the zombies of program, project office and portfolio management

The Zombies of Programme & Portfolio Management

‘How lazy habits and bad attitudes in Programme and Portfolio Management continue to manifest themselves’

PMINZ National Conference 2013Auckland11th September 2013

Level 3, 38 Waring Taylor St, Wellington +64 4 913 6789

72 Paul Matthews Rd, Albany, Auckland +64 9 414 6543

www.lps.co.nz

Presented byYoussef MourraManaging Partner, ConsultingLexel Project Services

2 © Lexel Project Services 2013

Me – Youssef Mourra

• Managing Partner – Consulting, Lexel Project Services• Over 20 years' experience in the world of project, programme and portfolio

management (P3M).• Past experience with PIPC, Cognizant, Ernst & Young, Cap Gemini in Australia,

France and the UK. Worked in Europe, Asia and America• For the past 10 years have been based in NZ (Wellington) and has gained

experience with a number of clients both in the private and public sector. • Led hundreds of consulting engagements ranging from complex project and

programme rescues, mobilisation of project offices, to implementation of project management information systems.

• Recognised as a trusted advisor by a number of 'C' level executives and project offices throughout the APAC region.


The Zombies of Project Management

Boris

Doris

Morris

Horace


Meet BorisBenefits Management Zombie

• Benefits can’t be measured• It’s too hard• Cynical about the reasons

benefits are identified and cynical about how they are quantified

• Just get on with the project because it’s a great idea


Meet HoraceSchedule Management Zombie

• Horace believes that you can control a project without a schedule.

• Too much emphasis is placed on schedules and ties Project Managers down

• He believes you should instinctively understand how your project is going and just focus on a few key dates

• What’s the point of a schedule if it keeps changing. Just an unnecessary distraction


Meet MorrisAgile Zombie

• Morris believes that Agile is a project management process in itself

• He objects to any attempt to use the term ‘waterfall’ near it.

• He believes {in a particularly maniacal way} that any attempt to use a schedule or any planning controls of any sort is a threat to his Agile projects

• He believes PMBOK and PRINCE2 are outdated.


Meet DorisChange Management Zombie

• Business or Organisational Change Management is a luxury that most projects can’t afford

• Delivering the project is paramount and the rest is just fluff.

• ‘If an organisation wants to make a change, then people should accept it and adopt it immediately. Why should an organisation invest in all of this touchy feely stuff?’


…that was then. This is now…


The events & characteristics depicted in this presentation are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or brain dead is merely coincidental.

Yeah Right


Introducing….the Zombies of Programme & Portfolio Management

Norris

Florence

Lawrence


Meet NorrisProgramme Manager Zombie


What Norris believes…• That a good Programme Manager is someone who manages multiple

projects• Programme Management is the natural progression in the evolution

of a Senior Project Manager• Programme Management is about aggregating the key information

and dates from each of the individual projects and reporting that up the line

• The focus of Programme Management is producing on producing a result, an output, and handing it over to the business. This makes the Programme Manager accountable and therefore top dog


Why Norris must die!• Norris has got this all wrong

• The focus is on Benefits, Change, Dependency & Integration Management• Best Programme Managers come from the business, they have deep SME

experience. They are not glorified or even experienced Project Managers. There is no natural or automatic continuum from PA to PC to PM to Senior PM and then Programme Manager

• The focus of Time, Cost, Scope & Quality can be addressed by Project Managers & Programme Administrators, it’s not the focus of the Programme Manager

• The whole focus of a Programme Manager is on delivering a business benefit by pulling together the various projects and helping transform or deliver a major outcome which is supported by effective Business Change Management. They are responsible but the Programme Sponsor or Senior Responsible Owner maintains the accountability.


Focus Areas

14

Program Management

Dependency Management

Resource Management

Define the resources

Allocate, Monitor and Refine Release

Change Management

Unfreeze Transition State

Lock changes in so they don’t revert back

Managing the Change

Preparing for Change

Reinforcing the Change

Benefits Management

Benefits Identification

Benefits Quantification

Benefits Tracking

Benefits Realisation

Identify the Program

Define the Program

Close the Program

Deliver the Program

Deliver the Capability

Realising the Benefits

Managing the

Tranches

Review and Prepare

Establish

Products delivered and Transitioned to BAU

Identify Macro Dependencies

Manage and Monitor Macro/Micro Dependencies

Move Refreeze

Resource demand Resource utilisation


Unfreeze Move Refreeze

Programme Manager

Outputs/Products/Deliverables

Benefits Realisation(Business Intelligence)

Benefits Identified and Quantified(Business Case & Strategy)

