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Critical Factors For A Successful PMO

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Published on January 15, 2012, by
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To ensure a successful startup and continuance of the PMO, the following activities should be supported:

  1. Partner with senior management to plan and dynamically manage the organization’s change from what it is now to a new, where project management (PM) is the primary means of accomplishing the organization’s strategic goals in all levels of the organization.
  2. Make sure that the management understands and accepts that the PMO will be evolving over time, on a consistent pace with the organization’s ability to manage the change affecting their PM maturity.
  3. Management is committed to ensuring the PMO is accepted and supported at all levels of the organization.
  4. Ensure that PMO implementation plan is consistent and aligns with corporate goals and objectives.
  5. Ensure the PMO implementation budget is in alignment with enterprise funding goals and objectives.
  6. Ensure deployment of resources is in alignment with corporate goals and objectives.
  7. Ensure risks associated with the PMO implementation are assessed and managed.
  8. Information, communication, and reporting structure support the EPMO implementation.
  9. Ensure the project planning execution and configuration are consistent with corporate goals and objectives.
  10. Provide personnel evaluation system that reinforces project management as a team strategy in the company’s business philosophy.
  11. Facilitate project feasibility determination and project initiation of work-in-progress and future work that is defined as “projects”.  The PMO shall lead and facilitate the evaluation and feasibility of Program/ project portfolio management as it relates to strategic decision-making in support of new projects during the project initiation phase.
  12. Define PM core competencies and PM skills as a part of an internal qualification and certification process for project managers within the organization.
  13. To support the growth and development of the project team staffing, education and training.
  14. Provide a home for career path project managers and the project management support staff.
  15. The PMO shall be responsible for the determination and oversight of “special projects” that are mission critical to the strategic direction of the company or where such projects have or could have a pervasive impact on the corporate goals and objectives.
  16. The PMO shall ensure the funding gates and limits are constant with an approved schedule of values.
  17. The PMO shall lead and facilitate project close-out, lessons learned, process improvement, better estimating, building and using models for strategic decision making.

www.templatespmo.com

 

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Tips For Effective Project Motivation

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Motivating people is an art, which project managers should know in order to increase the involvement of the project team, stakeholders and customers. The tips below will help you with your motivation skills.

 

Tip 1- Use Commitment Through Empowerment

  1. Allow people to participate as much as possible as early as possible
  2. Delegate
  3. Give people autonomy to make decisions about the work to perform
  4. Give people the tools and skills to do the job
  5. “Steer” rather than direct movement towards the vision

Tip 2- Overcome Frustration

  1. Empathize, not sympathize
  2. Empower people to solve their own problems
  3. Expect resistance
  4. Focus on the “big picture”
  5. Identify the sources
  6. Seek Win-Win relationships rather than Win-Lose
  7. Treat the cause rather than the symptoms
  8. Understand people’s perspectives

Tip 3- Overcome Procrastination and Negativism

  1. Acknowledge and communicate the reasons for procrastination and negativism
  2. Address rumors early and directly
  3. Be honest
  4. Communicate and demonstrate the benefits for change
  5. Provide people the tools, knowledge, expertise, and other support to make the change
  6. Recognize their existence
  7. Seek participation from everyone
  8. Set the example

Tip 4- Delegate

  1. Communicate expectations
  2. Communicate the importance of the delegated tasks
  3. Encourage accountability for the results achieved by the delegate
  4. Encourage constant feedback
  5.  Follow-up on the task being delegated
  6. Grant autonomy to the delegate to do the job
  7. Know about the knowledge, skills, experience, etc. about the delegate
  8. Know exactly what to delegate
  9. Offer and provide assistance at any time
  10.  Realize you can’t delegate total responsibility for the results

Tip 5- Celebrate

  1. Build and maintain camaraderie and esprit de corps
  2. Encourage support from others who are not thrilled about the change
  3. Motivate others
  4. Recognize major contributions

Tip 5- Recognize Some Indicators of Fear

  1. Always criticizing any new ideas, concepts, etc.
  2. Constantly defending or reverting to the “old way” of doing business
  3. High turnover, absenteeism, rework, etc.
  4. Unwillingness to take a chance
  5. Waiting for someone else to “do it first”

