using stages and gates to keep projects & portfolios healthy
DESCRIPTION
Presentation slides from APMG-International webinar on using stages and gates to keep your projects and portfolios healthy.TRANSCRIPT
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APMG-International Webinar
Using Stages and Gates to keep your
Projects and Portfolios Healthy
Tuesday 10 September 2013 / 11:00 EDT
Presented by Alan Boyce SOMOS Consulting Group
www.APMG-International.com
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Agenda
• Welcome & Introduction
– David Smyth, Marketing Manager – Canada
APMG-International
• Using Stages and Gates to keep your
Projects and Portfolios healthy
– Alan Boyce
• Q&A
• More Information
• Close
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Presenter: Alan R. Boyce
• Senior Management
Consultant and Trainer
• Consulting, Delivery,
Management
– Projects
– Programs
– Portfolios
– Operations
– Technology
• Over three decades adapting
best practices
– Addressing real-life customer
problems
– Achieving business results
• Direct Experience
– Information Technology
– Product Development
– Software Development
– Telecommunications
– Aerospace and Defence
– Life Sciences and Research
B.A.SC., MBA, P.ENG., PMP, CMC, P2P, MOP
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SOMOS Consulting Group
• Management and Technology
Consulting
• Customers include
– Governments
– IT Organizations
– Aerospace and Defence
• Practice Areas
– Management Consulting
– Project and Portfolio Management
– Information Technology Services
• Accredited Consulting & Training
Organization (ACO & ATO)
– PRINCE2®, MSP®, MoP®, P3M3®
– First in North America
• An SEB Company since 2013
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
In Business
Consulting Practice Started
Training Practice Started
First PRINCE2® Training First North American Accredited
Consulting Organization (ACO) Microsoft Partnership
Accredited Training
Organization (ATO)
Acquisition by
SEB Inc.
Acquisition of
QLogitek, Inforica
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Objectives and Overview
• Objectives
– Gain a basic understanding of
the control processes of
Stages and Gates
• Outline
– Origins
– How Stages and Gates Work
– Relation to PRINCE2 and MoP
– Adapting Stages and Gates to
an Organization
– Conclusions
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Origins of Stages and Gates in Projects
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Too much independence can become out-of-control
Motivations
Unlimited ideas
Optimism and best intentions
Executives want to know a status and progress
Managers need some independence to manage
Projects that are failing should be cancelled
Managers want to make good decisions
Limited funds, resources, time
Things don’t always work out as expected
Determining a project’s real status can be challenging
Easy to be carried away by a project’s inertia
Natural to avoid tough decisions
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Structure and Processes for Good Decisions
• Strategic Decisions
– Project Approval / Cancellation
• Operational Decisions
– Measuring Progress
– Adjust Expectations and Plans
– Make Adjustments
• The Resulting System Should
– Enable decisions based on
facts and evidence
– Support clear decisions and
communications
– Be successful with imperfect
or incomplete information
– Allow informed decisions
before a significant investment
– Integrate naturally with the
natural flow of the project
– Require little additional effort
from the delivery teams
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Evolution of Practice of Stages and Gates
Common Sense
• Walk then run
• Test the waters
Structured Development
• SDLC
Stage-Gate® Process
• Formalized
• Dr. Robert Cooper
Wider Adoption
• PRINCE2®
• MoP®
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Phased Tests
• Prototype
• Market test
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How Stages and Gates Work
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• Slice the effort into Stages
– Discrete chunks of work
– Logical breaks where
performance can be seen
• Establish clear decision points
or Gates at each Stage end
• At each Gate
– Evaluate the on-going viability
– Decide to approve next Stage,
or change it, or cancel
– Resources and funds released
only for the next Stage
The Basic Process
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Rationale
• Project expenditures typically
follow the S-Curve
• Our understanding follows the
same curve
– Project challenges
– Team Capability
– Validity of assumptions
• Decisions to cancel made early
mean less is discarded
$
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$
$
$
$
$
$ $
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Why Both Stages and Gates?
• Stage spans a period of time
– Starts only if Gate authorizes
– Investment is limited to the
budget for the Stage
– Tasks are performed
– Performance is measured
– Future Stages are re-planned
• Not simply a time-slice
• Gate is a point in time
– Managers’ decision point
– Review status at end of Stage
– Assess the on-going viability
– Compare with other demands
• One of two outcomes
– An initiative may continue
– Or it may not continue
• Not simply the end of a Stage
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Investment Decisions Funnel
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What the Gates Really Mean
Some projects
are sent back
for rework
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Some projects
are cancelled!
