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

How to Make Your PMO More Visible

Visible? Did I say visible? What I think I really mean is viable. We all want our Project Management Office (PMO) to be visible, right? And, if the projects are flowing through it like they should be, then it probably is visible. The scary part is when some projects flow through it and others – possibly the big ticket, high dollar projects – aren’t.

Separate is Not Equal

It’s not wise to segregate like that. I worked at one very large aviation and engineering company in the late 90’s and early 2000’s leading all internal web development projects just prior to helping them build their PMO. There was an internal struggle to be the web project provider between our group, the Internet Team, and the other group, the Graphic Design Team. I truly was some strange internal political struggle. Our team eventually came out on top meaning all web development projects were channeled through us, but it was strange to see such an internal battle going on like that.

The same can be said for the PMO and the projects that are allowed to run through it. If you have a PMO in place, or are building one, then all projects should at least run THROUGH it – if not all are run BY it. All projects should be tracked by the PMO and status reporting should be run up through the PMO, even if the project ends up being managed elsewhere within the organization. If the high visibility projects aren’t even being channeled through the PMO for documentation and tracking, then you have a real problem brewing.

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.

Summary

I’ve personally helped setup PMO’s and I’ve personally watched PMO’s fail. They’ve always failed for one of the following three reasons:

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

The PMO must be formed and move forward with all three of these in place to ensure it’s success.

Agile Project Management and a SIEBEL PM Job

A rather thought provoking article I came across on Agile Project Management.

Agile teams: Focus on the people rather than the process

Rick Freedman believes the agile PM’s most important roles are to create a collaborative environment that enables teams to achieve creative results and to encourage contributors to focus on group goals and agendas rather than the individual.

The NBA Finals are over, and LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson has broken the record of the legendary Red Auerbach by leading his team to the NBA championship for the 10^th time. Jackson’s ability to coach superstar players Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and to get superstar results from role players Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher, illustrates that leadership matters, and that a group of skilled, confident, and occasionally arrogant individuals can be guided to success and can coalesce as a team.

While other coaches struggle with players who are more interested in individual statistics and personal highlight reels than in getting team results, Jackson has been able to channel the ambitions and skills of his players, both in Chicago and Los Angeles, towards team achievement. Shaquille O’Neal and Scottie Pippen make winning championships a bit easier, but, despite all the outstanding players in the NBA, no other coach demonstrates Jackson’s ability to inspire teams to great outcomes.

What does the NBA have to do with agile PM?

Like Jackson, agile project managers often have teams composed of supremely skilled and confident contributors. Like Jackson, many agile project managers often struggle to get arrogant or immature team members to subsume their personal ambitions and instead focus on team results. And, like Jackson, agile project managers must develop a leadership style that inspires and enables team members to achieve.

The coaching metaphor is, in my view, an appropriate analogy to illustrate the type of project leadership that agile methods require. Great agile project managers are coaches, with the critical understanding that, whether it’s shooting hoops or developing software, only the player can make the right decision under the pressure of the moment. Creating the environment that enables the experts to do what they do and setting the strategy while allowing the players to create are attributes of a winning coach and an agile project leader.

SIEBEL CRM Senior Project Manager.

Our global multinational client in the french speaking part of Switzerland is now looking for a Senior Siebel Project Manager/Program Manager to join the project on a long term basis here in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

THE ROLE:
Senior PM for Siebel implementation with role evolving to Program Manager (multiple projects/more countries) as Siebel initiative is planned across next 3 years. You will be in charge of the overall Siebel global implementation.

YOU NEED:
At least 8 years CRM projects, Siebel experience (SFA/BI/Call Centre), global/large scale projects(multi-country deployment), strong project management skills (end-to-end project life cycle, good command of all project areas; technical, process, change, etc), process manufacturing experience, strong communications skills, experience of vendor management.

• University degree or equivalent. Good education is mandatory.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken)
• At least 10 years large complex international experience in delivery of IT/consulting services in the area of CRM with in-depth expertise in implementing CRM software such as Oracle CRM/Siebel
• Experience on business process re-engineering;
• Experience in international working environments; Experience of off-shore delivery model
• Management of project teams
• Advanced business consulting competencies

Nice to have:

• Deep understanding of leading and emerging IT solutions; experience of Siebel on-demand will be appreciated
• Selling skills on high added value services
• Good business acumen for marketing and sales in specific industry/process manufacturing/pharmaceutical/chemical are an advantage

What to Do When There’s Nothing to Do

Whether or not you’re ever in this situation probably depends a lot on the size of your own personal project portfolio and how your company handles projects. It’s happened to me a few times, but it’s not a constant.

Here’s the scenario I’m talking about…. You have a lot of projects on your plate. For me, when it happened the most is when I had maybe 12-15 projects on my radar at any given time. 4-5 of those projects would be very active – moving ahead full steam. Another 4-5 of those projects would be moving along slowly – possibly experiencing some sort of delay but moving along never-the-less. And then there would be a final list of 4-5 projects that seemed dead in the water but promising to jumpstart as soon as one of the following happens:

• Customer funding kicks in
• Customer agrees with the price or estimate (depending on whether it’s an external or internal project)
• The right internal delivery resource becomes available (really only applies to internal projects – you can’t hold an external customer up for an internal resource…you’ll be out of business)
• The customer is waiting on the right customer-side resources to staff the project
• Did I already mention funding? (the most common reason a project – especially internal – would get stalled to the point of death or near death)

For the purpose of this article, I want to look at those 8-10 projects that aren’t moving along – or are moving along at such a slow pace they’re like the rotating bar atop the Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta – you’re trying to figure out which part is actually moving but you can’t because it’s all moving too slow. Ok, maybe I had consumed one too many drinks and I was sitting with the future runner-up to Miss America, but it was a long time ago and I was in college.

Staying on Top of Things

So how can we keep track of those nearly dead or slow moving projects? Well, we don’t need to keep track of them so much as we just need to stay in touch with them. It’s easy to let them fall away because we’re swamped trying to ensure the success of the 4-5 projects that are hot. But we can’t overlook these other projects. They still need care and feeding…the customers still need us to reach out to them – they need to know we’re still in the game and ready to kick things off again when they’re ready or when whatever is holding things up is lifted.

Here’s a few ways we can make sure we’re still in sync with our customers and our teams for each these stalled projects project:

• Maintain weekly contact with the customer – no status reports, but a call or quick face-to-face (depending on logistics) to share any updates, etc.
• Weekly communication with delivery team resources assigned to your ‘on hold’ projects to provide any updates, ensure they’re still ready and available if and when the project starts up again
• Regular communication with your delivery team resources’ direct managers to keep them up-to-date on status – if your currently assigned resources are going to be assigned elsewhere, then you need to know you can get skilled replacements fast if things start up quickly and the only way to do that is to keep managers informed
• Regular updates to the PMO Director (if applicable) so they are aware of the status of each stalled project and can make adjustments to your work project assignments accordingly

Summary

In reality, there’s usually little you can do for a project that is stalled or on what seems like permanent hold. What you can do as the Project Manager in charge is maintain regular contact with the customer or project sponsor to let them know you’re still out there, ready and waiting. Sometimes that will help jar a project loose to get it started again, but it will also keep you in front of the customer when the current stalled project restarts and hopefully will move more engagements from that customer your way.