Confronting Challenges by Adding a Project Management Consulting Firm to Your Team

February 27, 2010 Leave a Comment

There are many reasons that corporate executives turn to external consultants to provide project management support for their projects. The challenges that organizations face include: sub-par project performance, the potential for lost credibility, lack of experience with a particular project type, and a lack of internal project management practitioners. Project management consulting firms can supply experienced practitioners that offer high-quality solutions to the complex issues facing project teams. Here are six ways that project management consulting firms are making a difference with leading organizations.

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Addressing Project-Related Issues

Often times it is the highly visible, at-risk project that drives management to recognize that a better project management approach is required. Frequently, project management consultants are brought in to address various project-related issues including: poor on-time performance (key dates being missed), unsatisfactory financial results (unnecessary expenditures to meet deadlines), dysfunctional team dynamics (poor communication, team in-fighting, and misdirection), and complicated team composition (multi-locational, language barriers, external partnerships, etc). By providing the right combination of methodology,training, resources and technology, project management consulting firms can help executives determine how to most effectively focus the resources they have available. They can also help preserve the integrity of project deliverables by ensuring that issues are identified in a timely manner and key dates are being consistently met. These tools and support solutions help improve overall project metrics, while enabling project teams to work more effectively and efficiently in high-stress environments.

Providing Advanced Analysis to Management

In many cases, upper management has difficulty evaluating project performance and making the best decisions because they lack visibility to key project information. A project management consulting firm can provide the necessary reports and analysis to equip managers with key information on upcoming obstacles, possible project pitfalls, and potential resource constraints. When this type of information is incorporated as part of a more encompassing project management approach, the consultant can convert standard project data from a reactive snapshot of historical information into a predictive project analysis tool.

Filling an Expertise Gap

Projects are sometimes launched without regard for the expertise and experience of the project teams working on them. Also, a project’s complexity, magnitude, and uniqueness may be a significant concern even for the most experienced teams. Finally, the project management proficiency required to lead major a project initiative may be unavailable or in short supply. In these instances, a project management consulting firm can provide the required expertise necessary to drive the project to a successful outcome.

Establishing a Proactive Approach

Many projects, by default are managed using a reactive approach to problem solving. This style of project management creates an environment where “fire fighting” is the norm and the latest project emergency demands the attention. A proactive project management approach enables project teams to identify obstacles earlier in the project,
which allows them to make better decisions and provide more cost effective solutions. By implementing the right mix of training, consulting and advanced tools, a project management consulting firm can establish an early warning system that provides management a forward-looking tool to ensure their project will be executed as-agreed.

Offering Short-term Support Solutions

The lack of qualified personnel to support a congested project pipeline is an ongoing concern to many organizations. Hiring and training full-time resources and mentoring them in the intricacies of an advanced project management approach can require more time than organizations have available. Project management consulting firms can fill the gap between the immediate need for project management support and the organization’s current capabilities.

Project Assurance

Some projects are so critically important to the success of an organization that failure is simply not an option. In some cases, a past project may have been so poorly executed that management wants assurance that future projects will be more successful. A project management consulting firm can assist in this scenario by helping to deploy advanced risk mitigation tools and providing expert scrutiny of existing project schedules.

Conclusion

Project management consulting firms can bring a combination of experience, knowledge and advanced tools that are not readily available in most organizations. By combining those capabilities with an understanding of best-in-class project management practices it is easy to see how the benefits realized from using a project management consulting firm can far outweigh the out-of-pocket investment.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: PMO Development, Project Management, Project Management Software, Project Management Training, Project Office Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Software is a Tool, Not the Answer to Project Planning & Control

February 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

No matter what the job is at hand, great tools in the hands of a trained professional will lead to exceptional results. But what about providing great tools to an untrained person? Would you expect comparable results? The answer is a resounding NO!
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If this is true, then why do some people believe that having good project management software tools will make them good project managers and ultimately lead to successful projects? The missing variable in this equation is a sound project management methodology to guide them through the planning and control process. Engraining a sound project management methodology in your organization, supported by a suite of great tools, is the first step towards getting great project results.

Select a Sound Project Management Methodology

All projects have three major elements that need to be controlled in order for a project to be successful. Those elements are Time, Cost, and Quality. Time is measured by using a schedule, cost is measured by using a budget, and quality is measured by using specifications. Projects are only successful if they are completed on-time, within budget, and to specifications. If the project management system you have selected does not take into consideration all three of these elements then you will have a difficult time planning and controlling your project through its completion. Your project deadline, budget, and quality constraints will require you to make trade-offs in these three variables. A sound project management approach creates an opportunity to make better decisions about those trade-offs earlier in the process and thereby increases the probability of success.

