Grassroots PPM: 4 Best Practices

“Project portfolio management (PPM) is no longer considered an extreme leading-edge concept for many companies, and can be a valuable approach for small and medium-sized enterprises,” writes Peter Schmidt for Projects@Work.  However, they must first examine their overall potential portfolio to determine the applicability of a PPM approach for their needs.  The complexity of designing a portfolio for capital investment may render it unsuitable for smaller or younger organizations.  An obvious reason is that a small number of projects do not make for much of a portfolio selection.  Other barriers include the cost of doing PPM, which includes data collection, analysis, documentation, education and change to decision-making processes.”

That being said, depending on the type of projects that a small or medium-sized business works on, a PPM strategy might make a lot of sense.  Schmidt suggests, “Some indications that the enterprise needs PPM include: frequent difficulty finding enough people to put together a solid project team; high turnover due to burnout of key contributors working on too many projects; frequent change of status projects (i.e., moving from ‘active’ to ‘on hold’ to ‘top priority’ and back); completion of projects that no longer meet a strategic need; and intense competition, rather than cooperation, among departments when staffing and funding projects.”

Schmidt suggests the following four best practices for setting up grassroots PPM:

1.    Setting up a PPM capability must be done in a series of steps over a phased implementation—Although there are a lot of very good reasons for small and medium-sized organizations to implement a formalized PPM process, implementation can be lengthy and costly.  Schmidt suggests that you tackle the challenge in small bites.  “Trying to implement all aspects of PPM at once requires too much organizational and cultural change and affects to many users,” he says.   Below are the three basic models he suggests:

• High value/easily implemented projects first—“In this approach, the starting point is to select an entire pilot project for the first effort,” says Schmidt.  “Subsequent projects will be added to the mix after this pilot has successfully been used as a test-bed for the PPM process.”  When choosing the first project, you’re looking for an initiative that will provide a lot of business value and be relatively easy to complete.
• System life cycle concept—Schmidt offers, “This model takes all of a subset of projects in a particular phase of the systems/product life cycle (‘concept development’ for instance) and places them ‘under control’ of the PPM process.”
• Domain-based—“Some examples of this approach include implementations by functional area, product area or business unit,” says Schmidt.

2.    A proposed portfolio must match the business reality of today while being able to take into account future trends and challenges—“A project portfolio is a snapshot of the current state of the business,” argues Schmidt.   “To be effective, the analysis and management of the portfolio must add value today as well as tomorrow.  Small and medium-sized businesses in particular cannot carry a conceptual, non-productive PPM capability for very long in today’s business environment.”

3.    Automating the portfolio is less important than the intuitive understanding of the portfolio structure itself—“It is risky for small and medium-sized companies to become overly focused on tools,” he says.  “Over reliance on tools can often channel portfolio mangers into potentially risky approaches to assess the health of projects and products.” To successfully implement a PPM software solution, it is important to completely understand the portfolio structure.

4.    Managing, training, and facilitating the people process from executive level to project level will not be accomplished by itself—Schmidt suggests, “Because PPM represents a new way of doing business, a training strategy must incorporate significant change management.  An initiative as significant as PPM typically requires an organization to implement new roles, processes, and automation.  The changes can appear daunting for many employees whose first experience with the new technique in training class.”

Small and medium-sized business deal daily with capacity restraints and resource needs, which is why PPM offers so much potential.  To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Don’t Be Overhead

“Project management offices are often viewed as ‘overhead’ by executive management and become the target of cutbacks in tough economic times,” writes Curt Finch for Projects@Work.  “In fact, PMOs can help organizations weather the economic storm by prioritizing and aligning projects with strategic goals.”

Citing a recent poll by PMStudent.com, Finch says:

• 11% of project managers surveyed said they have experienced increased financial scrutiny
• 14% have experienced or witnessed project manager layoffs
• 27% have experienced project cutbacks

Historically, top executives have often viewed the PMO as ‘project management overhead,’ a perception that must be changed if PMOs are to survive these widespread cost-cutting measures,” writes Finch.  “When PMO managers align projects with company strategy, deliver positive results and demonstrate their value to management, they put themselves in a much more secure position within the organization.”