Tip 6- Overcome Fear by

  1. Build an atmosphere of tolerance
  2. Encourage sharing of successes and failures with others
  3. Provide the tools and skills to develop and try new ideas, concepts, etc.
  4. Recognize its existence
  5. Reward new ideas and approaches taken that produce better results
  6. Reward success, not punish failure
  7. Tolerate failure as well as success

Tip 7- Know how to Cope with Conflict

  1. Define its cause
  2. Determine and track a plan for its resolution
  3. Establish and follow a process for resolution
  4. Focus on the vision
  5. Keep emotions out
  6. Recognize its existence
  7. Seek Win-win rather than Win-Lose results

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Twitt
 

Tips For Effective Project Communications

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According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), a project managers spends 80% of their time communicating to others. Below we have some tips to increase the effectiveness of your project communications.

Tip 1- Understand the Basics of Training

  1. Be timely
  2. Develop a training plan
  3. Identify requirements
  4. Identify the types of training (e.g., lecture, workshop)
  5. Know the objectives
  6. Obtain feedback
  7. Recognize the existence of different learning styles

Tip2 – Know How To Present Data

  1. Keep it simple
  2. Know the needs of the audience (e.g., summary vs. detail)
  3. Rely more on graphics
  4. Show the truth
  5. Use clarity
  6. Use rounded numbers, if possible

Tip 3- Be An Active Listener

  1. Empathize, not sympathize
  2. Focus your attention on the speaker
  3. Keep out emotion
  4. Listen for what’s being said
  5. Maintain eye contact
  6. Make comments to signal your understanding (e.g., “I see”)
  7. Pay attention to body language (e.g., mixed signals)
  8. Repeat or paraphrase what was said to communicate understanding
  9. Use body language to signal your attention and understanding (e.g., nodding of head)

Tip 4 – Practice Your Coaching Skills

  1. Be available for direction
  2. Be honest
  3. Be tolerant of expressions of fear and anxiety
  4. Communicate expectations
  5. Express genuine interest
  6. Provide constant, meaningful feedback
  7. Provide the necessary support (e.g., emotional, physical)
  8. Steer rather than direct

Tip 5- Use Sources of Information About the Customer

  1. Internet
  2. Interviews
  3. Letters, telephone calls, etc.
  4. Market surveys/research
  5. Newspaper and magazine articles
  6. Press releases
  7. Statistics
  8. Surveys/questionnaires
  9. Word of mouth

Tip 6-  Communicate the Vision

  1. Ask for formal and informal feedback
  2. Circulate copies
  3. Hold meetings to discuss it
  4. Publish it in a newsletter, on a web site, sharepoint or e-mail reports

Tip 7- Understanding the “True Message”

  1. Be aware of the tendency to screen information by one’s values, beliefs, etc.
  2. Encourage disagreement, not conflict
  3. Identify causes rather than symptoms
  4. Look at facts and data
  5. Obtain alternative points of view
  6. Seek external, objective opinions

www.templatespmo.com

Twitt
 

Tips For Building An Effective Project Team

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How should you set about choosing your team and forming them into a well functioning group?

Below are some tips for building an effective project team.

 

Tip 1- Understand Teaming Principles

  1. Build relationships
  2. Capitalize on synergy created through teaming
  3. Collect facts and data, not scapegoats
  4. Direct any emotions on the issue, not people
  5. Encourage participation from everyone
  6. Encourage sharing of experiences and knowledge
  7. Focus on key issues and the “big picture,” not blame
  8. Identify commonalties
  9. Keep teams not too large or small
  10. Obtain consensus on processes, tools, etc.
  11. Pay attention to sources of divisiveness and conformity
  12. Remain objective

Tip 2- Ways to Build Consensus

  1. Focus on the vision
  2. Obtain agreement on causes, terminology, facts, and data
  3. Obtain participation of everyone affected by the cause
  4. Publicize the consensus and the result
  5. Seek Win-Win, not Win-Lose result

Tip 3- Understand the Elements of Culture

  1. Beliefs, values, norms
  2. Environmental settings (e.g., layout and appearance)
  3. Management style
  4. Policies
  5. Procedures
  6. Processes

Tip 4 – Find the Sources of Conflict

  1. Inability to resolve disputes
  2. Inequitable distribution of resources (e.g., information, equipment, supplies)
  3. Inequitable distribution of workload
  4. Fear
  5. Lack of consensus by key participants over the vision
  6. Lack of teaming
  7. Management style
  8. Overwork
  9. Poor communications
  10. Unclear or unfair reward system
  11. Unclear vision

www.templatespmo.com

Twitt
 

Tips For Managing Changes

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Every project has changes. Below are 14 tips for project managers to manage project changes.

