Compelling Scoreboards Do Keep Projects on Track

Technology management involves liberal amounts of  project management. Like construction engineers and architects, we Technology Managers often find ourselves being asked to design technology solutions, and implementing these. But for most of us, driving projects to be completed on time, and within cost has proven challenging - especially in this era where most technology projects are implemented by vendors and outsourced partners.

Throughout the years, I found out that keeping a compelling scoreboard of the project not only helps me, as the Project Manager, keep track of its progress, but also elicits commitment from the implementing team, vendors included. It also helps in communicating the project's progress to other stakeholders (i.e. executives, other departments) easier. Keeping a compelling scoreboard is extolled as discipline three in FranklinCovey Institute's Four Discpline of Execution (4DX). While 4DX's approach is utilitarian and practicable, scoreboards (or dashboards) is not unique to 4DX. It is also espoused in various management cases and thesis (i.e. Project Management Institute, Balanced Scorecard, etc.). Although, it is in 4DX where the case of "scoreboards should be compelling", is consistently made.

Take the snapshot of the simple  project management scoreboard below as an example. The template for this can also be downloaded (link provided below) to help you start your own scoreboard for your projects.

All effective scoreboards should follow the following characteristics:

1. It is easy to understand and identify where you are (your progress) at a given time.Within 5 seconds, the scoreboard should be able to tell you if the project is delayed or not, if we are at risk of cost overrun, and what are the other risks to watch-out for. 
2. Only the necessary information is displayed. Very informative but not cluttered  Put in the scoreboard only those scores agreed with all stakeholders as necessary to track. Show only the essentials. Notice that in the below screenshots, we do not track Cost Performance Index (CPI). This is as agreed with all stakeholders and primarily because the project is being implemented by an outsourced contractor paid on progressive billing based on milestone completions.
3. The Scores can be updated weekly - this is particularly important because what good is a scoreboard it doesn't give you the "score" on a regular and nearest-real-time possible. My personal belief in this matter is that scoreboards should give you at least a weekly status of the project. if you have automated tools, then daily updates are desirable.
4. The scores are directly influencable by the performance of the project team. The below picture may not show this obviously. But after a day of explanation and two meetings after, the stakeholders know immediately what they should do to get the score back to its "proper" level. The scoreboard can only be compelling if the participants feel that they influence those scores directly. That is, the score is tied to what they do, and plan to do in the ensuing days.  
5. Which brings us to the most important point, the scoreboard should inspire /compel you to act. You will have to do some trial and error regarding this. Remember that a dashboard/scoreboard may be excellent for one team but not for another. Item number 4 above is the main driving force in making a scoreboard inspiring and compelling - the fact that one's action directly influences the score puts that person committed and immersed into the game. Although, in terms of making a scoreboard compelling, a little creativity also contributes significantly. It helps when you keep looking at the scoreboard not only because you want to see the score, but also because it is visually appealing and telling.  

Some may observe that this is not the most compelling scoreboard/dashboard they've seen and I will agree. There are far more compelling dashboards out there. My main objective was only to give a preview and perhaps to drive a point. Our company has dashboards with race cars on it indicating the "sales",and a clear finish-line banner representing the year-end target. There are "pit stops" for the quarterly sales performance. I've also seen dashboards with motor gauges, and one that has flags with names of the teams represented by icons climbing a hill. Someone even placed a "barbie" as his icon.

I am not an expert to discuss the social psychology behind this, but in my experience, and in the experience of other people I helped create their own scoreboards - it works. Having compelling scoreboards help people become more attentive to the project's schedules and outcomes.

I would liken the experience to the competitive attitude observed among athletes. In sports, it is easy to determine what the score is. There is a huge scoreboard displayed prominently. Everybody knows the score and what it means to them individually. The coaching staff immediately knows if its time to call for a time-out, to substitute players, and leads him how to assess the gameplay at halftime. The players immediately know how they stand, the amount of effort they need, and if they should go defense or offense. Looking at the shot clock counter, they know if they need to shoot the ball; or, looking at the yard-line, the quarterback calls the best appropriate play. The audience too, knows when they should cheer louder, cheer defense, or offense, and whose name to cheer when needed. Keeping score also elicits the amount of dedication among the fans. All we need to holler at the end of the bar table is the score, and every fan knows what that means. Keeping tab of the score consistently even makes some of us instant game experts and analysts. 

When I introduced the above scoreboard to vendors, attitudes changed. Knowing how the scoreboards would look like by our weekly reporting day (which is always a Thursday) compels them to act. Everyone is looking at the same data, and this reduces the length of meetings since we do not need to explain each others point-of-view regarding the status and progress of the project. Also,in a way, the meetings became more objective.

Every week, we spend 30-45 minutes discussing the completion of all tasks, and, "projecting" what items can be finished in the next week to get the scores (Schedule Performance Index, SPI) and EV at their proper levels. 

Start practicing your creativity and create your own scoreboards for your Projects today. To help you star, you can download the above sample Project Monitoring Scoreboard here.  This Excel workbook may not be the best tool you are looking for to "automate" your project plans. But if you are looking for a way to shorten your meetings and how a scoreboard can be done in Excel, then feel free to download the Excel file, study, and revise it as you wish. I hope this helps.