The Projects—According to Finch, when money is tight, “…the projects that do not align with company strategy have to go.  In fact, the economic recession presents a compelling opportunity to get rid of such projects.  Prioritization of projects is a service that the PMO can deliver which is sorely needed.”

The Results—“The PMO must not only choose the right projects to work on, but also ensure that these projects are successful,” says Finch.  “In good times and bad, you need successful execution across the board.”

The Value—“Another key to PMO survival during rough times is effectively communicating the value of your projects to management,” he says.  “Project managers who recognize this and use it to their advantage will have staying power, while others will not.”

New Respect for the PMO—Finch suggests that the best way to avoid being viewed as overhead, is “to deliver real value to the organization by focusing on the right projects and executing them successfully.”  He continues, “PMOs today have a choice: they can either justify their existence by highlighting their achievements and illustrating their true value, or they can fall by the wayside when cuts are made.”

To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Put Down the Hatchet…

“The current global economic downturn is significantly impacting organizations and their IT departments,” writes Ryan Shriver for Gantthead.  “Companies are increasingly focused on survival as budgets are cut or frozen and sales forecasts look flat.  Employees are wondering if their job will be there tomorrow and IT leaders are challenged to do more with less.  Everyone must justify their plans for limited resources and hunker down to survive the choppy economic waters ahead.”

Shriver suggests that the typically IT leaders approach the problem with a hatchet and make broad across-the-board cuts to services and people.  Arguably, cost savings are immediately apparent, but would you use a chain saw to slice up an apple for lunch?

“This type of drastic cost cutting introduces risk and does not position the organization for future survival,” says Shriver.  “While a hatchet approach may be required in the direst of situations, organizations implementing across-the-board cuts are squandering opportunities to deliver increased value while simultaneously reducing costs.”

When IT organizations focus on delivering projects that will provide the most business value and are the most essential to the enterprise, they can often take a scalpel and surgically cut cost while increasing the value they provide to the organization.  Successfully cutting costs and increasing value requires IT leaders to say “no” to some initiatives so they focus on those that provide real value.

Value Delivery Policies for IT

Shriver suggests that IT leaders can gain the focus required to set simple, effective, and transparent polices that drive value, by introducing policies such as:

• Top Critical Objectives—Every initiative should be based upon a set of quantified objectives.  Prioritizing these objectives will make it easier to focus on those that will produce the most value to the business.   “These objectives should be transparent and visible to all project members,” says Shriver.
• Deliver Value Early and Often—I agree with Shriver when he argues that projects should deliver real, measurable value early and “delivery should be in days and weeks, not months and years.”
• Objectives Focused Contracting—Anytime a contractor is engaged, decisions should be made based upon their direct or indirect contribution to the Top Critical Objectives.  He suggests that contracts should “…compensate contractors for value delivered, not effort expended.”
• Value-Based ROI—“The IT department should be evaluated on return on investment,” says Shriver.  The formula he suggests is “stakeholder value delivered” divided by “resources consumed.”  This will give organizations a clear view of whether or not IT is delivering valuable results for the organization’s investments.

“These four policies form the foundation for transitioning to a value-focused IT organization,” says Shriver.

He finishes the article with some suggestions for taking the first steps, which you can check out by clicking HERE.

Are these suggestions the silver bullet for what ailes IT organizations in challenging economic times?  Possibly.  Will they be easy to implement?  Probably not.  That being said, the alternatives are across-the-board cuts in resources that often result in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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The Light at the End of the Tunnel?

“Results from our exclusive CIO survey show that the percentage of CIOs planning to increase their IT spending shrunk to the lowest level in a year,” writes Thomas Wailgum for CIO.  “However, IT budgets show signs of stabilization after more than a year of budget cuts and layoffs.”

Wailgum suggests that no one needs to remind you that the last 10 months have been rough for IT executives, however a recent economic impact survey conducted by CIO shows that CIOs may have hit “rock bottom” with their budgeting and cost-cutting measures.

