POTI: A Model for Programme Blueprints

The OGC’s Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) framework uses a categorisation process to identify areas of scope that should be considered by the programme Blueprint.

A Blueprint is a detailed vision for the organisation, covering what the organisation will look like when all the projects are completed, the programme is wound up, and the business transformation is done.  Typically, you would only write a Blueprint at programme level, so project managers will ‘inherit’ a Blueprint from their programme manager.  If you are leading a project as part of a bigger initiative being managed as a programme, ask to see the Blueprint if you haven’t already.  It will help set your project in the wider context of what the business is trying to achieve.

In particular, Blueprints use the POTI model as a way to define the scope of what is going to change once all the projects in the programme are complete.  POTI sets out the scope of the programme at a high level.

POTI stands for Processes, Organisation, Technology and Information.  These four areas make up a comprehensive view of all the elements that form the programme scope.

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4 Categories of Stakeholders

The OGC’s Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) framework uses a categorisation process to identify all the stakeholders for a programme, and this works equally well for project management.

There are four categories of stakeholders, which provide a starting point for your to brainstorm all of the relevant parties involved.  The four categories are:  users, governance, influencers and providers.  Let’s look at each of those in a bit more detail.

Users
These are the people who will use the products of your project or programme.  They are the beneficiaries of the outputs.  For example, these could be customers or another internal department.  In the case of delivering a new software package for your Sales team, the users would be the Sales team.

Governance
These are people or groups of people who have an interest in how things are managed on the project or programme.  For example, management boards or steering groups would fall into this category.  Auditors, regulators, health and safety executives would also be categorised as governance stakeholders.

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Phases of a Construction Project Life Cycle – Part 4

In Part 4 we will examine the final two construction project phases as described by F. Lawrence Bennett in his book “The Management of Construction – A Project Lifecycle Approach.” In this final installment, we review the project operations and project closeout and termination phases.

Project operations phase

In presenting the contractor’s activities on the construction site, we will suggest, perhaps too simply, that the responsibilities involve three basic areas: monitoring and control, resource management and documentation and communication. Five aspects of monitoring and controlling the work are important. Actual schedule progress must be compared against the project program to determine whether the project is on schedule; if it is not, actions must be undertaken to try to bring the program back into conformance. Likewise, the cost status must be checked to establish how actual performance compares with the budget. An equally important part of monitoring and control is quality management, to assure that the work complies with the technical requirements set forth in the contract documents. In addition, the contractor has an important role to play in managing the work safely and in a way that minimizes adverse environmental impacts.

In managing the project’s resources, the contractor will, first, be concerned with assigning and supervising personnel and assuring that the labor effort is sufficiently productive to meet schedule, cost and quality goals. In addition, materials and plant must be managed so that these same goals are met. Because construction projects require large amounts of paperwork, a special effort is required to manage this documentation effectively. Examples include the various special drawings and samples that must be submitted to the owner or design professional for approval prior to installation, the frequent need to respond to requests for changes in the project after the on-site work has begun and the all-important process for periodically assessing the value of work completed and requesting payment for this work. Various on-line and other electronic means are available to assist contractors with document management and project communications.

Project closeout and termination phase

Finally, as the project nears completion, a number of special activities must take place before the contractor’s responsibilities can be considered complete. There are the various testing and startup tasks, the final cleanup, various inspections and remedial work that may result from them and the process of closing the construction office and terminating the staff’s employment. In addition, a myriad of special paperwork is required, including approvals and certifications that allow the contractor to receive final payment, a set of as-built drawings that include all changes made to the original design, operating manuals, warranties and a final report. The contractor will also be responsible for transferring and archiving project records and will conduct some sort of project critique and evaluation; operator training may also be part of the contractor’s contractual responsibilities.

Criteria for Successful Project Management Offices

I was recently reviewing articles that I’ve written about successes and failures of Project Management Offices (PMOs) and some of the things that make that success or failure happen. I started making a list of these items and thought it might be helpful to share that info with the readers here on PM Tips again in this very condensed format. Remember, these are just my opinions that I’ve expressed in some of my articles along the way.

