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Project Management Practices:How Politics, Policies, Processes and Culture

Will Impact Your Success

Microsoft Project AssociationApril 25, 2006Presented by

Christine Collins, Managing ConsultantProject Leadership Associates, Inc.

Proprietary and Confidential MaterialMay not be distributed, reproduced or repurposed without the express

permission of Project Leadership Associates, Inc. 2

Project Management PracticesAgenda

• Objectives• Politics and Culture• The Project Management Puzzle

• The Project Manager• The Project Team• Management• The “Project”• Project Life Cycle Process• About Those PMOs . . .• Processes, Methods and Practices• Technology• Vendors

• Challenges and Lessons Learned• Questions



Project Management PracticesObjectives

• Identify the areas where problems can occur

• Offer some insight on practical or “real world” project management practices

• Look at integration of project management, PMOs, methodologies and structures within organizations

• Lessons learned the hard way• Questions…..



Project Management PracticesPolitics and Culture

• Politics and culture are inevitable forces to be reckoned with.

• Can be benign or negative – and that may be relative to where you are sitting

• Both grease the wheels of our profession• How we deal with it impacts our success and that of the

project• Types of response:

• Manage it• Revel in it• Avoid it• Deflect it

• Project first, politics second.• Now, on to the game . . .



Project Management PracticesThe Project Management Puzzle

Management

The ‘Project’ MethodologiesGovernance Stakeholders

Project Manager

Competency

Process

Technology

Vendors

Home and FamilyCareer

Project Team

AuthorityResponsibility



Project Management PracticesThe Project Manager

1. Gantt charts do not define a Project Manager.2. Credentials and certifications do not make a

Project Manager.3. It usually wasn’t the career path we started on.4. We don’t get to chose the people we work with.5. Communication skills can make an average PM

a star.6. Know where you operate from – your comfort

level, and how it impacts your performance.7. And, look for the missing pieces of the puzzle.



Project Management PracticesThe Project Manager

The Project ManagerProject management involves coordination of all aspects of a project including client relations, developing proposals for work, including detailed scope, time frame and budget, contracts and vendor relations. A poor or ineffective Project Manager can sink even the best conceived initiative.

• Work with a project team of one or more team members to carry out feasibility assessments, concept development, design, development and implementation.

• Requires the development and preparation of meeting minutes, status reports, facilitation of workshops, and presentations to all levels within an organization.

• Provide a broad range of knowledge and expertise in functional and technical areas in the course of conducting technical or process reviews

• Provide internal and external consulting • Preparing reports for varying audience levels, ranging from high level to detailed content• Assist in project design, technical briefing preparation, and design/build tasks – be hands

on when necessary.• Interface with professional and managerial level staff of many disciplines within and

potentially outside of the organization• Manage multiple projects simultaneously



Project Management PracticesThe Project Team

1. Teams don’t always ‘just happen’.2. Bickering and finger pointing is worse when

faced with high stress, high challenge project demands.

3. Failing to gel as a team places the project at risk, behind schedule.

4. Interventions, however well-intentioned, frequently miss the mark.

5. Look for the missing piece of the puzzle……



Project Management PracticesManagement

1. Sponsors are seen as stakeholders in the successful attainment of project objectives.

2. Management on the delivery side views themselves as unappreciated heroes, goats, go-to guys, and miracle workers.

3. Executive management, governance committees, project managers and the team as a whole must reinforce the importance and benefits of client involvement throughout the project -- including (especially) projects in which the sponsor isthe project organization, for example, IS. • We are our own worst enemy.

4. Sponsoring management must actively participate in selecting client team members, members of client advisory panels, and members of the testing and quality review teams. It’s called ‘buy in’.

5. It’s like storing the puzzle without the box. Takes up space, but without management, things fall apart rapidly.



Project Management PracticesManagement

Common Business Drivers are Fraught with Cultural and Political Implications

• Internal and external clients are demanding improved value for IT service delivery

• Increased value and controlled costs must be attained through repeatable and sustainable standards and practices.

• Central or distributed IT resources must be leveraged on complex, integrated, lengthy and high dollar programs.

• Governance committees require consistent, timely and accurate information on the project portfolio for better decision making.

• Competencies required for a contemporary IT function are driven by process and practices as much as technology.

• IT track record of late or over-budget projects may be forcing the adoption of a disciplined project management environment.

• IT managers and staff may be looking for more structure and prioritization of work efforts – bring order to their chaos.

• Quality and consistency of project deliverables is suffering without a focal point for checkpoints and reviews.



