Program & Project Management

Projects cannot be responsible for consistency outside of their unique requirements; this is the job of management. Since not all managers are well versed in project management, they need help to establish and maintain competencies to use projects effectively. Gradual standards and services can help projects be more consistent across all knowledge areas. Using a PMO to establish gradual capability based on organization priorities makes sense because the capability becomes intellectual capital. Finally, avoid doing too much too fast; people must learn many techniques and projects cannot adopt many new practices without impact.

Organizations increasingly depend upon projects to deliver internal changes intended to achieve business performance benefits, or to deliver results to their clients. Project competencies must become key capabilities that can be depended upon. Project success is driven by both project level performance and organization level governance of projects. To add consistency to governance, standards in reporting and measurement can help significantly in providing decision information. To add consistency to projects, standards in project management knowledge areas are highly effective. This is the initial power of the PMO – to establish an appropriate control environment for progress. As PMO maturity builds, it grows to building competencies across the dimensions of capability required for consistently delivering the planned value for project investments.

Appropriate use of a PMO has resulted in many benefits. Project results become much more predictable for organization investments. Leaders are able to make decisions since information readily available. Consistency improves with published standards. Resource waste is significantly reduced. The business regains confidence in the ability to deliver a quality product. Turnover lowers due to higher team esteem and success. Training and competency management are focused for PM skills. Knowledge, guidelines and templates are available to aid consistency. Interdependency is tracked and managed to avoid impact. In all, the PMO services received pay big dividends in making investments deliver on their business case.

Preparation is the key to the effective application of knowledge and reuse. On projects, plan methodologies with sufficient flexibility to merge with others at execution time. Also, plan for configuring methodologies into project plans to encourage reuse and maintain levels of standardization. Across the organization, standardize estimation methods to help calibrate techniques to actual performance. Additionally, plan for using methodologies as a navigation tool to obtain standard templates at execution time. Capture and reuse knowledge in the form of data and resources with special skills. Furthermore, ensure baselines are available for scope and requirements as a minimum practice on projects.

One of the most important competencies that leaders can develop is to manage the control of change for their organization. Control implies that there is a known destination (vision) and that decisions are made as necessary to navigate to the destination with efficient and effective utilization of resources. Implementation requires significant discipline, structure, process and some technology to ensure that the entire organization is operating optimally to achieve business goals and objectives. This solution also facilitates agreements on the allocation of authority with responsibility, and provides mechanisms to help retain visibility and control consistent with the governance principles. Sometimes, those entrusted with implementation of a decision get “too busy” to actually implement the decision, or implement it in a manner not consistent with the original decision. Implementation verification closes that gap. Finally, to learn and to help adjust the process for decision-making, validation occurs later to determine if the decision achieved its required and intended results.

Use of this solution helps to comply with control agencies’ preferred methods and standards. Providers are enabled, providing their best delivery using their own proven and tailored methods. Planned methods and standards are made available to teams for reference and higher productivity generation. The methodology materials and templates are available and reusable, with access to items that help guide work. Merged teams have a way to merge methods and can remain oriented with plans, increasing productivity and resource effectiveness. Due to more appropriate plans, cost, schedule and quality tend to be higher, and teams are better aware when particular work efforts are completed. The solution helps to make the organization more predictable and places management back in control of results, elevating the organization image and credibility.

Governance is a balancing act. It must include an appropriate amount of structure to allow flexible enterprise performance while still maintaining control. This requires certain principles of transparency, accountability, discipline, independence, responsibility and fairness, as well as full lifecycle considerations for decision making, implementation, verification, and validation. The foundation for this level of control is information. Without information and the participation of the right stakeholders, decisions will severely impact management control. By allocating authority and establishing processes for predictable performance, an organization can achieve solid performance in implementing change with consistent and predictable outcomes.

One of the most important competencies that leaders can develop is to manage the control of change for their organization. Control implies that there is a known destination (vision) and that decisions are made as necessary to navigate to the destination with efficient and effective utilization of resources. Implementation requires significant discipline, structure, process and some technology to ensure that the entire organization is operating optimally to achieve business goals and objectives. This solution also facilitates agreements on the allocation of authority with responsibility, and provides mechanisms to help retain visibility and control consistent with the governance principles. Sometimes, those entrusted with implementation of a decision get “too busy” to actually implement the decision, or implement it in a manner not consistent with the original decision. Implementation verification closes that gap. Finally, to learn and to help adjust the process for decision-making, validation occurs later to determine if the decision achieved its required and intended results.

