Run your own O Group

O Group?  What kind of jargon is that?  Well; it is a military term that stands for Order Group.  What does this have to do with project management?

The purpose of the O Group is efficient information dissemination.  For example, in the Canadian military, an Artillery Battery Commander (BC) convenes an O Group before every battery move.  The O Group is attended by most of the battery’s officers and top Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs).  It is a stand up meeting with a clear, never changing agenda. 

The O Group is delivered in 3-5 minutes; the BC goes through the list of topics, the second in command or BK repeats the information, everyone is asked if there are any questions, questions if any are answered.  The O Group is then closed and everyone resumes their activities.  O Group participants disseminate the information to their own teams.  It is very typical for officers and NCOs to verify that everyone got the information by quizzing people at random.

An O Group discussed the following (non exhaustive and in no particular order):

• When is the battery moving; the start time

• When is the battery expected to be ready to fire; the end time, a milestone

• The tactical situation; basically a list of tasks, dependencies, and resources (stakeholders) for those tasks

• The strategic situation; how is this activity linked to a set of larger goals, along the lines of a Balanced Score Card (BSC).

My suggestion is for you to prepare your own O Group type of communication template and use it on a daily basis to deliver information to your project teams.  Remember; we are talking a 3-5 minute long stand up meeting with a defined, never changing agenda.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Comments

[Stephen Holton]

Well said... I agree completely, and have had success doing this myself.

I've also adapted the formal op orders format (SMESC) for developing implementation plans... which I can discuss with you in another forum.

I'm just sorry to see that you may have been a gunner... ;)

[Patrick Richard]

Stephen,

Don't be sorry that I am a Gunner (Once a Gunner, always a Gunner!); I do speak to other (lower) life forms... ;-)

Thanks for your comment and I’d be glad to discuss with you your adaptation of op orders. Just contact me via LinkedIn.

Regards,

Patrick