 

 

Tip 1 – Do a Problem Analysis

  1. Assess the situation
  2. Define the problem
  3. Determine alternative courses of action
  4. Implement the solution
  5. Keep out emotion
  6. Seek continuous feedback
  7. Seek relevant, objective input

Tip 2 – Controlling Scope Creep

  1. “Chunk” the scope into manageable “pieces”
  2. Evaluate all actions from the perspective of the vision
  3. Evaluate the need for and the impact of changes
  4. Have change disciplines in place
  5. Have key participants involved when evaluating and implementing changes

Tip 3 – Dealing with Change

  1. Communicate the result
  2. Determine its cause and impact of a change
  3. Determine its magnitude
  4. Determine its priority
  5. Document it
  6. Implement the result
  7. Obtain input/feedback from the key participants affected by it, before and after

Tip 4 – Indicators of Resistance to Change

  1. General atmosphere of cynicism and skepticism
  2. High rates of absenteeism and turnover
  3. Lower overall productivity
  4. Destructive acts towards equipment, software, data, people, etc.
  5. Subtle sabotage techniques, from complaining to reverting to “old” ways of doing business

Tip 5 – Keeping Focus

  1. Avoid the tendency to disregard or procrastinate
  2. Define priorities with the vision in mind
  3. Keep communications open
  4. Remember priorities

Tip 6 – Keeping Focus on a Vision

  1. Empower people
  2. Identify variances to the plan
  3. Keep the feedback loop open
  4. Set priorities and follow them
  5. Take corrective action, whenever necessary

Tip 6 – Overcoming Resistance to Change

  1. Be honest
  2. Challenge them to determine a better approach than current process
  3. Communicate the reasons for change and the alternatives for not doing so
  4. Empower people to make decisions in their “own world” while seeing the “big picture”
  5. Encourage people to tackle challenges
  6. Seek participation for and implementing change

Tip 7 – Role of the Change Agent

  1. Accept ambiguity
  2. Believe in the change
  3. Communicate the need for change
  4. Initiate change without supervision
  5. Manage conflict
  6. Take risk
  7. Understand the needs and concerns of change targets and sponsors

Tip 8 – Role of the Change Sponsor

  1. Maintain focus on the vision
  2. Provide leadership
  3. Provide political, material, and financial support
  4. Understand the needs and concerns of change agents and targets

Tip 9 – Role of Change Target

  1. Be open to new ideas
  2. Communicate needs and concerns
  3. Have the capacity to try and learn new tools, processes, etc.
  4. Have the courage to take risks
  5. Recognize need for change
  6. Take the initiative in making change

Tip 10 – Identify Some Reasons for Change

  1. Antiquated tools
  2. Changing market conditions
  3. Customer dissatisfaction
  4. Employee dissatisfaction
  5. Ineffective or inefficient processes
  6. Poor or lack of management
  7. Survivability in the market

Tip 11- Follow-up and Follow-through

  1. Be conscious of organizational “filtering” of information
  2. Encourage people to experiment or try new ideas
  3. Focus on the vision
  4. Have people report on the results
  5. Institute a formal and informal feedback loop
  6. Keep an open, objective mind
  7. Know the priorities

Tip 12 – Ways to Communicate the Need for Change

  1. Build a web site or sharepoint
  2. Give presentations
  3. Hold meetings (e.g., staff, ad hoc)
  4. Publish memorandums
  5. Publish newsletters
  6. Get together with the marketing department for more communication ideas

Tip 13- Ways to Get People Excited About Change

  1. Address “What’s in It for Me” (WIIFM)
  2. Communicate constantly
  3. Empower people
  4. Encourage ownership by the people who must change
  5. Lead, not just manage
  6. Obtain input and feedback
  7. Solicit participation in the decision-making process