Select Tools that Support the Chosen Methodology

There are many project management software packages currently available in the market today. Finding a software tool that quickly provides the information needed to analyze and make decisions for your project is not a simple task. While many project management tools are good for planning the initial schedule, sometimes it can be difficult to update the schedule, change resource allocations, modify activity durations or change precedence relationships. Select a tool that has a friendly user interface, easily allows plan changes and supports your chosen project management methodology.

The PMAlliance Planning Process

A good planning process is made up of three distinct steps:

  1. Define the Project
  2. Develop an Initial Project Plan
  3. Compress the Schedule and Develop a Baseline Plan

Defining the project is the first step towards having a successful project outcome. During this step the project manager is selected and the sponsor(s) of the project is interviewed to determine exactly what he/she is expecting the project team to deliver. Once the project has been defined by the sponsor(s), the project team is assembled to develop the project charter. The charter should contain a short background statement, the expected deliverables, the project objectives, the list of the project team and sponsors, a list of key dates, and any assumptions, risks, and constraints that the project team can identify. In addition, the project charter should also contain the time-cost trade-off rate. This is defined as the cost to the organization if the project is finished late or the benefit if finished early. The time-cost trade-off rate is used to make cost effective decisions for compression of the project plan. Once the team is in agreement about the project’s scope, key personnel requirements, major constraints, assumptions, and risks, those items should then be presented to stakeholders for approval. By completing this process up-front, the project team will have a clearly defined (and understood) set of deliverables and an agreed-upon direction prior to making the investment in developing the project plan.The initial project plan is developed by the project team around the deliverables identified in the charter. The deliverables are broken down into work tasks (activities) through the development of a work breakdown structure. Once this is complete, the team needs to identify the task owners, durations and the precedence relationships. The precedence relationships are developed and documented using a network diagram. After the network diagram is developed, the project plan is entered in to the selected project management software for validation and schedule compression. Upon completion of the project plan compression and validation, a baseline of the plan is saved. The baseline plan is used to measure variance as the project is moved into the control mode.

The PMAlliance Control Process

The Control Process is the most important part of managing a project once a good plan has been developed. All projects should be updated on a regular basis, typically, every one to two weeks. The main objectives of project control are to:

  1. Gain an objective indication of the status of the project and key milestone dates
  2. Keep team members focused on the project and their activities
  3. Uncover and resolve any schedule-related problems
  4. Update the schedule to reflect the most current information about the project

The first step in the control process is to collect activity status information from the team members. The project plan should then be updated and the remaining activities should be rescheduled. The plan is then compared against the baseline plan and the variance is analyzed. If necessary, based on the update, the plan may need to be recompressed to meet the project deadline/key dates. The recompression is typically done with the project team. After the schedule has been recompressed, all team members need to reconfirm that they can meet the near term commitments for their assigned tasks. A project status report is then developed and distributed to the management and project team members. In some cases, a formal control meeting is held to communicate the update results directly to management and the project team members.

Conclusion

There are many good project management software packages available on the market today, but without a team that is well trained in sound project management principles that utilize a proven planning and control process, successful projects will be difficult if not impossible to achieve. Software is not the answer, a sound project management methodology is!

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: Project Management, Project Management Software Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Project Management in a Down Economy

February 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

Each year, companies execute projects for the purpose of improving their bottom-line and expanding their competitive advantage. The difference between success and failure often depends on how committed organizations are in utilizing project management to monitor and control schedule delays. Schedule delays are the villain in project management and are the biggest cause of budget overruns, missed deadlines, and poor quality. During good economic times, investing in project management is financially feasible and acceptable by most companies. However, during bad economic times, project management is considered an overhead cost and the tendency is to downsize. This paper discusses the importance of investing in project management to mitigate the impact of schedule delays in good and more importantly during bad economic times.

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Project Management Spending Patterns

Projects are performed by people, and since projects come in various sizes, complexities, and uniqueness; the level of project management expertise and the level of commitment will vary from company to company. Even within companies, this level of expertise will vary from organization to organization. Usually, companies only increase their project management investment after they have had a bad experience with a late project (e.g., incurred large budget overruns, lost market share due to missing promised dates or delivering poor quality, or paying late penalties, etc.). Then conversely, they decrease project management spending when organizations change leadership roles to individuals who have little appreciation for project management or when cost-cutting directives have been mandated. The spending decision many companies make during bad economic times is to reduce their project management footprint in order to decrease costs. The reason for this is two-fold; either they have reduced the number of projects in their portfolio and a proportional reduction in project management is warranted, or their previous project management investments have yielded poor results and managers are unable to justify the costs. The truth is; if project management is implemented and staffed correctly, it can protect a company’s investment in executing projects. Without it, schedule delays will go unnoticed which will ultimately erode profits, undermine morale, and delay the start of future projects.

