the critical path.
5. The project team simply ignores the schedule and hopes that in the end everything will work out well and be completed on time.
6. The team alters the schedule to show that the project is on schedule even when it is not.
7. The team finds faults in the schedule and uses these as an excuse to ignore the fact that the schedule indicates that the project will be completed late.

The project cost report

It is usual for a project to produce a monthly cost report. However, these are not always correct and again, there are a number of reasons that this might occur:

1. Data may be put into the cost report incorrectly.
2. The report may include over-claims – income from work not yet done or include some claims that haven’t been approved by the stakeholders, which have not been paid at all, or not in full.
3. The report may include costs that are incorrect, have been omitted, or forgotten.
4. Information from the cost report has been ignored. Sometimes a project team hope things will improve by the end of the project and ignore the fact it is losing money. This situation is another example of optimism bias and can only become worse if action isn’t taken.
5. Loss is hidden deliberately, and reports are manipulated to indicate a profit.
6. The reasons for any loss are explained incorrectly, and management may be given indications that this might be recovered by the end of the project, but this does not happen.

Final thoughts

Any project may seem securely on track to meet it’s deadlines and commitments, however, this may not be the case if disinformation has seeped into one or more aspects of the project management lifecycle. When disinformation in one area is compounded by more, disaster could be waiting to strike. There is always the potential that a major problem is just waiting to take place and your project isn’t necessarily safe because it hasn’t experienced a serious issue.

It might be luck that is helping your project to survive. Some project managers choose to ignore concerns but when disinformation is rife there will almost always be some indications that all is not well with the project report them. So if there are too many of these small concerns, don’t ignore them. Query every aspect of the schedule and the data on every report produced. It might seem like a lot of work. It might be easier to ignore the warning signs, but these warning signs could result in a much bigger problem. A failed project that is both delivered late and over-budget but, worse, fails to deliver according to the original specification. Would you want to have been the project manager on a project like that?