Project Management PracticesThe ‘Project’

1. A project should be focused on support of a firm’s business objectives rather than trends, tools and technology.

2. Projects are not wish lists developed around a conference room table.

3. All projects are unique: establishing dates and dollars from similar projects is the first step down a path of self-delusion.

4. “What were they thinking when they profiled this project?”5. The skills and experience of both functional and technical

specialists must be channeled to develop a complete solution that serves the clients. Misfits breed malcontent. (See “Project Team”) . . .

6. Look to the puzzle for the missing pieces . . .



Approve

Structure

Plan

Monitor

Report

Document

Change

Initiate

Close

Appropriate

Regardless of who publishes the latest ‘definitive’ industry standards, how many steps are involved, and what they are called, all projects go thru the same basic processes.

Project Management PracticesThe Project Life Cycle Process

• Appropriate funds for the project

• Initiate the project effort• Approve resource

commitments• Structure the project• Plan the project details• Monitor the ongoing project

effort• Report project status• Manage project change• Document project activity• Conduct project closure



Project Management PracticesGovernance

Governance

1. Governance is the framework that permits an organization to make decisions, resolve disputes and issues, manage risk.

2. It theoretically allows teams to work collaboratively within and across organizational boundaries.

3. They mirror the organizations they serve.4. When governance structures aren’t present or

aren’t working, look for the missing parts of the puzzle……



Project Management PracticesAbout those PMOs . . .

Practices Repository & Competency Center

Practices Repository,

Competency Center, Project Management

Repository

Practices Repository

Three Models of a Program Management OfficeProgram Management Office Models

• Can be established specifically to support a large enterprise project (e.g., ERP) or to reside as a permanent organizational unit

• Evolves as an organization experiments with elements identified the initial PMO’s Charter

• Evolutionary direction driven by realities of culture, politics, budget, trends.

Maturity

Complexity

Competency

Functionality



Project Management PracticesProcesses, Methods and Practices

Project management practices support the adoption of processes and solution development methodologies that are relevant, comprehensive and flexible.

1. A structured methodology provides guidance on all aspects of an initiative.

2. It is modular and adaptable to the requirements of different projects, and serves as the foundation for a common project knowledge base.

3. It aids project sponsors, project managers and project team members by using proven design and development techniques integrated (where appropriate) with automated tools.

4. It serves as a vehicle for client involvement by setting out information gathering and consensus building techniques.

5. People either love them or hate them.6. Managing a project without them is like building the puzzle

without the border . . .



Project Management PracticesProcesses, Methods and Practices

1. Tools and Methods will vary based with function or discipline (IT, marketing, engineering, etc.)

2. Methodologies provides framework for structure and discipline during the chaos of transition

3. Degree of integration with other formal standards and methods such as ISO, CMM, PMI, ITIL, etc. should be established as part of institutionalization of project management practices

4. Needs endorsement and ongoing support of managers who must enforce use, as well as Steering Committee, PMO and Project Managers to receive benefits

5. My tools are better than your tools.



Project Management PracticesTechnology

1. A project is focused on support of a firm’s business objectives rather than trends, tools and technology.

2. Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solutions are complex, lengthy and need to be viewed as “ERP for projects.”

3. Weigh the benefits of using tools and methods versus costs to implement and use: • Classic ‘means’ versus ‘end’ dilemma• But not a justification to do without any

4. A major project may not be the time to “proof of concept” a new project management tool or technology.

5. Never assume the troops will embrace the tool.6. The right tool in the wrong hands will produce a disaster.7. What pieces of the puzzle need to be in place first?



Project Management PracticesVendors

1. Vendors have their own agenda.2. Interference is usually met with an end run.3. Vendors have their own agenda.4. Vendors can help cut through politics.5. Vendors have their own agenda.6. Vendors can bring organization to a project in chaos.7. Look for the missing pieces of the puzzle……



Project Management PracticesChallenges and Lessons Learned

Critical Success Factors• It is essential that both IS and the clients completely address processes

and policies, business rules and issues as they arise.

• Both IS and business members of the project team must have the demonstrable support and commitment of management to achieve theobjectives set out for them .

• The Project Manager must provide effective leadership: a project manager is expected to act as the interface between project team and management, clients, peers, and organizational units external to the project.

• Recognition of the organizational and cultural change impacts of a new system is critical to the overall perception of the success of the final product.

• All business and project stakeholders must share in a commitment to planning and control.

• Effective feedback from the client is a valuable contribution to the overall success of the project.

• A structured framework and discipline needs to exist within the solution delivery process.