The Ideal Project Management Infrastructure

Companies must be willing to invest in the infrastructure necessary to support sound project management practice. The ideal project management infrastructure can include:

  • Appropriate project management training to all levels of employees
  • A department or group of people that is dedicated to project management support (sometimes called a Project Office)
  • Consistent and standardized planning and control methodologies that are team-based and use industry best practices
  • Governance to foster best practices and to maintain a consistent project management approach
  • A system to monitor activity status, track progress, and communicate results on a regular basis for all projects within the company’s project portfolio.

It is important to note, project management is more than just software. Companies or organizations can not simply provide project managers with project management software (e.g., Microsoft Project) and expect them to produce favorable results. As a company’s project management infrastructure develops, so does its ability to complete projects on-time, within budget and at a high level of quality.

Project Management During Good and Bad Economic Times

Companies that invest in an ideal project management approach are better suited to avoid or control schedule delays. Companies without an ideal project management presence usually operate in the “firefighting” mode where schedule delays go unnoticed until it is too late and the solutions are very expensive. Companies who can’t control schedule delays pay for them by applying the “rob Peter to pay Paul” principle. In other words they use budgets or resources from lower priority or on-deck projects to finish projects that are overdue. In good economic times this is not a problem because company budgets are healthy, headcounts are growing, and the number of projects in the pipeline is numerous. However, in bad economic times this presents a significant problem because companies cut budgets, downsize staff, and cancel low priority projects. This leaves project teams with minimal recovery options to offset the impact of schedule delays and makes them vulnerable to reduced customer satisfaction, employee loyalty, and market share.

Conclusion

Schedule delays can cause budget overruns, reduced profits or revenue, and increased operating costs. They exist in good economic times and in bad. The difference, during bad economic times, companies have limited resources and budgets to recover from schedule delays that go unnoticed. Therefore, during bad economic times it is imperative that companies continue to invest in project management to ensure their projects are successful.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: PMO Development, Project Management, Project Management Training, Project Office Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

A Phased Approach to Project Management Implementation

February 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

Implementing a formalized project management process in an organization that does not have a history of using a structured approach to project planning and control can present significant challenges. A phased approach to implementation is a crucial element of a successful implementation strategy because…
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it helps overcome resistance to change, allows lessons learned in early phases to be incorporated in the systems installed in later phases, and ensures that a solid foundation of project-level data is available prior to rolling-up enterprise-level information.

Resistance to change is a well-documented phenomenon. And, we know from experience that the implementation of structured project planning and control techniques is a substantial departure from the norm for many companies. Therefore, resistance to change with respect to project management is something that should be expected (and even planned on). A phased approach to implementation can help overcome this resistance by allowing an organization to create success stories, provide the necessary communication (downward and upward), and build momentum prior to rolling-out the process to the general population. By taking a phased approach, we can dramatically increase our chances of acceptance by the organization and reduce the probability of a “program-of-the-month” fiasco.A project management system must be tailored to the organization. A “one size fits all” approach has a low probability of success because it does not recognize differences in project types, management and staff capabilities, and organizational culture. A phased approach to implementation allows time in the initial phases to gather first-hand information about project characteristics, personnel, and cultural nuances. Then, based on this information, a project management system can be designed and a roll-out plan crafted that maximizes the prospects for success.The later stages of implementation are focused on providing the enterprise-level tools that allow an organization to gain visibility to project schedule, resource, and cost information across the entire portfolio of projects. This information can be used to optimize business decision making given that there are constraints related to limited resources, limited budgets, and project priority. Unfortunately, enterprise-level decision making must be based on solid project-level information, otherwise, the decisions that are made may not be correct. A phased implementation approach allows time to ensure that sound plans for all individual projects are created prior to rolling-up enterprise-level information. Also, enterprise-level tools can represent a substantial financial commitment. A phased approach can coordinate the timing of the investment in these tools with the point of maximum usefulness.

The Four Phases of Project Management Implementation

PMAlliance utilizes four phases for the project management implementation process: Initiation, Project-Level Installation, Enterprise-Level Installation, and Maintenance. A description of each phase follows.

1. Initiation Phase

The purpose of the Initiation phase is to mobilize the organization, remediate any current at-risk projects, and set the stage for the Installation phases. Time is of the essence in the Initiation phase. Management “cracks the door open” with the organization by endorsing the process at kick-off and requesting the support and participation
of all employees. However, from the moment of kick-off, employee patience and willingness to participate is in jeopardy until success stories have been created and communicated. This is perhaps the riskiest of all of the phases of implementation because even small failures at this stage can fuel the arguments of naysayers, substantiate the fears of those employees “sitting on the fence” with respect to project management, and dissipate any momentum created by management during the kick-off process. For these reasons, the Initiation phase includes the selection of pilot projects that have the potential for near-term of successes and great emphasis is placed on creating and communicating those success stories to the organization.

