Key Characteristics of Enterprise Project Management
Posted by Brad Egeland
In my very first article for PM Tips in December 2008 I wrote about an Engagement Management Organization as opposed to a Project Management Organization. While not exactly the same, the concepts presented below which are based on the book “The Portable MBA in Project Management” contain somewhat similar views in the broad range of thinking that is required with such an infrastructure. It goes beyond looking merely at the project portfolio and into the enterprise as a whole. Projects aren’t mere projects, but an extension of the organization’s strategy, goals, priorities, and investments.
The Enterprise Project Management model establishes an infrastructure that links every project undertaken in an organization with the organization’s long-term vision and objectives. Key characteristics of the model include:
- Strategic alignment of the organization’s projects from the vision and strategy level through the individual project level
- Priority-based selection and routine health checks of project investments
- Multi-project coordination and reporting through a program management office
Best Practices for Mature Organizations
Posted by Brad Egeland
Eric Verzuh’s book “The Portable MBA in Project Management” discusses a study that was performed on 26 companies of varying sizes to determine whether implementing specific project management practices produced any actual project performance improvement.
Results from the study showed that companies with the best practice attributes I’ll describe next consistently scored better than their counterparts in four categories:
- Actual cost of projects as a percentage of budgeted cost was 6 percent better for best practice companies.
- Best practice companies had a 25 percent better rate of completing projects on budget.
- Best practice companies had a 29 percent better rate of completing projects on time.
- Actual hours as a percentage of budgeted hours was 15 percent lower for best practice companies.
The resulting data from the best practices study allows us to derive a profile of a mature project management organization. As we analyze the data, we find that the enablers and practices observed in the best practice companies can be isolated into a few core best practice attributes found in these companies.
These include:
1. Formal project management structure: Best practices companies have some type of project management structure, whether a program management office, project management office, project support office, or project knowledge center. Of the best practice companies surveyed, 50% had a program management office. What differentiates the program management office from other project management office structures is its responsibility for the delivery of programs, as opposed to strictly an administrative support role. In addition, the program management office is generally responsible to a vice president or director level with program managers directly assigned to this office. Data indicated that the program management office has a higher success rate than other project management structures in percentage of projects completed on time and on budget.
Is the Use of Open-Source Software a Project Risk?
Posted by Brad Egeland
I just pulled out my 12/15/09 issue of CIO magazine and saw an article that I had somehow missed the first time around. I read it once and thought…”Ok, that sounds scary.” Then I read it again and thought….”Ok, that sounds terrifying!”
The premise is that by using open-source software within your company, you could be opening yourself up to severe legal issues – with no ill intentions whatsoever. Private companies have had acquisitions fail or have needed to be restructured at a significant loss of value during the due diligence process or they’ve had to cancel or postpone anticipated IPOs.
Apparently there are complex and restrictive licensing requirements in the open-source software niche that are somewhat ambiguous and definitely deserve the proper scrutiny. Many widely used open-source licenses include requirements to make source code generally available, prohibit using the software for commercial purposes and fail to provide rights to transfer or assign it.
As an example, the GNU Operating System general public license requires as one of its provisions that a company’s products derived from its use then be licensed to all third parties. What this means is that competitors can potentially examine, copy, and develop derivatives of what would otherwise be considered proprietary code developed by the company. Ouch. On the other side of the coin, there is usually no provision in the open-source license that guarantees that your company did not copy the protected works of others while utilizing it.
Virtual Teams: Key Success Factors – Part 3
Posted by Brad EgelandAs we identified in Part 2 – seven key success factors for virtual teams are:
- Human resource policies
- Training and on-the-job education and development
- Standard organizational and team processes
- Use of electronic collaboration and communication technology
- Organizational culture
- Leadership support of virtual teams
- Team-leader and team-member competencies
In this Part 3, let’s look deeper at the final three of these: organizational culture, leadership support, and team competencies.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture includes norms regarding the free flow of information, shared leadership, and cross-boundary collaboration. It helps to create organizational norms and values that focus on collaboration, respecting, and working with people from all cultures, keeping criticism constructive, and sharing information. The organization’s culture sets the standard for how virtual team members work together. An adaptive, technologically advanced, and nonhierarchical organization is more likely to succeed with virtual teams than is a highly structured, control-oriented organization.
CEOs and the Changing Technology Around Them
Posted by Brad Egeland
Today’s CEO is challenged in a way that no CEOs were challenged before. Technology is changing and too fast for even the CIO of an organization to keep up with, let alone the CEO. Yet those critical decisions of company direction, how and where to grow the business, and what new technology to incorporate ultimately falls in the lap of the CEO.
How does one person do it? The right answer is, they don’t. It’s critical for the CEO to be surrounded by the right people to help him make good decisions for the company. Just like an employee has to answer to their manager or management team, likewise the CEO is subject to the guidance, oversight, and decision-making of his board of directors. Everyone is accountable to someone.
Making tough decisions
The CEO must make sound decisions on what new market niches to attack. He’ll look to his marketing team and expect the right decisions will be made based on their analysis of the industry, but ultimately he’s responsible.
The CEO must make sound technology decisions. He’ll look to the CIO or IT Director for their input on what direction to take, what technology to acquire, who to partner with, etc., but ultimately it’s his decision and the target is on his head.