Tip 14 – Ways to Smooth Transitions

  1. Avoid the tendency to blame
  2. Ensure everyone has the skills and knowledge to make the transition
  3. Ensure everyone understands the “cutover” plan
  4. Keep the vision in the forefront of everyone’s mind
  5. Obtain feedback

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10 Tips For A Successful Continuous Improvement

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Continuous Improvement is the ongoing effort of engaged employees and improvement teams to improve information, materials, products, services or processes. These efforts generally seek small step “incremental” improvement over time or larger quick “breakthrough” improvement and change to improve customer value and reduce non value adding activity thus reducing costs, increasing delivery velocity and remaining competitive or relative in a changing global environment.

Tip 1: Recognize the problem. For most organizations, a change in behavior does not come naturally. Though one might think that continuous improvement would be a natural mind set for an organization implementing project portfolio management, in reality few organizations have a culture of continuous not to mention processes or best practices to facilitate it. Sure, lessons learned are documented as part of project closing, but they are almost always filed away and forgotten rather than acted upon. The first step in establishing a continuous improvement mind set is to recognize the problem. That is, recognize the fact that your organization does not have or could do quite better exhibiting a continuous improvement mind set.

Tip 2: Establish an enduring culture. For continuous improvement to work, there must be a relentless focus on and commitment to getting things right. Adaptability and an action oriented leadership team are inherent components of a continuous improvement culture. Resistance to change exists in all organizations to a degree and it must be recognized for what it is, an impediment to improvement.

Tip 3: Think Kaizen and Cross the Chasm. Many people advocate Kaizen oriented thinking and behavior where continual small, incremental improvements provide tremendous benefits in performance and end results achieved over time. Others advocate a Crossing the Chasm mind set where drastic change is introduced completely replacing inefficient execution rather than slightly improving upon it. In a continuous improvement culture, there is room for both approaches. And often, after achieving the mega change that is made possible when Crossing the Chasm improvement initiatives are implemented, a Kaizen mind set is required to refine, sustain, and continually improve upon such change.

Tip 4: Facilitate process-centric thinking. Process-centric thinking does not have to be overly complex. Sometimes, all it takes is a thoughtful examination to uncover significant areas for improvement. Rather than tolerating mistakes and repeat errors, facilitate process-centric thinking to continually improve, correct, and overcome execution difficulties.

Tip 5: Educate the workplace. Like any other business strategy, ongoing education of the workplace is critical in establishing awareness, developing skills, and institutionalizing the needed mindset and behaviors to bring about effective change. It is no different with Continuous Improvement. Expect and overcome resistance to change with ongoing training, reinforcement of expected behaviors, and recognition of those who are learning and doing.

Tip 6: Ensure a penalty-free exchange of ideas. In many organizations, expressing one’s opinion on how to do things better may not necessarily be a welcomed activity. Management can feel threatened or pressured to act resulting in immediate resistances. And, those expressing ideas may be viewed as complainers or trouble makers. In such an environment, it doesn’t take long for the potential risks of making a suggestion to stifle enthusiasm and participation in improvement oriented thinking. Ensuring a penalty-free exchange of ideas is beneficial to both the giver and the receiver of new ideas and approaches and will ensure a safe two way exchange of thoughts and ideas.

Tip 7: Use a consistent approach for projects. A consistent and structured approach for project identification and execution will provide the organization with the ability to identify, select, and manage continuous improvement projects. The continuous improvement project process should also provide post-closing process steps to continually refine the improvement project methodology and to act upon the lessons learn from the project effort.

Tip 8: Measure performance. It is not possible to improve what is not measured. Determine in advance the approach and techniques to be used in measurements. Scorecards can be useful to monitor the key performance indicators of processes that support capability and performance.

Tip 9: Communication planning. Ensure regular communications to foster collaborative interactions among leaders, stakeholders, and practitioners at all levels. Take advantage of communications techniques appropriate for the information being conveyed. Where needed, schedule face to face meetings and where not needed, use the communication and collaboration tools and capabilities of the enterprise to keep all members updated and involved.

