The difference between an Audit and a Diagnostic
by jed simms on March 24, 2010
An Audit checks compliance to some standard or expectation. A report or plan is reviewed to see if it complies with the expected standard, if completed correctly, fully and is appropriately signed off.
A Diagnostic is a diagnosis of the root causes of the state of a project and an analysis of its likelihood of success.
An Audit assumes that the process, if correctly followed, will lead to the desired result. The focus is on ‘correctly followed’.
A Diagnostic diagnoses the current status of the project, how it has reached this point, and identifies the resultant and residual risks to the successful completion of the project.
An Audit will make comments in relation to the quality or otherwise of the document. The Diagnostic will only focus on whether the use of the document adds value and reduces risk on the project.
The results are quite different.
In one case, a project was audited and a one page reported noted that certain documents had not been properly signed off and one document was incomplete.
We then conducted a diagnostic that found that the project was off the rails, the systems implementer was about to walk, the project and business managers were not cooperating, the staff were totally unable to accept the output and that the solution design was liable to put the organization out of business!
Audits are for those that want ‘protection’. Diagnostics are for those that want results.
Yet, most “health checks” or “post implementation reviews” are audit-based. Were the right processes followed? Are the documents present and satisfactory? Did everyone who should have signed off, sign off? Were the changes to the project properly authorised?
The Diagnostic approach asks, “Is the project on track to deliver the agreed outcomes? Are there any agreed outcomes? Does the documentation support the delivery of the end states? Is everyone on the same page in terms of what the project will deliver? Is everything aligned to deliver both project and business success? Were the changes to the project assessed for their value and outcomes impacts?
Very different approaches, very different results.
When someone asks for a 2-3 day ‘project health check’ – they’re wasting their time and money. It’s like having a personal health check by assessing your stress and cholesterol levels without assessing your contributing and target lifestyles and environment. Knowing your stress level is up is not useful unless you know what the impacts of this, the root causes and what you need to do about it.
I believe it is diagnosis or die. Now, doesn’t that sound like a common project choice?
© Jed Simms, Australia, 2010
One comment
Very timely article. Root cause is key to problem solving, but so often overlooked or underestimated. Fantastic blog – keep it up. Your last few articles have been representative of my project – you must be spying. Cheers!
by PenelopeD on April 8, 2010 at 9:15 am. #