Combatting Project Fatigue

How many times have you worked on a project where your initial drive and energy was through the roof? You were excited to work on something new, thinking it would be great not just for yourself but for the betterment of the company. Then as the project continued to evolve, that same drive you had at the beginning dwindled to the point where:

1. You started to withdraw from the project and didn't care whether it succeeded

2. You grew tired of working with your teammates

3. You became frustrated with the unknowns and complexity of the work

4. You felt the momentum has slowed with no end in sight

If any (or all) of those problems sound familiar, you and/or your team more than likely have suffered from project fatigue.

Project fatigue occurs when team members start to lose interest and focus on a project. This can lead to disastrous results including, but not limited to, severe delays and project failure.

This is a critical time that could make or break a project and happens frequently unless properly corrected. Here are 3 tips to help fight project fatigue:

Read the Room / 1 on 1s

Defined as understanding the emotions and thoughts of the people present, reading the room is one of the most important skills a project leader should have in understanding their team. An increase in negative body language, disinterest, or lack of follow through/participation are all fairly common indicators of project fatigue.

For example, I worked on a project in the past that had an extremely long time line and felt like there was no end in sight. I started to notice my team wasn’t fully engaged. Team members that were very vocal in the beginning of the project started to be silent. Some missed meetings. I knew I had to do something.

My solution was break-out 1 on 1 sessions with the project team.

Sometimes team members do not want to be vocal about issues with the project. Sometimes team members want to be respectful even when they do not agree with the direction of the project. Others may feel that the project scope has changed significantly enough that they don’t need to be involved anymore.

Regardless, having a 1 on 1 dialogue with individual team members gives them the freedom to discuss issues on the project without judgement from the rest of the team. By taking this dialogue into consideration this can reinvigorate the team.

Midterm Retrospective

Sometimes the project management procedures need some new life injected into them. Meetings can become repetitive and the team may feel like the status of the project is not changing. This monotony can create a lot of disinterest in the project.

A midterm retrospective can be useful in this situation. As a standard practice in the Agile framework, midterm retrospectives are a mid-project ‘reset’ that allows the team to provide feedback with the goal of improvement going forward.

One of the documents I use to help drive feedback is the Starfish Diagram. The Starfish Diagram is broken up into 5 parts; ‘Start Doing’, ‘Stop Doing’, ‘Do More Of’, ‘Do Less Of’, and ‘Keep Doing’.

Project leads need tough skin here. This is a chance for the team to provide candid feedback about what is and is not working. Maybe the team thinks you should change the length of time of each meeting. Maybe there is agreement to meet more frequently. Maybe the team feels there is micro-management around tasks and procedures.

We need to be open to constructive criticism as opportunities like this allows for course correction. Teammates will have a re-energized vested interest in the project because their constructive feedback is being heard.

Re-evaluating all aspects of the Project. See the Finish Line

Projects with long timelines tend to feel like they are never ending. Similar to the midterm retrospective, revisiting the expectations and goals of the project is an effective way to combat project fatigue. Change is constant. What your team agreed to when scoping the project oftentimes tends to evolve once you are knee deep into the execution of the work. It is crucial to take a moment to pause and visualize the end of the project as well as reflect on its purpose.

During this re-evaluation time, ask these questions:

●    What is considered project success? Are there any new ideas or ways of working that we should implement?

●    Why are we doing this work? Have requirements changed since we started?

●    Should we re-prioritize some of the tasks we are doing? Can we cut some tasks out that now seem unnecessary?

●    What does a finished project look like and roughly when will that occur?

Project fatigue is never fun. By following some of these steps during a bout of fatigue, project managers have a better opportunity of righting the ship before the project sinks.