Tip 10: Establish core values. Establish the core values that comprise the continuous improvement culture such as a focus on supporting the customer, teamwork throughout the extended enterprise, receptivity to evolving continuous improvement concepts and tools. These core values will create a sense of belonging and a common vision for all involved.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_improvement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaisen

www.templatespmo.com

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10 Tips To Avoid A Project Failure

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Tip 1: Project Manager Skill and Experience. A highly skilled and experienced project manager knows how to work with all stakeholders and participants to avoid project failures. Project management education and mentoring programs are essential and, along with experience managing projects, will greatly increase the project manager’s ability to avoid project failures.

Tip 2: Use a Methodology. Using a structured systems development methodology is one of the critical success factors in a systems development project. Phase exits and quality control points help to ensure a successful project.

Tip 3: Communicate Formally. Many projects fail or at least experience difficulties due to a lack of formal communications. Though time and focus is traditionally given to planning and scheduling, it is equally important to place a priority on regular and formal communications and interaction. For most project efforts, sending project status emails to a project distribution list with various file attachments, simply does not work. Formal communications need not be time consuming or overly bureaucratic; rather planned, agreed to, and executed as opposed to ad hoc or periodic best efforts.

Tip 4: Set Realistic Expectations. Often times, unrealistic expectations are set to please a customer, to meet a calendar deadline, or to fall within a certain budget amount. Such early expectations can not only be unrealistic, but they can often become, in the eyes of the customer, the real expectations and commitments for the project leading to inevitable frustration and disappointment when they can’t possibly be met. Avoid unrealistic expectations by letting the project plan set quality, cost, and time expectations, rather than early commentary and opinion.

Tip 5: Initiate the Project Properly. Not initiating a project properly with sufficient time spent to define and agree the user requirements, create a realistic plan and gain buy-in from all stakeholders’ means you’re almost certainly destined for problems. Resist the temptation to start the project too early before it has been properly initiated. Don’t be rushed into starting the work on the assumption that it will result in an earlier delivery. The reality is that poor initiation extends projects by causing rework, errors and omissions. Just say no when pushed and never start too early.

Tip 6: Ensure the Right Amount of Resources. Not having the right amount of resource or having the right amount with the wrong skill mix can be a cause of project failure. Insist that management provide appropriate resources either from internal staff or if necessary by hiring some resources on a contract basis.

Tip 7: Be Aware of Other Projects and Priorities. Don’t operate in a vacuum. Project team members are often multi-tasked and may be pulled in many different directions. Ignoring these other projects and priorities will engender resentment and inaction for the team members with multiple duties. When you are unresponsive to the projects and priorities of others in times of their need, they will be unresponsive to you in times of your need.

Tip 8: Don’t Forget About Quality. Everyone knows the triple constraints (Quality, Time, and Cost), but so often the management of the project has a myopic focus on budget and schedule. Quality is often left out of the picture. How often are project managers asked, “Is the project on time and on budget?” Almost always. Seek to manage and measure quality so that in addition to delivering the project on time and on budget, the product of the project fulfills the user’s requirements. Project Quality Management not only will prevent rework, but enable the ROI of the project to be realized, typically a much more significant dollar amount than the project cost.

Tip 9: Collaboration technology is there to help. Increasingly, organizations are seeking to do more and more with the same level of resources. Collaboration technology can help. Whether using a vendor platform or an in-house developed framework, providing access to project life cycle best practices, completed projects documentation, and project status dashboarding can play a key role in shortening project life cycle, reducing costs, and ensuring quality objectives are met. All organizations have a great deal of content and knowledge. Collaboration technology can help to make content and knowledge, especially project management related content and knowledge, accessible, usable, and online to the task at hand.

Tip 10: Maintain a Top Projects Dashboard. PPM dashboarding can be an effective way to communicate the status of top projects and the direction that they are trending. In addition to cost and time, it can be very helpful and actionable to dashboard the top projects status for quality, risk, as well as how well the project aligns to strategic objectives or compliance and oversight requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley. PPM dashboarding does not have to involve the use of a complex and expensive PPM tool. In fact, often times, even those organizations that have PPM tools find that a top projects dashboard can be very useful in providing the executive summary information for project status and trending, first, and prior to delving into the PPM tool for further information and analysis.