Change Management Project Management

Outcomes / Benefits

Benefits Management

Benefits Tracking(Benefits Reporting)

Project Manager A

Programme Management

Project Manager B


Meet LawrenceProject Office Zombie


What Lawrence believes…• There is no difference between a Project Management Office, a

Programme Management Office and an Enterprise Portfolio Office• Project Offices are about enforcing policies, standards and methodologies• The primary purpose of a Project Office is to conduct audits (preferably

random) to catch practitioners out• Project Offices are there to identify those who are not ticking the boxes

and following every step of the methodology and to call this out• All projects are the same and every step of the methodology needs to be

followed, there is no room for flexibility• The first step to achieving greater PPM maturity is to install a Project

Portfolio Management toolset


Why Lawrence must die!• Each of these offices has a specific role

• Project Management Office is a temporary office set up to provide support to a temporary organisation – a project.

• Programme Management Office is a temporary office configured to provide support to a defined programme of work and can exist for a number of years, the duration of the programme

• Enterprise Portfolio Office is a permanent office sponsored and supported by the Executive to provide key decision support material to help the Executive ensure the organisation’s portfolio remains aligned to the agreed organisation’s strategy.


Project Offices

19

Enterprise Portfolio Office

Programme Management Office

Project Office

Doing the ‘right’ projects

Doing the projects right

StrategyPortfolio

Management

Programme Management

Project Management


PMOs rated by Support vs. Reach

Ex

ecu

tive

Su

pp

ort

&

Bu

y-i

n

Low High

Low

HighX

ED

Y

A

C

?

B

Enterprise Visibility & Reach

You?

‘Policing’

‘Monitoring’‘Supporting’Z

‘Leading’

V

W


Eddie Obeng’s Project Types

21

Project objectives clear

Project objectives not clear

Project management, processes, corporate knowledge and tools

well developed

Project management, processes, corporate knowledge and tools

not well developed

Fog

Movie

Paint by

Numbers

Quest


Project Flexibility

22

Distilled Distilled is for large, complex engagements, typically strategic projects

Mini Mini is for small, simple engagements, typically tactical projects

Lite Lite is for medium, detailed engagements, can be tactical or strategic projects

Fast Fast is for engagements that need to be ‘fast tracked’ through to delivery

Must Must is guidelines to use in conjunction with one of the above methodologies for engagements that need to be implemented to meet compliance

Assignment Assignment is for ‘Business as Usual’ repeatable engagements, with one key deliverable


PPM Toolsets

23

Enterprise Portfolio Office

Programme Management Office

Project Office

Choosing the ‘right’ projects

Doing the ‘right’ projects right

Strategy

Organisational Requirement & Support

2. People / Capability 3. Process / Frameworks 4. Toolsets/SystemsG

overnance & C

ontrolInfo

rmat

ion

& V

isib

ility


Meet FlorencePortfolio Management Zombie


What Florence believes…• Their organisation will never be mature enough to understand

portfolio management• It’s not their job to promote Portfolio Management to the Executive,

it’s up to the Executive to ask for it• Consolidating as much information as possible on the projects and

programmes in their company, without breaking into a sweat and avoiding probing into the ‘sacred cow’ projects, constitutes portfolio management

• The issues that a company faces related to project delivery has nothing to do with selecting the right projects mix


Why Florence must die!• What is a Portfolio?

• PMI:“A portfolio is a collection of projects and programs and other work

grouped to facilitate the effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. The components of a portfolio are

quantifiable – they can be measured, ranked and prioritised”


Strategic Driver 1

Strategic Driver 1

Organisation Vision/MissionOrganisation Vision/Mission

Vision, Strategy & Strategic Drivers

27

StrategyStrategy

Strategic Driver 2

Strategic Driver 2

Strategic Driver 3

Strategic Driver 3

Strategic Driver 4…Strategic Driver 4…

Prioritised PortfolioPrioritised Portfolio


Do you hold the Royal Flush of Portfolios?

28

• What are the odds of a Royal Flush in Poker?

• It shouldn’t be about odds in business

The royal flush is a case of the straight flush. It can be formed 4 ways (one for each suit), giving it a probability of 0.000154% and odds of 649,739 : 1.


