Working in the telecoms and towerco industry for a couple of years, I came across the term WAR room working as a junior project manager on a project that had a rather slim timeline.
My first impression of WAR room was a rather scary one. I felt a lot of “management violence” and a shouting session was going to orchestrate the direction of program for the duration of the “WAR”!
My feelings were not far from accurate. My encounter of my first WAR room was a daily meeting with stakeholders of a critical project usually decision makers with the project team basically making decisions, monitoring and controlling the activity of engineers or field team.
What is actually a WAR room in project management?
The term WAR room stems from the military efforts during the WW1 and WW2. The first war room was used in 1901, and it was located at military headquarters. The military leaders and strategists would meet in this war room, and they would discuss strategies on how to win the war. The most well-known war room was used by Winston Churchill during World War 2. Winston Churchill is known as the originator of the war room concept. During the times of crisis, Churchill transformed the underground cabinet rooms into functional, well equipped war rooms with military strategists, planners, ministers, and key members of his government to share vital information and make quick decisions during the roughest emergencies of World Wars I & II.
In modern-day London, you can find a museum dedicated to this very war room, where Churchill would meet with generals and military leaders to discuss the strategies and plan the tactics of how to beat the Germans during the war. This of course helped in winning the war!
Having encountered several WAR rooms in my career as a PM, I have realized a common not so accurate pattern of the use of WAR rooms. The set-up of WAR rooms is usually done for two reasons; when a project is in crisis and when there is a short time to complete a critical project. I couldn’t wrap my head around why?
As I gathered more experienced in project management, it became increasingly necessary to challenge certain narratives I saw older colleagues practice.
Is WAR room a necessity for all projects? Is WAR room meant for crisis management? is WAR room an outcome of poor or no planning? When do project managers need to setup WAR room?
Why is a WAR room important?
The size and complexity of a project may require the need for a WAR room. For projects where communication channels are a lot, it’s important to have decision makers in a room like Churchill sprinkled with maps, charts and whiteboards to effectively make decisions and communicate same in a timely manner.
You can literally feel the team on a project bonding in a WAR room. Yes! WAR room increases the team spirit as people spend more time together brainstorming towards making a project succeed.
With all the decision makers in the room, you are guaranteed of a single source of truth for all communication on a project. In addition, members of the project experience a direct communication regarding decisions made concerning the project.
The WAR room increases the sense of responsibility of every stakeholder and you are sure of timely decisions will be reached on critical tasks.
With the advancement in technology, WAR room can be virtual, despite some people questioning the effectiveness of a virtual WAR room, it can achieve the same result as a physical WAR room. The performance of a car in a race sometimes is not entirely attributed to the car, the driver plays a huge role. It’s true that WAR room can inject some positivity into a project, however the effectiveness of the WAR room still comes down to who drives the discussion in the room. A project manager needs to administer the WAR room session in a professional approach, clearly communicating every agenda and request to get the desired positive outcome.
When the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable, WAR rooms should not replace a planning session and risk identification session for small projects that can be managed effectively without gathering everyone. Notwithstanding, there are some small projects that can also benefits from WAR room. Picture a project requiring contract negotiation, a WAR room of decision makers might come in handy.
With organizations embracing the remote and hybrid work cultures, are physical WAR rooms still necessary in project management? Can WAR rooms be replaced with an effective planning and risk management session with a properly drafted project charter?
There is no rule which indicates what type of project requires a WAR room, but the project manager needs to determine this based on complexity, size, communication challenges, numerous decisions, uncontrollable risks of a project before setting up a WAR room
How has WAR rooms impacted you as a project manager and do you think it has lost its importance in todays approach of project management with more agile approach to the management of projects?