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10 Tips To Implement A Project Portfolio Management (PPM)

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Tip 1: Start at the top. Start at the top with senior management buy-in and participation. Senior management buy-in is required to achieve consensus, motivate, and to ensure adherence to the processes, tasks, and activities required to manage the project portfolio.

Tip 2: Avoid the Big Bang. Don’t overwhelm the organization with a “big bang” approach. Each organization is different in terms of its level of maturity and ability to handle change. A phased approach should be used based on an assessment of the company’s abilities. In implementing PPM, seek to identify your strengths and weaknesses, use a proof of concept, and roll out PPM with toleration for information that is not perfect. And whatever approach and tools are selected, don’t go too long without showing results.

Tip 3: Develop a governance process. PPM implementations with a strong governance structure will be more likely to be accepted and to work. Things to consider include: timing, decision style, organizational level, thresholds, decision criteria, and decision making. Understanding each of these areas will help structure an effective governance process for the organization.

Tip 4: Use a proven PPM tool. PPM involves tradeoffs of value, cost, resources, and risk. This can quickly become complex and requires software that can mathematically weight, balance, and optimize a portfolio in a seamless manner. In selecting PPM tools, organizations should look not only at the breadth of functionality the tools offer, but also at the vendor’s experience in PPM. With the evolving market for PPM tools and solutions, vendors who have the most implementation experience are the ones who are likely to have the most sophisticated and scalable solutions.

Tip 5: Forgive human errors, but not process errors. Don’t assume things will automatically play or can run on auto-pilot. Business dynamics and changing conditions prevail and require portfolio agility, the ability to stay current with your investment status and respond to changes. Also prevalent can be legacy attitudes, behaviors, and quiet dissension from those that fared well under the old system. Expect human errors and execution difficulties. In fact, embrace them, as they can lead to an understanding and resolution of those things in the process that led to the problem in the first place.

Tip 6: Use the tool in your operations reviews. Use the capabilities and outputs of the PPM tool to make decisions. If different tools, reports, and data is being used for management and review, it won’t take long for the support for the PPM tool to dissipate. Conversely, if the PPM tool is used as the driver of portfolio management operations, then all involved will get and stay on board.

Tip 7: Use executive dashboards. Few executives will take the time to login to your PPM tool much less navigate through reports or search through data. They will no doubt want the PMO to have and use and master the PPM tool and its capabilities, but they themselves may or may not be so inclined. Whether within your PPM tool or external to it, maintain high-level executive summary dashboards that serve to both provide an executive overview of the status of the top projects of the portfolio and to provide direct access to the appropriate area of the PPM tool where useful reports and data can be immediately accessed. Keep it simple.

Tip 8: Be open to project failures. Most project management methodologies anticipate project difficulties and provide monitoring and controlling processes for change, issues, and problem management. However, the resulting mindset for the project effort can often be singularly focused on getting the project back on track to the exclusion of any real consideration given to the fact that the project may very well be failing. Be open to the possibility that the project effort could be failing and should be scrubbed from the portfolio.

Tip 9: Anticipate business opportunities and constraints. Economic cycles and business issues can impact the project portfolio both positively and negatively. Many of these new business opportunities and constraints can be identified and acted upon early to manage the portfolio and to confirm the integrity of the programs and projects of the portfolio. Being continually aware of and acting upon these business opportunities and constraints will ensure the project portfolio is balanced and optimized.

Tip 10 – Remember who the boss is. Project portfolio management can be a tremendous discipline for management and the leadership team. It will facilitate the strategic alignment of projects and programs to the priorities of the business. However, there will come times when the business intuition and market instinct of the CEO and the top tier executives will seemingly compromise the portfolio management process and available metrics. There always needs to be a certain degree of flexibility and understanding that no matter how regimented the process is made to be, certain data points and judgments might very well fall outside of the process to no discredit of all those involved.

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10 Tips To Manage Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Processes

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Tip 1: Think process, not methodology. Methodologies are static and quickly become out of date. Methodologies often give an illusion of project management consistency, when in reality most users don’t read or follow lengthy, “one size fits all sizes,” methodologies. Focus on processes and best practices that are scalable to project type and size and answer not just the “what is to be done”, but the “who, when, where, how, and why” of the work effort as well.