2. Project-Level Installation Phase

During the Project-Level Installation phase structured project planning and control processes are implemented on all targeted projects, the project management infrastructure necessary to support the consistent, successful application of project management techniques by the Project Office on future projects is created, and Project Office staff are trained and mentored.

3. Enterprise-Level Installation Phase

The Enterprise-Level Installation phase creates the infrastructure necessary to support business decision-making based on schedule, resource, and cost information “rolled-up” from the entire portfolio of projects and transitions the day-to-day responsibility for developing and maintaining individual project plans to the Project Office staff.

4. Maintenance Phase

The purpose of the Maintenance phase is to transition the responsibility for supporting all of the project management requirements of the organization to the Project Office staff and to ensure long-term continuity by establishing project management as a core competency and an essential function within the organization.

Conclusion

In today’s economic environment it is absolutely
essential to ”get it right the first time” when it comes to making organizational changes. A phased approach to implementing project management can dramatically increase the probability of success because it helps to overcome resistance to change, creates an opportunity to incorporate lessons learned into the design of the project management infrastructure, and ensures that high-quality enterprise-level information is available to major stakeholders.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: PMO Development, Project Management, Project Management Training, Project Office Tagged With: , , , ,

The Project Office

February 25, 2010 Leave a Comment

Companies today increasingly recognize that, with respect to project management, they must advance beyond the ability to create occasional success stories through the exertion of heroic effort. They know that a core element of their overall success is driven by the ability to consistently bring their entire portfolio of projects to successful completion: on-time, within budget, and per-specification. In addition, they know that if they can cost-effectively accelerate the delivery of their new products and services (without sacrificing quality in the process) they can create a strategic advantage over their competitors.
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The role of the Project Office is to enable companies
to be consistently successful with respect to project management and to create a foundation for achieving a competitive advantage. This is accomplished by filling two essential roles within the organization as: 1) A provider of enterprise-level project management services, and 2) A project management center of excellence. Both of these roles are discussed below.

Enterprise-Level Project Management Services

There are certain project management functions that can only occur at the enterprise level. Organizations
require answers to key management questions such as: Are we adequately staffed to meet our current project workload? Are we on-track for meeting our current customer commitments?
What will be the impact to our existing
projects if we take on a new endeavor? The answer to these questions cannot be provided by any individual project plan. Instead, resource, cost, and schedule information must be “rolled-up” across an organization’s entire portfolio of projects in order to produce the type of data necessary
to address these issues. Unfortunately, because of the amount of effort and the specialized
skills required, many companies have come to realize that they will not receive this type of information (on a regular basis, anyway) simply by asking for it. Rather, the work to collect and analyze this information must be made a formal function within the organization and assigned to individuals that are appropriately qualified to perform
the work. Ideally, this function is performed by the Project Office.

Project Management Center of Excellence

With constantly changing personnel, organizations
have an ongoing need to provide mentoring in the proper application of their project management
methodologies to project team members. In addition, the tools that we utilize to assist us with project planning and control (such as Microsoft Project) are continuously being upgraded and enhanced and, as a result, team members must be regularly coached on their proper use. It is the role of the Project Office to provide this ongoing coaching and mentoring. However, in order for the Project Office staff to function successfully in this capacity they must themselves be experts in the methodologies and the use of the tools and they must have the training (and demeanor) to be successful coaches and mentors.

Long-Term Continuity

In many organizations the use of formalized project planning and control techniques is a result of internal sponsorship. That is, someone at a managerial-level within the organization recognized the benefits of project management and was willing to commit company resources to implement it. Unfortunately, when sponsors transfer (or get promoted to another organization) there is a tremendous tendency to backslide; especially with new sponsors that might not have the same level of commitment. A Project Office can help establish project management as a core competency and an essential function within an organization and impart enough momentum to survive the loss of a major sponsor.

Conclusion

Most companies have some form of Project Office organization already in place. However, a significant
percentage of these still have not achieved the consistent level of project success that they envisioned when their Project Office investment was originally justified. According to the Standish Group Chaos Report, 90% of projects ultimately do not achieve their quality, cost, and/or time objectives.Perhaps the reason for this continued lack of success lies in how these existing Project Offices
are utilized. We have observed a number of companies where, unfortunately, the function of the Project Office has devolved into performing
relatively low-level administrative activities like project cost tracking, project documentation, and schedule score-keeping. In some cases, Project Offices become repositories for marginally-skilled resources that are not able to be used anywhere else in the organization.By focusing the role of the Project

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: PMO Development, Project Management, Project Office Tagged With: , , ,