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How the Stages Relate to Funding
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Stage 1 (Concept)
Stage 2 (Evaluation)
Stage 3 (Planning)
Stage m (Delivery)
Stage n (Delivery)
G1 G2 G3 Gm
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Project Mix Over Time
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Projects
In Delivery
In Third Stage
(Planning )
In Second Stage
(Evaluation)
In First Stage
(Concept)
T0 T1 T3 T2
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When Stages and Gates Go Bad
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Without Gating
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T0 T2 T3 T4 T5
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Rethinking The Gate
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Relation to PRINCE2 and MoP
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Application in Portfolio and Project Decisions
• Portfolios
– Investment Board manages
the strategic allocation of
resources between projects
– Many go/no-go decisions are
made before project starts
– After project starts, few
decisions regarding go/no-go
– Day-to-day decisions
delegated to the PM
• Projects
– Project Manager manages
with the resources allocated to
the project
– Decisions made outside the
project to start or terminate it
– After project starts, periodic
go/no-go decisions are needed
– After project starts, PM’s
decisions are made daily
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Stages and Gates in Projects and Portfolios
Portfolio Delivery / MoP Portfolio Definition / MoP
Project Execution / PRINCE2
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Practices within Management of Portfolios (MoP)
Management
Control
Portfolio Definition Portfolio Delivery
Categorize
Prioritize
Balance
Plan
Understand
Benefits
Management
Financial
Management
Risk
Management
Stakeholder
Engagement
Organizational
Governance
Resource
Management
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Balance
Using Gates During Portfolio Definition
• Rank candidate initiatives
– Financial analysis
– Risk in delivery
– Expected benefits
– Political considerations
• Ensure portfolio is balanced
– Strategic objectives
– Interdependencies
– Timelines
– Available resources
– Wide consultation
Portfolio Definition
Categorize
Prioritize
Balance
Plan
Understand
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Using Gates During Portfolio Delivery
• Most practices during Portfolio
Delivery involve control gating
• Tolerance limits and escalation
paths are established
• Costs of initiatives are
measured against budgets
• Supply and demand of
resources are managed
• Benefits are re-forecast
• Business cases are updated
Management
Control
Portfolio Delivery
Benefits
Management
Financial
Management
Risk
Management
Stakeholder
Engagement
Organizational
Governance
Resource
Management
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Principles of PRINCE2
TAILOR
TO SUIT PROJECT
ENVIRONMENT
LEARN FROM
EXPERIENCE
CONTINUED
BUSINESS JUSTIFICATION
DEFINED ROLES
AND RESPONSIBILITIES
FOCUS
ON PRODUCTS
MANAGE BY
STAGES
MANAGE BY
EXCEPTION
PRINCE2 PRINCIPLES
TAILOR
TO SUIT PROJECT
ENVIRONMENT
LEARN FROM
EXPERIENCE
CONTINUED
BUSINESS JUSTIFICATION
DEFINED ROLES
AND RESPONSIBILITIES
FOCUS
ON PRODUCTS
MANAGE BY
STAGES
MANAGE BY
EXCEPTION
PRINCE2 PRINCIPLES
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Gates within PRINCE2 Processes
Directing
Managing
Delivering
Pre- Project
Subsequent Delivery Stage(s)
Final Delivery Stage
Initial Stage
Start Up
Directing a Project
SB
Initiating
SB CP
Controlling a Stage Controlling a Stage
Managing Product Delivery Managing Prod Del
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Adapting Stages and Gates to an Organization
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Information Technology
• Long-standing desire for better
management control
• Many opportunities to identify
Stages and Gates
• Requires that the real accom-
plishments are understood
• Requires that tough decisions
are made
• Supported by SDLC (System
Development Life Cycle)
– Stages align with development
stages
• Equally valid when applied in
Agile environment
– Number of iterations is
estimated
– Stages align with an iteration
or release of the code
– Gate to allow evaluation of
progress at each release
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Product Development
• Structure of work often lends
itself to Stages and Gates
– Design
– Prototype
– Build
– New Product Introduction
• Always a challenge to estimate
time for creative activities
– Establish larger tolerances
during planning
– Reviews and decisions should
still happen at Gates
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Decision-Averse Organizations
• Problem
– Not making a decision
– Slow decision-making
– Reluctance to cancel projects
– Making a decision not based
on facts and data
• Effect
– Exacerbates resource
shortages
– Hard on the team
• Lack of integrity
• Wasted time and effort
• Strategies
– Have good information ready
to support decisions
– Show the cost of no decision
– Make recommendations
– Implement the decisions
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Project is Viable Project is Not Viable
Sustain
the
Project
Cancel
the
Project
Good Decision
Poor Decision
Type I Error
Poor Decision
Type II Error
Good Decision
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Extremely Flat Organizations
• Problem
– This is a strategic tool
• Not for daily decisions
• Effect
– When made too visible to
team, it can
• Waste effort
• Cause angst
• Lead to protective behaviours
• Lead to confusion
• Strategies
– Separate the management
roles
• Investment decisions
• Project Delivery
– Use Gates for strategic control
• Allowing the project to
proceed or not
– Use project milestones for
tactical control
• Day-to-day project progress
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Conclusions
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Conclusions
• Using Stages and Gates can
result in more efficient spend of
project dollars
– Ensuring that go/no-go
decisions are made
– Culling weak projects before
significant expenditure
– Cancelling projects that have
strayed out of bounds
– Resources and funds can be
redirected to other initiatives
• To be effective, Stages and
Gates must be applied properly
– Set Stages to include logical
groups of activities
– Make the required decisions at
the Gates
– Base the decisions on
measurements and facts
• PRINCE2 and MoP incorporate
these Best Practices
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A cancelled project should not be considered a failed project, but a good decision
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
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More Information
• APMG-International
– www.APMG-International.com
• PRINCE2®
– www.prince-officialsite.com
• MoP®
– www.mop-officialsite.com
• SOMOS Consulting Group
– www.SOMOS.com
• Cooper, Robert G., Winning at
New Products.
• McGrath, Michael E., Setting
the PACE in Product
Development.
http://www.linkedin.com/company/apmg-international @APMG_Inter
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International
Find out more about us at our website:
www.APMG-International.com
Thank you for attending
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