Tip 2: Think processes, tools, and collaboration. There are those in the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) vendor community that say their product has everything you need to manage a project portfolio and manage a PMO. While PPM tools can be very helpful, also required are processes that are scalable to project type and size, whether used with the PPM tool or not, and a collaboration platform to share project documents and information. Though PPM tools provide some collaboration features, most organizations seek to use the existing enterprise collaboration platform rather than placing project files and folders in an additional repository. Processes, tools, and collaboration work together and are each required to effectively manage projects and continually improve the organization.

Tip 3: Flexibility within structure. Some people believe that project portfolio management processes are by nature rigid and inflexible. This can often be a result of implementing a “one shoe fits all sizes” methodology. However, processes that provide workflows scalable to project type and size enable the project team to effectively execute a wide variety of projects without being burdened by too much bureaucracy. PMO processes can provide the structure, guidance, and flexibility to truly help, not create additional work for, the project manager and project participants.

Tip 4: People oriented processes. People oriented processes anticipate and help with people’s challenges and constraints and free them up to do what they do best on projects such as thinking, planking, and doing. The best processes don’t create extra work; rather they streamline it or make it easier. People oriented processes serve specific purposes, ensure efficiency and consistency, and tend to become “roadmaps” for continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.

Tip 5: Process owners. Process owners can play a key role in ensuring that the PPM processes are kept up to date, useful, usable, and auditable. PPM processes or best practices without process owners will likely become outdated over time and at some point will even become inconsequential to the organization. On the other hand, PPM processes and best practices that have process owners or “care-takers” are continually improved upon by reviewing and applying lessons learned feedback and process improvement suggestions. Hence, process owners help drive continuous improvement and institutionalization of the PPM processes and best practice knowledge, skill, and execution capabilities.

Tip 6: Process reviews. Don’t wait until there is a problem to review the processes and best practices of the PMO or project portfolio managing organization. Establish process owners and delegate to them the duty of periodic assessment of their assigned processes and best practices. Encourage them to proactively find ways to streamline and improve existing processes and to identify new processes and best practices that could be of value to the organization.

Tip 7: Provide recognition and incentives for process improvement. How do you recognize project managers? Most of them are every good at what they do and it is expected that they will manage projects well. One approach that more and more PPM performing organizations are adopting is to provide incentives and recognition for process improvement and process ownership. Rather than experiencing the same difficulty over and over again, recognition and incentives for process improvement encourage and reward project team members to get involved. The end results are not just lessons learned documents, but practical improvement suggestions to streamline processes, improve best practices, and eliminate defects and waste. As Edward Deming put it, “Fix the process and you fix the problem.”

Tip 8: Define the “as-is” state. Quite often, it is helpful to first define the “as-is” state of a process before discussing and debating options to arrive at the “desired” state of the process. A clear understanding of the “as-is” state enables the team to discuss and debate what works well, what needs improving, and to agree upon actionable process improvement suggestions. Conversely, trying to achieve the “desired” state for a process without a full understanding and agreement of the “as-is” state can often lead to miscommunication due to differing points of reference as well as process improvement suggestions that may not meet the needs of all parties involved in the process.

Tip 9: Project portfolio management processes are more than PMI® standards. Some PMOs establish project management and a portfolio management processes aligned to the latest industry standards and are disappointed to find out that they are not being effectively used throughout the organization. Some project managers may use a more streamlined process for smaller projects. Other project managers, especially outside of the United States, may use a different approach to project management such as PRINCE2. And, development teams may manage their projects using a traditional SDLC or Agile process. In managing the project portfolio management processes of the PMO, recognize that applied processes must extend far beyond just the knowledge standards.

Tip 10: PPM processes comprise of more than just the methodology for selecting and managing projects. A project portfolio management methodology alone is not sufficient for an organization. In addition to the methodology, processes and policies need to be put in place for such things as where specifically to store project documents, when project status reports are due, how and when project data is to be entered into the PPM tool, how and when complex and situational techniques as Earned Value Management (EVM) and Monte Carlo Risk Analysis are to be employed, who is involved in the review and decision process, and how and when are the various PPM meetings and reviews conducted. Ensure that your PPM processes provide not just the “what” of the “what is to be done,” but also the practical context and specifics of the “Who, When, Where, How, and Why.”

www.templatespmo.com

 

Twitt
 

10 Tips To Rescue A Problem Project

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Published on January 15, 2012, by
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Is your project in trouble? Here are some tips to help you to rescue your project from sinking.