With this solution, decision authority becomes clearer and is distributed more appropriately. Decisions are tracked through implementation and validated for effectiveness to help improve analysis and use of authority. Also, individuals are assigned responsibility for implementation of decisions; likewise, there is verification that implementation was completed correctly. Benefits extend to stakeholders to ensure they participate in the decisions, and with appropriate implementation, management priorities are clearer. Decisions on business or project changes are made from known baselines to protect the integrity of change. As information and analysis become available, managers learn to expect information for decision-making; resulting in improved resource productivity and organizational capacity.

The consistent integrity of products depends upon development process integrity. Individuals should practice mature methods, but management is responsible to establish standards and to assure compliance through governance activity. Leadership is required to ensure the right skills engage at the right time to facilitate production of quality at every phase of development. Automation can facilitate execution of a process that proves the capability to result in quality products. It is important to have the skills, process, and technology implemented and functioning to ensure integrity of system development results.

Software development standards and practices have proven to build greater integrity into the software, leading to much higher quality and project success. By ensuring that errors are found early on, more effort is focused on high quality. Systems are available to facilitate a high quality process at software creation time. By using automated build engines and reporting with enhanced testing during the build process, early feedback is provided to developers to demonstrate higher integrity of code. Managers actively help control the pace and quality of development efforts, that are often protracted due to rework following formal test phases. With systems designed for system configuration and quality integrity, teams have a greater probability of success.

The greatest benefit from this solution is to lower the cost of quality. The cost of quality improvements come from people, process and technology. People improvements include: productivity for more immediate correction during early development activity; higher effectiveness for timing of corrections; reduced waste for tracking errors that automation could find; and, fewer disruptions from other disciplines. Process improvements include: more consistency to customer results; and predictability of schedule and cost with fewer interdependent impacts. Technology improvements include: immediate notifications to multiple participants simultaneously for any anomalies; and systems are synchronized and updated automatically based on best practice schedules. By correcting any problems early on, the multiplier effect of passing errors deeper into the process is reduced by tenfold.

Capacity planning is one of the most basic management tools. One of the hardest things to do is to pull out from a situation where most initiatives are surprises and are in a near state of emergency. Many important responsibilities will become emergencies if they are not managed to completion in their non-emergency state. Even things that are NOT important often seem urgent and steal time away from the important. Triage is initially required to isolate priorities, and prevent them from becoming emergencies. Gradually, a system is implemented to predict work, prioritize it, and plan capacity to place management in control.

Software development standards and practices have proven to build greater integrity into the software, leading to much higher quality and project success. By ensuring that errors are found early on, more effort is focused on high quality. Systems are available to facilitate a high quality process at software creation time. By using automated build engines and reporting with enhanced testing during the build process, early feedback is provided to developers to demonstrate higher integrity of code. Managers actively help control the pace and quality of development efforts, that are often protracted due to rework following formal test phases. With systems designed for system configuration and quality integrity, teams have a greater probability of success.

The greatest benefit from this solution is to lower the cost of quality. The cost of quality improvements come from people, process and technology. People improvements include: productivity for more immediate correction during early development activity; higher effectiveness for timing of corrections; reduced waste for tracking errors that automation could find; and, fewer disruptions from other disciplines. Process improvements include: more consistency to customer results; and predictability of schedule and cost with fewer interdependent impacts. Technology improvements include: immediate notifications to multiple participants simultaneously for any anomalies; and systems are synchronized and updated automatically based on best practice schedules. By correcting any problems early on, the multiplier effect of passing errors deeper into the process is reduced by tenfold.

Project management practices are all too often touted as the means to achieve project success. While the practices are critical, most projects don’t fail for this reason. Most fail for the gap between those who need the new system and those building it. Only leadership can ensure this gap is closed to manage initiatives in ways that ensure outcomes are understood. Roles inside and outside the project must be understood and the gaps between role performance areas need to be filled collaboratively. Expectations must be reasonable and governance must be in place to control projects to required outcomes, not just detailed requirements. Proven patterns of success must include readiness of people to operate new systems. Results must be verified and validated for ability to achieve required results at multiple milestones throughout initiatives.

