Managing Projects in Higher Education: We have the words; do we know the tune?Jeffrey K. Pinto, Ph.D.

Black Chair of Management Technology

Penn State – Erie

Lots of Projects to Go Around!

Construction – Residence Halls (refurbishment and new), Classroom Buildings

Maintenance – Roadways, greenspace, and other assets

New Majors and Degrees

IT system development and implementation (e.g., conversion from Angel to Canvas)

Special Events – THON, Football weekends

How Do We Measure “Success”?

“Effective” Project Management addresses 3 criteria:

“Quality” – doing the “right” things the “right” way

“Quantity” – getting all the “right” things done

“Timeliness” – getting all the “right” things done on time

What are the Consequential Variables to be Managed?

Project-specific Variables

Owner-specific Variables

Market-specific Variables

Project-specific Variables

Time Constraints

Less time than we need to complete our objectives is nothing new.

May be caused by: extended sign-offs and bureaucratic deliberations, “paralysis by analysis,” weather, and other factors

Uncertain or Changing Objectives

The longer it takes to “lock in,” the more uncertainty; greater likelihood for rework, ripple effects from poor scope development

Technical Difficulty and Complexity

Increased use of “experts” can actually cause more problems; too much input from too many sources often creates “elegant, unworkable” solutions

Financial Constraints

Tight budgets, “absolute maximums,” or unclear funding sources lead to problems

Owner-specific Variables

Project Sophistication

How much do the owners understand about project management?

For example, how will they treat dealing with delays, difficulties, or other “routine” project situations?

Current Capabilities and Staffing Limitations

Understanding the clear impact of resource constraints on productivity

Risk Aversion

In many parts of the higher ed organization, CYA is common

Number of Other Concurrent Projects in the Pipeline

Bureaucratic Restrictions and Politics

Market-specific Variables

Availability of Trained Project Managers

Top management may know (or think they know) what they want; we know what they will get!

Lack of systematic knowledge leads to pockets of pm competence across the university

Poor knowledge management ensures idiosyncratic methods – some successful; some not-so-successful

Competitive State of the Market

Supply and demand – when the private sector beckons, how do we keep our critical assets?

Fixing the Problems

1. Developing a System-Wide Strategic Approach to Project Management

First, analysis: Is the project in-house or will it require cross-organizational cooperation?

In-House are easy – we match the needs to current capabilities

Where capabilities > needs, no problem

Where capabilities = needs, we need to reassess our portfolio

Where capabilities < needs, we need to either:

Thin the herd, add to our capabilities, or reconsider the project

Cross-organizational projects

First, determine who’s in charge

Next, gain explicit commitment; no news is NOT good news

Fixing the Problems

2. Promoting Systems Thinking

Systems thinking means promoting processes where separate parts of the organization assist, communicate, and understand each other

Higher Education is notoriously “turf-driven” – this leads to functional siloing

Don’t believe me? Take a look …

Who’s in Charge???

Systems thinking means crossing boundaries

It also recognizes that pockets of expertise can be shared, if someone is managing the exchange

Project management experts are scattered across the organization

Who knows this?

Fixing the Problems

3. Stakeholder Management is Critical!

Stakeholders are, “individuals and organizations who are actively involved in the project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as the result of project execution or successful project completion.”

PMI’s PMBoK, 5th ed.

Projects are sensitive to the actions of stakeholders because:

Your stakeholders determine project success, not you

Stakeholders often control access to project resources

Stakeholder control information available to the project team

Managing Stakeholders – what are we facing?

Potential to affect the project

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Managing Stakeholders – what are our strategies?

Potential to affect the project

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Collaborate Involve

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Fixing the Problems

4. Portfolio Management

What’s our prioritization system?

“He who screams loudest (or most recently) gets the attention

Fixing the Problems

5. Feedback Mechanisms

Practices that cause separate parts of the organization to assist, communicate with, and understand one another

Bureaucracies demand documentation!

One way – adopt common platforms and reporting devices (MS Project, Earned Value, Scope documentation, etc.)

Second, adopt common dispute resolution mechanisms

Rule 1: avoid unnecessarily adversarial situations

Rule 2: minimize the effects of confrontation by providing methods to resolve disputes

Remember:

All “fixes” MUST consider project-specific variables, owner-specific variables, and market-specific variables

Perform an audit of your operations – which of these variables are typically the most mission-critical for your projects’ success?

What can be done to minimize short-term, medium-term, and long-term risks brought on by these variables?

E.g., the challenge of maintaining a trained core of IT professionals in-house

Managing Projects in Higher Education

Remember: we know the words, but the tune is tricky!

What can we learn from higher educations settings?

What can we teach to higher education professionals?

Thank You!