Tip 1: Be open to the possibility that the project is failing. It is natural for project managers and project teams to have a task-oriented focus. And, most project methodologies anticipate project difficulties and provide monitoring and controlling processes for change, issues, and problem management. However, the resulting mindset for the project effort can often be singularly focused on getting the project back on track and not include any real consideration given to the fact that the project may very well be failing.

Tip 2: Recognize early warning signs. Early warning signs, both good and bad, exist in all projects. Early warning signs can be seen in just about every aspect of the project effort such as the attitudes of the parties involved in the project effort, the performance of infrastructure, systems, tools and machinery, and internal and external factors that can impact project scope, timing, and risk. It is always easier to get projects back on track that haven’t drifted too far off course. Recognizing the project early warning signs helps to prevent projects from failing.

Tip 3: Beware of the last mile syndrome. Often times, project managers fall victim to the “last mile syndrome.” That is, it takes ninety percent of the project time to finish the last ten percent of the project scope. This can occur for many reasons from poor project requirements and scope planning to ad hoc development rather than process-oriented iterative development. The end result often is the extension of the project for just one more month, and again, and again. If you are still waiting for your last month, look in the mirror and admit you have a problem.

Tip 4: Admit you have a problem. Many project organizations continue with failing projects instead of taking action, corrective or termination, early. Often, project managers are skilled at managing project difficulties and have the confidence to think that they can project manage their way out of any bad project and in many cases they can. However, if you don’t get people to recognize that there is a problem then rescuing the project is going to be very difficult. When you identify the reluctance to admitting there is a problem, then rescuing the project becomes much, much easier.

Tip 5: Pause the project. Pausing the project creates an opportunity to regroup, establish a new plan, and restore integrity to the project baseline. By continuing a failing project, you are likely to burn time and money against the project not knowing where you are truly headed or if you are on the path to completion. Pausing a project does not need to be difficult or scary. To pause the project, you may need someone with enough vision to say, “This project is not on the right course.” Some people might think the ship is sinking and want to flee the project, but most will eagerly take advantage of the opportunity to get things back on track.

Tip 6: Audit the project. Even an experienced project manager can have great difficulties delivering a difficult, complex project. And often, organizations perform project management in an ad hoc manner without any processes or policies in place to help the project manager and all those involved in the project effort to ensure the integrity of the project. After pausing the project, assemble the appropriate members of the organization to conduct a project audit. The purpose of the project audit is not to place blame or to fix or re-baseline the project. Rather, the purpose of the project audit is to first find out the root causes for why the project is failing.

Tip 7: Assess the effort to complete the project. Restore the integrity of the project by assessing the effort, both schedule and budget, to complete the project. Often, when initially estimating projects, many project managers use intuitive estimating; they estimate from gut feel and personal opinion rather than from historical estimating experience. Intuitive estimating may work with smaller projects; however, larger projects require experienced-based estimating. If possible, include someone who has experience performing the particular project tasks in order to get realistic estimates. Additionally, establish and maintain a historical estimating database within the PMO so that future projects can be estimated more accurately.

Tip 8: Validate the business case for the project. Ask yourself, “Is it worth continuing the project?” It is possible that the project is no longer important or a priority for the organization. Additionally, external factors such as new technologies and alternative solutions may render the initial approach of the project obsolete. Before proposing that the project be restarted, validate the project’s business case.

Tip 9: Submit the project to governance. From a business perspective, determine if at this point in time the project still makes sense to pursue and if the project is an appropriate use of the resources of the company. Look at the value of the project and compare it to other competing project alternatives and initiatives. Perhaps previously the project was a priority, but now the project scorecard may rank quite differently. Use the governance process to gain formal understanding, approval, and support for the project.

Tip 10: Restart the project. Now that you have a new and approved project plan and new estimates, re-launch the project. Have the executive sponsor for the project communicate to the team how important the project is and take steps to ensure that the project team is prepared and mentally positive about restarting the project effort. Be mindful of all of the past project difficulties and be prepared to deal with potential roadblocks.

www.templatespmo.com

Twitt