IS projects seldom fail for technical reasons, even though technical challenges may arise unexpectedly over the course of a project. Most projects fail because of problems originating from:

• Insufficient or inappropriate structuring of the project (scope definition)

• Poor planning, or avoidance of proper planning• Ineffective management of client expectations• Unrealistic time or budget constraints to deliver against client

requirements• Inadequate monitoring against a project plan• Lack of reporting – internally and externally• Ineffective change, quality, and risk management• Additional demands on the skills and time of the Project Manager.• All of these may be the result of, or worsen, with incompatible or

dysfunctional cultures and politics.




• Commitment to and involvement in Best Practices, beginning with the senior executives and extending thru the client, is critical to avoid end runs and rogue projects. • Selling a Project Management practice model or a PMO needs to be done equally on the merits of the soft benefits –the qualitative benefits associated with quality, consistency and compliance will ultimately drive the hard benefits.• Promised benefits, both tangible and intangible, may be difficult to document in the early stages of project management practices. Failure to set these expectations can result in diminished support.• Project metrics without historical data for comparison is difficult at best. Early benefits may be based upon estimates, which may not be wholly satisfying to PM Champions.

Political and Cultural Pitfalls in Adopting Project Management Practices




• Organizations that are constantly reorganizing may have difficulty with processes, roles and the inter-dependent relationships implicit in a project management, methodologies and governance.• The PMO needs a viable tools infrastructure to work, otherwise you wind up replacing one failed manual process with another. But tools are just that . . Don’t design for the tools.• Ignoring the human side of a new process or methodology implementation can be disastrous; projects get done thru people, not technology. • Underestimating the difficulty in transitioning to a process driven IS function will result in the slow demise of the Best Practices framework.• If the PMO be “god”, there is no room for non-believers…the rules apply to everyone.

Political and Cultural Pitfalls in Adopting Project Management Practices




Recommendations for Implementation

• Emphasizing best practices, with minimal time spent analyzing current environment, works only if there truly is nothing in place.

• Risk: May be an excuse or abdication of participating in process design. Avoid design in a vacuum – no participation leads to no buy-in.

• Link positions in the IT organization to roles supporting PM processes.

• PMO implementations frequently coincide with restructuring efforts.

• Accompanies transition from a functional to process driven organization

• PMO at ‘go live’ is really the foundation for on-going process and practice enhancements. Doing it all may be culturally and politically impossible.

• Active and planned projects are candidates for interim PM practice and/or PMO oversight based upon time/risk/$ criteria to realize a faster impact.

• Immediate benefits, builds internal support for project management and a PMO

• Mentoring and training during PM practice adoption is integral to long-term success.

• The CIO must walk the walk – he or she must embrace and support the changes inherent in a best practices world and lead by example.

• Keep it simple; automate wherever possible using standard technologies; take it in stages.



Christine L. CollinsManaging Consultant

Christine Collins has over twenty-five years of general and project management experience in diverse areas such as informationtechnology, professional services, financial services, publishing and small business operations. She has had direct experience in multiple business disciplines, including general management, finance and treasury operations, human resources, legal, sales and marketing, manufacturing and IT. She has had extensive experience in planning, managing and staffing projects within information technology and business operations.

In recent assignments, Chris was responsible for the design, development and transition of IS Program Management Office. This involved all project life cycle processes, including budget and steering committee approvals. She structured and oversaw the training of over sixty IS and non-IS project managers in basic project management methods as well as Microsoft Project training. She has also provided project management oversight to enterprise application and technology implementations.

Among her current and prior clients are:• Ameritech – PMO• American Bottling Company div. of Cadbury Schweppes – PMO (SAP)• ABN Amro - NA PMO (Facilities)• Children’s Memorial Hospital – Internet Monitoring Program Design• Chicago Public School System, City of Chicago - Project Risk Assessment• Comdisco - PMO • CAEL Center for Adult Experiential Learning – IT Strategic Planning and

Alignment• Davis & Kuelthau, SC (Milwaukee) – Business Continuity Program• Discover Card Services - PMO • DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary – Software Evaluation and Process Design• Deutsch Kerrigan & Stiles, New Orleans – Business Continuity/DR• Equity Office Properties – Software Evaluation• Ibbotson Associates – CRM Selection• Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw – PMO,SDM, Project Server, ITIL, KM• Sidley Austin Brown & Wood – Project Management, Process Design• S.C. Johnson, Racine, Wisconsin – PMO (SAP), CMM• Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal LLP – PMO, SDM, ITIL

For additional information, please contact:

Christine L. CollinsManaging ConsultantProject Leadership Associates, Inc.200 West AdamsSuite 250Chicago IL 60606

312.441.0077 Office630.674.7751 Cell

[email protected]• Tenneco Packaging (Pactiv) – PMO (SAP)• Thresholds Rehabilitation Center – Project Management Coaching

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