CaseStudy:Ajax Project

TranwastakinghisdogCallieonhereveningwalkasthesunbegantosetoverthecoastal range.Helookedforwardtothistimeoftheday.Itwasanopportunitytoenjoysomepeace andquiet.ItwasalsoatimetorevieweventsontheAjaxprojectandplothisnextmoves. AjaxisthecodenamegivenbyCEBEXforahigh-techsecuritysystemproject fundedby the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Tran is the project manager and his core team consisted of 30 full-time hardware and software engineers. Tran and his family fled Cambodiawhenhewasfouryearsold.HejoinedtheU.S. AirForcewhenhewas18and usedtheeducationstipendtoattendWashingtonStateUniversity.HejoinedCEBEXupon graduating with a dualdegree in mechanical and electrical engineering. After working on a varietyofprojects for10yearsTrandecided he wanted to entermanagement.Hewent to night school at the University of Washington to earn an MBA.

Tran became a project manager for the money. He also thought he was good at it. He enjoyedworkingwithpeopleandmakingtherightthingshappen.Thiswashisfifthproject and up to now he was batting .500, with half of his projects coming ahead of schedule. Tran was proud that he could now afford to send his oldest child to Stanford University.

Ajax was one of many defense projects the CEBEX Corporation had under contract with DOD. CEBEX is a huge defense company with annual sales in excess of $30 billion and more than 120,000 employees worldwide. CEBEX's five major business areas are Aeronautics,ElectronicSystems,Information&TechnologyServices,IntegratedSystems &Solutions,andSpaceSystems.Ajaxwasoneofseveralnewprojectssponsored bythe IntegratedSystems&Solutionsdivisionaimedatthehomelandsecuritybusiness.CEBEX was confident that it could leverage its technical expertise and political connections to become a major player in this growing market. Ajax was one of several projects directed at designing, developing, and installing a security system at an important government installation.

TranhadtwomajorconcernswhenhestartedtheAjaxproject.Thefirstwasthe technical risks inherent in the project. In theory the design principles made sense and the project used proven technology. Still the technology had never been applied in the field in this matter. From past experience, Tran knew there was a big difference between the laboratoryandtherealworld.Healsoknewthatintegratingtheaudio, optical,tactile,and lasersubsystemswould test thepatienceandingenuityofhisteam. The second concern involved his team. The team was pretty much split down the middle between hardware andelectricalengineers.Notonlydidtheseengineershave differentskillsetsandtendto look at problems differently, but generational differences between the two groups were evident as well. The hardware engineers were almost all former military, family men with conservative attire and beliefs. The electrical engineers were a much motlier crew. They tendedtobeyoung,single,andattimesverycocky.Whilethehardwareengineerstalked

about the Seattle Mariners, raising teenagers, and going to Palm Desert to play golf, the softwareengineerstalkedaboutVapor,thelatestconcertattheGorgeamphitheater,and going mountain biking in Peru.

Tomakemattersworse,tensionbetweenthesetwogroupswithinCEBEXfesteredaround salary issues. Electrical engineers were at a premium, and the hardware engineers resented the new hires' salary packages, which were comparable to what they were earning after 20 years of working for CEBEX. Still the real money was to be made from theincentivesassociatedwithprojectperformance.Thesewereallcontingentonmeeting project milestones and the final completion date.

Before actual work started on the project, Tran arranged a two-day team-building retreat at a lodge on the Olympic peninsula for his entire team as well as key staff from the government installation. He used this time to go over the major objectives of the project and unveil the basic project plan. An internal consultant facilitated several team-building activities that made light of cross-generational issues. Tran felt a real sense of camaraderiewithintheteam.Thegoodfeelingsgeneratedfromtheretreatcarriedoverto the beginning of the project. The entire team bought into the mission of the project and technical challenges it represented. Hardware and electrical engineers worked side by side to solve problems and build subsystems.

Theprojectplanwasbuiltaroundaseriesoffivetests,witheachtestbeingamorerigorous verification of total system performance. Passing each test represented a key milestone for the project. The team was excited about conducting the first Alpha test one week earlyonlytobedisappointedbyaseriesofminortechnicalglitchesthattooktwo weeks of problem solving to resolve. The team worked extra hard to make up for the lost time. Tran was proud of the team and how hard members had worked together.

TheAlphaIItestwasconductedonschedule,butonceagainthesystemfailedtoperform. Thistimethreeweeksofdebuggingwasneededbeforetheteamreceivedthe greenlight tomovetothenextphaseoftheproject.Bythistime,teamgoodwillhad beentested,and emotionswereabitfrayed.Acloudofdisappointmentdescendedovertheteamashopes of bonuses disappeared with the project falling further behind schedule. This was augmentedbycynicswhofeltthattheoriginalschedulewasunfairandthedeadlineswere impossible to begin with.

Tranrespondedbystartingeachdaywithastatusmeetingwheretheteamreviewedwhat theyaccomplishedthepreviousdayandsetnewobjectivesforthatday.Hebelievedthese meetings were helpful in establishing positive momentum and reinforcing a team identity among the engineers. He also went out of his way to spend more time with the "troops," helpingthemsolveproblems,offeringencouragement,andasincerepatonthebackwhen onewasdeserved.HewascautiouslyoptimisticwhenthetimecametoconducttheAlpha III test. It was the end of the day when the switch was turned on, but nothing happened. Withinminutestheentireteamheardthenews.Screamscouldbehearddownthehallway.

Perhaps the most telling moment was when Tran looked down at the company's parking lotandsawmostofhisprojectteamwalkingbythemselvestotheircars.AshisdogCallie chased some wild bunnies, Tran pondered what he should do next. DiscussionQuestions:

1. HoweffectivehasTranbeenasaprojectmanager?Explain.
2. Whatproblem(s)doesTranface?Howwouldyougoaboutsolvingthem? Why?
3. Discussfiveperformanceindicatorswhichtheprojectmanagerneedstoimprove. (This is the question I need the most help with)