PM Toolkit - War Rooms

Tool: War Rooms
Type: Technique

Do we really have to be that militaristic?
Personally, I don't like the term... but then again... its what most people call it so I just let it be.

The concept of war rooms is pretty simple - get everyone involved in the project in one room in order that they may work in the most optimal and efficient way possible. The thing is, with the advent of (not so) new technology and virtual teams, the concept of war rooms is all but gone. The danger here is that management and project management tend to think that it is just as efficient to work virtually than it is to work side-by-side. This obviously is not the case. Distance creates noise and disruption in communications. A video conference can never fully replace a face-to-face meeting. Emails and Virtual spaces can only go so far.

Having a war room for your projects can give you the following advantages:

• Instantaneous response with limited noise. - you can get feedback immediately and correctly. the possibility of things being lost in translation are lessened.
• Improved sense of belonging - you can really feel that you are part of a team - not just via email. There are real people beside you that can encourage and motivate you.
• Sense of unity and urgency - when the PM says its urgent, everybody will pretty much know how urgent the work really is.
• Better project monitoring - you'll know when its done - done. 
• Better issue management - issues can be resolved faster since everybody is there.

As you can see, having your own war room is and will always be the best case scenario. Project teams should always strive to have one whenever possible. Only when certain constraints exists do we opt to do otherwise. Nonetheless, we should always strive to reproduce the war room - even virtually.

Hence in most cases where a war room is not feasible and you have a geographically dispersed team, here are some very useful tips:

• Have a regular meeting with a pre-defined agenda. If you can all meet up at certain dates - do so. If not, set-up calls (preferably video). IM tools such as Skype can reduce costs though in cases like these a good and reliable internet connection is important.
• Agenda for such meetings should contain the following:
• Updates on the planned activities
• Reasons for planned activities that were not performed
• Unplanned activities that were performed
• Any decisions that need to be made by the project team
• Updates on Issues and Risks
• Action items / Planned activities
• Regular meetings should also have light moments. These can be a part of the agenda were people are praised for their work or commended for something good. Just like in a regular face-to-face meeting, it need not be boring and mundane. We are all people and we need to laugh sometimes. :)
• As with any meeting, there should be meeting minutes.
• Ensure that there is a central repository for documents and information, and that everyone has access to it. This way project team members can pick-up files and documents in just one place. There should be limited occurrences of "emailing the file" to the project team members but rather just referencing where it is located in the repository. This ensures as well that everyone has access to the latest version of the file and that there is less dependency on other people to get information.
• There are several collaboration software out there, some even free like Google Drive that can be synced up with Google+ and Gmail.

By keeping these things in mind, communication within the project will definitely improve, and in-turn help the project succeed.