“First, the bad news: Just 14 percent of the 171 IT leaders who took part in the May 2009 ‘CIO Economic Impact Survey’ expect IT budget increases in the near furture,” writes Wailgum, “which is down from 20 percent in a similar survey conducted in January, and 63 percent in March 2008.”

Here’s a few additional statistics:

• 65% of CIOs report that IT purchases are subject to closer scrutiny by other business executives
• 40% of CIOs say they will have to shrink payroll, which is up from 35% who said the same thing in January
• IT execs have halted discretionary IT projects
• IT execs are renegotiating IT vendor contracts and freezing hiring during the last half of the year

“However, the most recent survey results suggest that all the cost-cutting and budget slashing may be slowing or, at the very least, leveling out: For instance, the percentage of CIOs planning for IT spending decreases remained relatively flat (50 percent in May versus 53 percent in January), and the percentage anticipating no change to their IT budget increased from four months ago,” says Wailgum.

Although the light at the end of the tunnel might be faint and difficult to make out, I don’t think it’s the headlights of an oncoming train.  At the very least, it looks like we may see some stabilization, and maybe even be turning the economic corner.

To read the CIO article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Recession-Related IT Budget Slashing Taking Its Toll

“The Standish Group’s latest CHAOS report on IT project success and failure provides empirical evidence of something that all project and IT managers suspect: layoffs and budget cuts equal more project failures,” writes Meridith Levinson for CIO.

The Standish Group’s 2009 CHAOS study surveyed 400 organizations and found “…a decrease in IT project success rates and an increase in IT project failure rates during the past two years,” writes Levinson.  “Specifically, 32 percent of IT projects were considered successful, having been completed on time, on budget and with the required features and functions.  Nearly one-in-four (24 percent) IT projects were considered failures, having been cancelled before they were completed, or having been delivered but never used.  The rest (44 percent) were considered challenged: They were finished late, over budget, or with fewer than the required features and functions.”

Levinson writes that Jim Johnson, chairman of The Standish Group, attributes the increase in project failures to the recession and budget cuts that began in December 2007, and is the first increase in IT project failures that he’s seen “in a long time.”

According to Levinson, “Johnson was so surprised to observe a dip in IT project success rates that he waited an extra four months before publishing the CHAOS report to make sure its findings were accurate. (The CHAOS report normally publishes in January; this year it was published in April.)”

To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Six Tips for Doing More With Less

“Albert Einstein said, ‘Any fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent.  It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.’  The same can be said for project management processes,” writes Jerry Manas for Gantthead.com.  All too often, organizations create an overabundance of complexity, try to implement unwieldy methodologies and futilely attempt to ensure compliance.  Yet they miss the boat by diluting their efforts trying to standardize everything, to the detriment of the few vitally important things that matter.”

Keeping things simple, or at least as simple as possible, is always a good idea.  Quoting artist Hans Hoffman, Manas writes, “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so the necessary may speak.”

With that in mind, Manas suggests six tips for keeping it simple and doing more with less:

1. The Power of Checklists—Sometimes a simple checklist is all that’s really needed.  “If we look for where we can leverage checklists,” says Manas, “we’d probably find that in many cases, checklists could negate the need for forms and approvals.  After all, pilots on commercial airlines work together with their flight assistants on a pre-flight checklist; they don’t have management come on board and approve them for takeoff.  And that’s with people’s lives at stake.”
2. The Power of Process Summits—“A process summit not only can result in a more streamlined and customer-oriented approach, it can also serve to create buy-in and understanding.  It can make people feel included and listened to.  And it can insure greater participation and adoption without relying on compliance and policing,” says Manas.
3. The Power of the Trash Can—“The trash can is our friend,” says Manas.  “People talk about doing more with less.  In reality, we need to do less with less, but achieve more value.  That’s powerful.”
4. The Power of Brand Strategy—Most organizations don’t think about marketing and brand strategy when they are looking for a good project manager, but according to Manas, “Marketing people understand how to focus on a niche, how to communicate and how to simplify.  They understand how to move with the grain instead of against it.”
5. The Power of Service Standards—According to Manas, service standards “… give people real guidance when making independent decisions.  And let’s face it: We don’t want people to be dependent on management for every project decision.”
6. The Power of Inclusion—“By including others in creating forms, processes and templates (especially the people that have to use them), we can increase the likelihood of greater buy-in—and a leaner template,” says Manas.