For PMO to be Effective:

• Director must be a key role in the organization
  • Must have backing and support of executive management
• Director must champion the efforts of the PMs
  • Don’t take credit for their actions
  • Provide ongoing support
  • Assist on critical/visible projects
  • Help breakdown resource acquisition barriers
• Director must run the PMO, not many projects
  • Project focus for the director should mainly be on the highly visible projects where exec decision-making is going to be needed on a regular basis or the business is extremely critical to the organization
  • Organization must value the PMO enough to ensure the director is not bogged down too much to be a successful leader

PMO Promotion

It is the responsibility of the PMO leadership to properly promote the PMO and help ensure its viability and visibility. Its viability is maintained by doing the following:

• Implementing proper and repeatable processes to consistently and successfully manage projects
• Implementing consistent templates for managing project and reporting status to customers and executive management
• Hiring competent, experienced Project Managers to lead projects for the organization
• Implementing proper compensation plans to retain good PM resources
• Implementing adequate training and on-boarding programs and processes to ensure that PMs are well-trained and up to speed on the PMO processes and practices

The PMO’s visibility is maintained by doing the following:

• Reporting project portfolio status on a regular basis and in a meaningful and useful format so that executive management realizes the PMO’s value
• Implementing solid PMO practices to ensure that the high-visibility customers are happy and referencable and the high-visibility projects are successful
• Inviting executive leadership to regularly attend weekly PMO meetings and sit in on project status meetings for the critical, high-visibility projects
• Managing project budgets thoroughly and reporting budget status up through executive leadership to show bottom-line PMO and Project Manager value

The PMO Director, as the leader of the PMO, must be a strong leader with pull inside the organization to ensure that these things happen. Otherwise, the PMO runs the danger of becoming obsolete or, at the very least, insignificant…and the mission critical projects will pass right by the PMO to special teams outside the PMO’s jurisdiction. Executive leadership must see value and ensuring that happens begins with the PMO leadership.

PMOs fail usually for one of the following three reasons:

• Lack of strong, focused leadership
• Lack of repeatable process
• Lack of executive leadership support

Five Signs Your PMO is not Meeting Your Organization’s Needs:

• Executive Management is not Included in the PMO Process
• Training Plans are Non-Existent
• Common Templates and Processes do not Exist
• Poor Upward Project Reporting
• Major Projects Circumvent the Process

All successful PMOs feature four basic components:

• The right processes
• The right tools
• The right people
• Executive level organization support

You can always hire different people. You can bring in consultants to help define better processes or identify better tracking tools. But without the executive-level support, none of it will happen or at least it won’t succeed.

Successful PMOs make an impact on organizational success by performing the following tasks:

• Aligning project delivery with strategic business goals and priorities
• Requiring that every project have an effective PM
• Implementing an appropriate PM methodology
• Consistent management and oversight of the project portfolio
• Obtaining and maintaining company leadership support

Defining Strategic Projects

In his book, “Project Management Nation,” Jason Charvat looks into Strategic Projects, what they are and how we translate corporate “strategy” into the projects for the organization.

What are Strategic Projects?

Where the project is a component of a broader business sense, it should be assessed as an integral part of the strategic program. All the normal financial assessment rules should be applied. The executive team should pay close attention to those parts of the proposed solution that clearly show the benefits of proceeding with the solution. Managers should ensure that detailed plans for achieving the benefits, and specific responsibility for delivering them, are in place.

IT planning must take account of the intended direction of the business, financial constraints and criteria, and human resource (HR) plans and policies. It must also be flexible enough to cope with any likely response from competitors over the whole project life cycle. Project managers should have a clearly communicated policy for the way to collect, use, and store information in support of the business objectives and the way the systems will enable them to harness the value of this information in the future.

Translating Strategy into Projects

Once the strategy has been determined and has been approved by the company executive team, the responsibility of the project success does not fall only at the feet of the project manager. The chief executive officer (CEO), chief information officer (CIO), directors, functional management, and staff all have specific tangible and intangible roles in the project. In this manner, mutual expectations can be met and benefits realized. For a successful transition from strategy to project, the business must have in place:

• Agreement on what needs changing, and why (this should be clearly supported by the project sponsor)
• A common “language” for analyzing and describing requirements, based on a shared understanding of the business processes across “client,” purchasing, and information systems (IS) departments (don’t assume this is the case)
• Agreed processes that involve the users in the selection and design of systems solutions (consider making a “client,” rather than an IS specialist, the program manager responsible for delivering the business benefits)
• The support of a skilled, experienced technology project manager

Each and every project should have some sort of a mission. The mission identifies the client’s requirements and clearly defines the purpose of the project. A project’s mission must be completed for success of the project. Objectives define the success criteria for the project. The objectives relate directly to the completion of the project’s mission. Completing all of the objectives should accomplish the project’s mission. Measurable objectives provide a method of quantifying the results and establishing quality standards to evaluate the success of the project.