I’ve talked about this one before as well as re-iterated my discomfort with having an organization that separates project management completely from the sales or project initiation portion of an engagement. In my opinion, it is wrong and it puts not only the PM but the company as a whole behind the 8 ball from the beginning in trying to deliver the right solution to the customer and keep them happy.

Any startup, small or even well-established company that is proceeding down the path to a more structured and standardized organization could benefit from this mentality. Project Management needs to be first and foremost in their minds as they work to engage a new project or customer. Nothing bad will come from this early injection of PM, only good will be realized.  PMs or a PMO can provide an organization with proven leadership and defined processes that will help fill the gaps as an organization works to not only acquire new customers but to really excel in performing for all customers.  The right processes will take an organization from a $50 million company to a $500 million company.  Product excellence and retention of customers is key, and you get there by engaging the right experience early in the process.

What I am really proposing here as an ideal solution is an internal organization that oversees not just Project Management, but the entire delivery process and what that means to various parts of the organization (Sales, Accounting, Legal, IT, etc.).  It would eliminate the surprises that an organization is hit with on a weekly basis because they are still lacking particular structures and defined processes within the Sales to Delivery functionality.

I’ve included below a basic high-level definition of what I see the Engagement Management Services organization to be in a typical company.

Engagement Management Services

Engagement Management is a systematic approach that initiates with the sales process and ends with the engagement closing.  This typically has an accounting component associated with it – overseeing the profitability of project engagements within the organization.

Engagement Management would provide direct oversight of Project Management within the company.  Additionally, it would have touch points with Sales, Legal, Technical Professionals (developers, business analysts, network administrators, etc.), Accounting, and others as necessary.  The processes that Engagement Management follows would support the organization as a whole in delivering products and business capabilities, not just the individual groups.

Project Management is a more narrow focus of providing management of an organization’s projects.  Engagement Management would include Project Management, but would also focus on providing an organization’s enterprise-wide capabilities and services to outside customers and partners in an attempt to increase revenue and profitability while overseeing much of the Sales and other related areas that interact with the project and project teams as well as the customer.

Engagement Management would provide a tie between Sales and the actual technical solution.  It would be the glue that holds the delivery process together with the intent of avoiding many of the disconnects faced by organizations when Sales, IT and PM are all working under their own assumptions and priorities.  Currently, many organizations experience frustrating disconnects between Sales and Delivery.  I’ve been a part of organizations that experience these frustrations on a weekly basis.  An Engagement Management structure would help “standardize” the sales process and how that “sold” solution translates into a “delivery” solution.

A Proposed Organizational Structure

Benefits of an Engagement Management organization

  • Customers see a standardized and professional engagement process across all implementations
  • Brings all of PM together and allows for future growth
  • Allows for the ability to standardize the PM approach and reporting
  • Ability to define standardized PM templates and processes
  • Not hindered or biased by a reporting relationship through Operations or IT
  • Ability to define a change management process and change order/scope management process
  • Engagement Management provides general oversight to all inputs and deliverables in the delivery process
    • Business Requirements Document (BRD) delivery and signoff
    • Statement of Work (SOW) delivery and signoff
    • Project Plan/timeframe definition
    • Solution or product implementation
    • Post-implementation reviews
    • Customer satisfaction

In my solution, there would still be a PMO led by a PMO Director or at least a structure of PMs leading projects and reporting to a centralized leadership. The Engagement Management Services organization must be led by a very senior individual – preferably a VP.  All PM support personnel would report up through this person’s organization.

Summary

Some organizations are probably doing this now and doing it right. What I’m trying to say here is, if your organization is floundering because of the disconnect between PM and other support organizations, then incorporating an Engagement Management Services type structure to ensure that the proper oversight is given to mission critical engagements may be an answer. It’s frustrating for the customer and for the PMO to continue to deliver projects that are not what the customer wants and not in either organization’s best interests and and to continue to experience issues that could have been avoided had project management been brought into the process at the beginning.