COMPLIANCE MAINTENANCE TACTICAL

The projects we MUST do because of reasons related to Government legislation or existing regulations. We have little choice and we need to get on with understanding the options for how we approach these projects

The projects we SHOULD do because of reasons related to maintaining existing systems and business processes. If we under-invest for too long, we run the risk of breaking our existing operations and systems

The projects we COULD do because of reasons related to changes in the competitive, technological or global environments. We may not always want to respond to each change, but we need to consider them in our planning

29


The projects we COULD do because of reasons related to new ideas and innovations driven from our customer, staff and expert base. We need to investigate, approve, reject or invest in these innovations

The projects we WOULD do because of reasons related to the setting and achieving of the strategic plan and vision. What are the projects that best help us achieve our stated vision and contribute most to the strategic drivers?

INNOVATIONSTRATEGIC

30


INNOVATION

STRATEGIC

TACTICAL

MAINTENANCE

COMPLIANCE VISION

Gate 3Gate 2Gate 1

Filtered out initiatives



• Project Proposals• Execution• Handover to BAU

• Detailed Business Case

• Prioritisation

• Initial Business Case• Option & Impact

Analysis• Prioritisation

Project Categories


Analysing the Portfolio

V

Project Cost

Str

ate

gic

Va

lue

Y

B

T

$0k $150k $300k $500k$450k

0%

2.5

%5

%7

.5%

10

%

C

G

J L

M

U

W

X KI

N

S D

E

F

Q

P

Z

O

H

A

R?? Colour = Risk

RatingSize = BenefitsShading = Change Management

LEGEND


The Ten Steps to Portfolio Optimisation

33

Current State

PORTFOLIO OPTIMISATION ACHIEVED

1

2

4

3

6

5

7

8

9

10

Define & Agree Strategic Drivers Define & Agree

Strategic Drivers

Get Executive Support

Get Executive Support

Prioritise & Weight Strategic

Drivers

Prioritise & Weight Strategic

Drivers

Adopt Portfolio

Management Framework

Adopt Portfolio

Management Framework

Implement Portfolio

Governanace

Implement Portfolio

Governanace

Prepare Portfolio

Environment

Prepare Portfolio

Environment

Define & AgreeProject AttributesDefine & Agree

Project Attributes

Perform Portfolio Stocktake

Perform Portfolio Stocktake

Assess, Prioritise, Analyse, & Select

Portfolio

Assess, Prioritise, Analyse, & Select

Portfolio

Track Progress,

Track Benefits

Track Progress,

Track Benefits


Benefits of getting it RIGHT

• Potential savings of 20% of portfolio value in Year 1

• 30% improvement in time to market for revenue-generating initiatives

• 5% reduction in overall costs• 59% reduction in project

failures• 78% reduction in redundant

projects• 37% decrease in cost per

project• 35% increase in number of

projects under management

Why do Portfolio Management?

50%Value

Achieved

50%Value Lost

100%

66%

0%75% 100%E

ffe

cti

ve

Se

lec

tio

n –

‘D

oin

g t

he

Rig

ht

Th

ing

s’

Iden

tify

ing

Po

ten

tial

Bu

sin

ess

Val

ue

Effective Execution – ‘Doing Things Right ’Realising Business Value

Primary Source: : IDC, September 2008

PortfolioManagement

ProjectM

gt

• Avoid the deadly combination of poor selection and ineffective execution


Look out for them… beware and be aware of their influence

Norris

Florence

Lawrence


What else can we do?

• We need to be vigilant• We need to adopt and use these right practices• We need to promote these practices and show

our workplaces how these will make a huge contribution to overall project & programme success

• The Zombies?• Don’t hire them. Make sure you fire them.• Tell everyone about them and where they are.• Name them. Shame them.


Like to Know More?• We offer a short 1-hour workshop on each of the Zombies highlighted last

year and today. We will show you how straightforward, valuable and powerful each of these project, programme and portfolio management principles are

• We’ll show you how to apply these in your work environment

• Project Office Consulting & Services including Project Office on Demand (POD)• Project Design & Mobilisation• Project/Programme Office Services• Portfolio Prioritisation & Optimisation• Project & Programme Management Capability Development• Project & Programme Health-checks & Audits• Post-Implementation Benefit Reviews• Project & Programme Rescues• P3M Capability Development & Training• Microsoft Project Training & Consulting

Visit us at the Lexel Project Services Exhibit over the next two days


Thanks

• Thanks to you all for your attention and attendance today• Thanks to Microsoft NZ for their sponsorship today• Thanks to the PMI and all sponsors for organising and helping

make this event happen.• Go New Zealand!

• Like what you heard?• Follow me on Twitter on @youssefmourra• Contact me on [email protected] or 021 423 620 for more

information.

mailto:[email protected]

the zombies of program, project office and portfolio management

Business

project management process

complex project

world of project

focus of programme management

ties project managers

experienced project

release change management

programme rescues