All of the above are simple tools that could help your organization make the most out of your resources.

To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Agile in a Waterfall World

“My last project involved developing an agile process model that could be integrated and adopted by enterprise IT organizations,” writes Dr. Andrew Makar for Gantthead.com.  “While researching and developing the process model, I found several best practices that can also apply to waterfall projects.  Even if your current IT organization hasn’t adopted agile software development, your project team can still benefit from these agile project management best practices.”

Dr. Makar suggests the following four agile best practices that should be introduced into your waterfall world:

1. Deliver with Iterations—“A key practice in the agile delivery methodology is to deliver working code often,” writes Dr. Makar.  “Instead of waiting months to see the software product, the project team delivers software in increments.  These increments are designed, developed and tested in two- to four-week iterations.  The culmination of multiple iterations constitutes a software release to the production environment.”
2. Accept Change Iteratively—“Instead of building stringent processes to reject change, project teams should build processes to adopt change easily,” he suggests.  “In the agile world, change is welcomed and adopted across each of the iterations.  During the team’s iteration planning cycle, they work with the business customer to set the scope for the iteration and commit to its delivery.  Once the iteration’s scope is set, the business customer can’t change it.  If the business customer has a change request, it is simply added to the backlog of requests to be reviewed for the next iteration.”
3. Daily Stand-Up Meeting—“A daily stand-up meeting quickly obtains status and identifies issues or obstacles the team is experiencing.  As the title implies, no on sits in the meeting.  Everyone stands in the meeting to encourage brief and focused discussion,” says Dr. Makar.  “During the meeting, only three simple questions are asked: 1) What have you done since the last meeting? 2) What will you do between now and the next meeting? And, 3) Is there anything preventing you from doing what you have planned?”
4. Demonstrate Functionality Early—Dr. Makar suggests, “In the agile world, functionality is delivered in increments and the business customer sees functionality at the end of every iteration … Even if your project team doesn’t use iterative delivery, the project team can demonstrate functionality as it is being delivered.”

I think Dr. Makar would agree that agile development might not be the be-all-end-all solution for every organization, but applying these four best practices into your project management methodology may be a step toward increasing efficiencies.

To read Dr. Makar’s article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Selling The Business Case

“Let’s face it: you didn’t go into project management to sell,” writes Mark Mullaly for Gantthead.  “If your perception of ‘selling’ involves bad hallucinations of plaid jackets, slimy personalities and a smile too wide to seem totally sincere, welcom to the club.”

However, Mullaly suggests that getting buy-in for your business case does require a sales-like process and some sales skills.

When preparing a presentation for the stakeholders in your organization, consider the following:

1. Think about your own encounters with someone trying to “sell” you—If the experience is unwanted or intrusive, we get turned off, suggests Mullaly, but “…we view the situation differently…” if the salesman is helping us solve a problem.  “This means three very important things are true: a) we acknowledge that a problem exists; b) we want to solve the problem; and c) we are willing to pay for the solution.”
2. When we are presented with options, we want to have enough familiarity with the subject matter to be reasonably confident in the decision we are making—“We have a high reluctance to make a decision about something that we lack confidence or knowledge in—whether we are buying our first car, first house or first CRM application,” he says.  “With understanding comes the ability to more comfortably make a decision.”
3. We tend to make better decisions in a collaborative environment—Mullaly suggests, “Involving multiple stakeholders in a discussion allows us to get different perspectives—in terms of subject expertise, problem solving approach and overall personality.”

Thinking about these considerations when you’re putting your business case together, will help you build a stronger business case from the very start—as well as help you present your case it its best light.

