Is There Room for a Devil’s Advocate on Your Project Team?

Much is being said these days about the importance of optimism in the building and sustaining of a positive work environment and successful project teams. But, as you approach your project post mortem, consider how the project might have been run differently (and even had a better outcome), if you had paid more attention to the devil’s advocate on the team.

We all love the optimists who believe in a rosy future. As we work together on a project team, they are the ones who cheerlead and say “yes, we can” and “why not.” These positive thinkers energize the team and keep us moving forward. We all feel good about working and planning together. 

But remember what happened when one of the project team members said, “Hold on. Wait a minute. This won’t work.” How did you react? Did you just shut down the skeptic? Were you simply too impatient to keep moving on the smooth, easy path ahead?

As you use a project post mortem to review the outcome of your recent project, also evaluate how it might have gone more smoothly if you had listened to the pessimist during the definition, planning or execution stages. You need to be aware all along of what could go wrong. You need to carefully weigh possible challenges. You need to face how the project plan could fail. You need to take a step backward when things are not going as you had hoped (a mini project post mortem) and think about how these backward steps could affect the entire success of the project in the long-term.

Every project team needs at least one person who can foresee and highlight potential obstacles to success. And every project team needs to listen when those potential problems are raised. The optimists should continue in their cheerleading mode only after they:

• Have developed strategies to prevent project problems
• Are able to plan a reasonable project budget and project timeline
• Have outlined clear-cut steps for project execution
• Have examined all risks and what to do in case of project failure

And then, they need to pay attention during project execution to the pessimist’s concerns. If issues are raised, listen to them and be sure you balance potential problems with workable solutions. 

Download the Top 10 Project Management Mistakes and How to Prevent Them from Destroying Your Next Project