Businesses change predominantly through implementation of projects. The rate of change makes projects more and more important to business capability generation. Program management is not used to the level of uncertainty that exists early in projects. Expectations are that estimates (often with confidence levels in the 50% range) will be delivered with 100% fidelity. The level of control required by programs seems to encourage making decisions that may be harmless in a program execution mode, but extremely harmful in a project mode; so, it is critical to ensure projects provide as much information about the uncertain as the certain when reporting, to facilitate an organization’s success in delivering projects. Practicing the nine Project Management Institute knowledge areas is not bad, but there are significant gaps in this information for what large projects need to succeed. There is no substitute for identifying the few critical items to success and planning their activity to ensure the everyday grind doesn’t impact doing what is important and making it systemic to avoid the major pitfalls.

Applying enlightened project management leadership and operations has resulted in a much higher rate of meeting business goals and objectives. Collaboration and interdependency management significantly improves schedule performance. Control measures help catch problems early and protect from individual errors propagating through many systems. Aligned and accurate measures help to complete work that satisfies the original need and expectation. Resource control protects productivity and knowledge continuity. Process-based performance, enhanced with strong communications builds stronger teams, keeps impacts lower, builds stronger team relationships and improves supportability of systems developed. More importantly, business results are achieved and customers of system performance are satisfied.

It is important to have a procurement strategy to ensure organizational alignment on how to select a system development provider. One of the most critical factors is to identify the full scope of needs; an architecture-based process helps to ensure complete requirements baselines. There are proven models and patterns in industry to facilitate success in process execution; use them. As procurement activity is conducted, ensure that there is a high level of internal readiness for project execution. For governance, ensure that control processes and systems are in place; they are like an insurance policy. Finally, set up collaborative environments and systems to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of those involved.

Procurement for large system development activity can be a very expensive and tension-filled activity. Without appropriate planning and a strategy for the procurement activity, achieving a successful contract award will be very difficult. Methodology and process are critical to completing activity within prescribed law and regulation and to protect the integrity of the process. Caution is required to avoid any situation where protest could be invited. Procurement process and contract type options need to be considered carefully to meet the circumstances of the procurement, and decisions and plans need to be aligned with the strategy.

This solution addresses a situation where there is insufficient definition of process for procurement in the executing organization; or, where there is lack of a model to help define all related requirements for a large initiative. The common lack of preparation for procurement process is replaced with complete readiness and a better chance to avoid protest. This process builds a greater understanding of the business need and what it takes to satisfy that need. The entire procurement process is enhanced with collaboration solutions among procurement team members. Quality assurance inherently protects against individual errors that are frequently undetected in many organizations. Where negotiations are commonly dependent upon the personalities in the room, this solution provides process and preparation to the equation. Now the enterprise can be as completely prepared as the vendor for a new initiative.

An integrator operates in large project mode every day and operational organizations do not. It is alright to establish trust; but it is critical to verify and use data to enable control for decision-making. There is no substitute for preparation concerning potential impacts on large projects; utilize proven models and patterns to facilitate success in process execution. Concurrently, prepare the organization for huge cultural issues inherent with large projects. Maintain a consistent focus on transition readiness concurrent with execution excellence. Build collaborative environments and systems to improve effectiveness and efficiency. Configure a Project Office strategy to be capable of dealing with large integrators toe-to-toe.

Very large projects create tremendous pressure on organizations, which cannot be truly anticipated or understood without experiencing it. With an appropriate set of models to understand and distribute responsibility, an organization can keep itself in a position of control at the pace large projects must execute. Special measures are required to keep on top of performance information to avoid pitfalls that individually can be significant, but cumulatively create an impact impossible to recover from. A Project Office is a dedicated management team that addresses business and technology transition activity to keep the project, and the project management activity, on track.

The use of this solution generates significant client benefits. With proactive planning, a large vendor will not overwhelm the client. Proactive readiness of client personnel avoids many events that could cause significant cost and schedule impact. Maintaining performance data and records act as a shock absorber to placing blame on the client. Formal complaints are met with respectful responses and requests for explanation of performance omissions. Adversarial relationships are avoided by providing information openly to the vendor at the time of collection, enhancing the probability of success for all. Integrator oversight lapses are buffered with independent observation. In the end, the client organization reputation remains intact and control of cost and schedule lead to vendor acknowledgement of responsibilities. The control benefits far outweigh the cost of typical problems encountered in large projects.