To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Maturity Matters

“Big or small, upstart or long established, many companies are finding the value of their PPM efforts is tied to the maturity of their processes and practices,” writes Kathleen Ryan O’Connor for Projects@Work.  “And even small advances in PPM capability can spark great leaps forward.”

O’Connor suggests that despite current economic pressures, PPM remains a bright spot, with analysts speculating that the market could reach as high as $6.5 billion by 2010.  “Driving the boom was company after company discovering that when every cent counted, not knowing what projects helped or hurt the bottom line was not only clueless, but dangerous,” says O’Connor.

That said; many companies don’t make the connection between PPM and business maturity.  “One Forrester survey found that a full 70 percent of responding companies that had adopted PPM had either immature or nonexistent actual portfolio management practices,” she says.

Quoting Forrester analyst Margo Visitacion, “With such levels of immaturity, implementing tools without services will provide little more than a glorified inventory.”

O’Connor suggests that there are as many models for measuring maturity as there are CIOs, which is why some analysts like Forrester have proposed different systems for managing PPM maturity.  Forrester suggests a series of belts, “establishing three maturity levels for companies starting PPM programs,” writes O’Connor.  “In the resulting 12 to 18 months, a company could expect to achieve white-, green- or black-belt maturity, with black-belts boasting such things as established integrated business case development, project initiation and resource capacity planning.”

However, there are some who believe that PPM software has come far enough that organizations will mature almost naturally from its adoption.  Whether or not you agree with that, one thing seems to be apparent, an organization’s maturity does make a difference in successful adoption of a PPM solution.

“The whole point of project portfolio management is to get people to develop better selectivity of the projects that go into their portfolio,” says Harvey Levine, author, speaker, PMI fellow and consultant.  “The key to this is to get some kind of structure in getting people to gather business cases together with the three major aspects for project success: First is alignment with strategies, second is what kind of value and benefits we are getting out of the project, and third is how does this project make the best use of resources and fit without our capacity constraints?” says Levine.

The key to successfully implementing a PPM software solution is directly tied to how successfully you are able to mature your organization’s PPM processes.
To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room

“It is said the only thing constant is change, but it could also be said that change is constantly avoided, denied and feared,” writes Kathleen Ryan O’Connor for Projects@Work.  “Like it or not, when it comes to change, project managers are usually right in the middle of it.”

O’Connor suggests that although AIG, GM, and a dozen or so other household names are either in bankruptcy or suffering from a severely tarnished public image, that doesn’t mean that management is obsolete.  She offers that whether you are in the C-suite or the shop floor, the big questions is, “Will it [change] be managed or will it manage you?”

O’Connor quotes Jonathan Gilbert, PMP, director of client solutions at ESI International, who describes the changes roiling every industry as a result of the current recession as the “elephant in the room.”

“It’s unbelievable what’s occurring right now,” he says.  “And project managers are right in the middle of it.  Peoples’ roles are shifting enormously.”

Here are Gilbert’s top three leadership activities for successful change:

Identify Phase
Identify that a change is required, perhaps due to:

• Competitive pressures
• Marketplace conditions
• Resource constraints
• Other organizational imperatives

Leaders accomplish this by spending time with different constituencies up and down the organization to under stand the change, and to create relevant solutions to deal with the problem/challenge of change.

Engage Phase
Give people a change and time to come to grips with the change so they can:

• Own the change
• Are energized by the change

Believe in the latent wisdom of the people throughout the organization to understand the change, and to create relevant solutions to deal with the problem/challenge of change.

Implement Phase

• Tolerate prototype development and implementation of solutions at the local level, while keeping an eye on possible unintended consequences; this requires suspending the need to control, and the need to have a “master plan” for the change.
• Accept and encourage continual refinement and adaptation to the changing conditions, recognizing that the processes and tools developed during the change need to be flexible and adjustable.
• Give people adequate time for deliberate practice of the new ways of doing work within the changing organization; this means showing people the time and space to work with the new tools and processes.

To read the article in its entirety; click HERE.

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