When the Going Gets Tough, Turn to the
“Whoo-Hoo” Board

by Andrea Brockmeier, PMP

In the 1995 movie Apollo 13, when the crisis begins developing for the space crew on the lunar landing mission, flight director Gene Kranz, played by Ed Harris, asks “What do we have on the spacecraft that's good?” That may not have been the question most of us would have thought to ask in the face of disaster.

Sometimes, it's hard to think about what's working well when things seem to be going from bad to worse. When projects are running behind schedule, over budget, and issues seem endless, perhaps this is the best time to switch gears and ask: “What do we have on the project that's good?”

A student of mine recently shared a story about a project she was working on that had gone awry. The project was behind schedule, over budget, and team members were dealing with senior-level saboteurs. On top of all of that, there was malfunctioning software and integration problems. In fact, the project outcome was looking pretty dismal. However, it was in the depths of this despair, that the project manager stopped and asked: “What on this project is going well?” And hence, the Whoo-Hoo Board was born.

A space was cleared on the white board and team members were invited to make entries on the Whoo-hoo Board, noting small successes, including the date and name of the person involved. It didn't take long before the list of positive things out-numbered the negative, providing visible evidence that there were many things on the project going well. The Whoo-Hoo Board proved to be a huge confidence booster for the team and helped turn that project around and move the team in a positive direction.

So, the next time you feel like your project is heading for disaster, maybe it's time to create your own Whoo-Hoo Board, to find out what's going right.

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