Risk management will become standard practice for all projects
Project teams will conduct regular risk assessments at the beginning, mid-way and at the end of a project to proactively identify what might prevent success in the management of a project as well as to have contingencies in place to manage a risk, should it occur.
Proper risk management implies control of possible future events, and is proactive rather than reactive. It will reduce not only the likelihood of an event occurring, but also the magnitude of its impact. Organizations that consistently follow a risk management process on all of their projects will see a reduction in their management by crisis. There will always be some things that will occur but most of these, through sound risk management, can be managed, rather than reacted to.
Concluding Remarks
Many of you will read these trends and believe that you are not “senior” enough in your respective organizations to ensure these trends are effectively implemented in your organizations. This is not at all true. One of the great strengths of leaders is their ability to use influence and critical thinking skills to bring about positive change. Each of us can choose to be either a leader or a follower. We must decide. Our organization’s future may depend upon the right decisions being made today. Hopefully, knowledge of these trends will help you stay ahead of your competitors and help you contribute to your organization’s future success.
I look forward to hearing your comments,
Michael
Showing posts with label project management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label project management. Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 7
Organizations will increase the use of Project Health Checks and Project Audits
There will be more project health checks to quickly identify the interim issues, concerns and challenges being experienced by projects. This will reduce fire-fighting and management by crisis by quickly identifying the root causes of the problems. This forensic view will identify the actions required to realize the project’s opportunities and provide assurance to the organization that the project will meet the required schedule, budget and customer requirements.
There will be more project audits completed at the end of projects in order to identify the lessons learned that will help future projects gain knowledge from the project’s successes and challenges. This knowledge will be incorporated into project data repositories to ensure the lessons learned can easily be accessed by project managers.
There will be more project health checks to quickly identify the interim issues, concerns and challenges being experienced by projects. This will reduce fire-fighting and management by crisis by quickly identifying the root causes of the problems. This forensic view will identify the actions required to realize the project’s opportunities and provide assurance to the organization that the project will meet the required schedule, budget and customer requirements.
There will be more project audits completed at the end of projects in order to identify the lessons learned that will help future projects gain knowledge from the project’s successes and challenges. This knowledge will be incorporated into project data repositories to ensure the lessons learned can easily be accessed by project managers.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 6
Organizations will use Best Practices and Knowledge Transfer to successfully launch projects
Organizations that follow best practices will be at a competitive advantage to those who do not apply a structured process to each project. Project management best practices include a disciplined approach to planning, executing and learning from projects.
As part of the move towards greater use of best practices we will also see:
•Use of competency assessments to select the best project resources for any given project.
•Incorporation of project management best practices into all aspects of project management infrastructure including tools, templates and techniques.
•Incorporation of portfolio project management to make sure that projects are prioritized and resourced to align with corporate strategies.
•Increased training for project sponsors to improve their understanding of their roles in helping projects succeed.
Organizations will find value in recording and documenting “Lessons Learned” on projects as a means of passing along the things that worked or did not work on a project. This kknowledge retention and transfer will be a major benefit to organizations because it will contribute to continuous learning and avoidance of repeated mistakes.
Organizations that follow best practices will be at a competitive advantage to those who do not apply a structured process to each project. Project management best practices include a disciplined approach to planning, executing and learning from projects.
As part of the move towards greater use of best practices we will also see:
•Use of competency assessments to select the best project resources for any given project.
•Incorporation of project management best practices into all aspects of project management infrastructure including tools, templates and techniques.
•Incorporation of portfolio project management to make sure that projects are prioritized and resourced to align with corporate strategies.
•Increased training for project sponsors to improve their understanding of their roles in helping projects succeed.
Organizations will find value in recording and documenting “Lessons Learned” on projects as a means of passing along the things that worked or did not work on a project. This kknowledge retention and transfer will be a major benefit to organizations because it will contribute to continuous learning and avoidance of repeated mistakes.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 5
Project management and quality management will unite as critical job skill requirements
Project and quality principles will be infused into everyone’s roles within an organization. As the principles of project management fuse with quality management requirements, organizations will expect a quality-based approach to the management of projects. This will help them to successfully execute projects time after time.
To achieve this, organizations will need to apply quality management processes to all aspects of the project management infrastructure including: project management tools, project management templates, project management methods or techniques as well as project management competencies. These project quality management systems will improve project management by providing quality standards for project processes, tools and templates. As well, it will cause a shift in the competency requirements for project management roles.
All this will have enormous implications for project management training as organizations begin to search for curriculums that combine both quality management and project management knowledge bases.
Project and quality principles will be infused into everyone’s roles within an organization. As the principles of project management fuse with quality management requirements, organizations will expect a quality-based approach to the management of projects. This will help them to successfully execute projects time after time.
To achieve this, organizations will need to apply quality management processes to all aspects of the project management infrastructure including: project management tools, project management templates, project management methods or techniques as well as project management competencies. These project quality management systems will improve project management by providing quality standards for project processes, tools and templates. As well, it will cause a shift in the competency requirements for project management roles.
All this will have enormous implications for project management training as organizations begin to search for curriculums that combine both quality management and project management knowledge bases.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Future of Project Management - Trend 4
Traditional performance management systems will be overhauled to better reflect work performance on projects
Generally speaking, most performance management systems are out of touch with how work is performed today. They undermine project delivery success because they fail to measure employee performance on special projects that are outside the realm of day-to-day job responsibilities.
This problem with performance management systems can greatly hinder an organization’s ability to successfully deliver projects because employees are less likely to consider their work on projects of equal importance to their measured job performance. Furthermore, functional managers may add fuel to the fire if they disapprove of an employee’s project work or are inflexible about work deadlines.
Because of this, we will see organizations starting to overhaul their performance management systems to make sure it measures employees’ total work performance. These new breed performance systems or “Total Performance Management” systems will be designed to capture feedback from functional managers as well as project managers and will measure total work performance.
Generally speaking, most performance management systems are out of touch with how work is performed today. They undermine project delivery success because they fail to measure employee performance on special projects that are outside the realm of day-to-day job responsibilities.
This problem with performance management systems can greatly hinder an organization’s ability to successfully deliver projects because employees are less likely to consider their work on projects of equal importance to their measured job performance. Furthermore, functional managers may add fuel to the fire if they disapprove of an employee’s project work or are inflexible about work deadlines.
Because of this, we will see organizations starting to overhaul their performance management systems to make sure it measures employees’ total work performance. These new breed performance systems or “Total Performance Management” systems will be designed to capture feedback from functional managers as well as project managers and will measure total work performance.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Future of Project Management - Trend 3
The role of “Project Manager” as a unique role will go the way of the dinosaur
The role of the Quality Manager is no longer today what is was 20 years ago. In fact, this title is not commonly found in most organizations. We can expect to also see this happen in project management where the role of the Project Manager will evolve to such a degree that it will become a work skill that is part of every employee’s job responsibility. This will require a cultural shift so that it becomes a part of every employee’s responsibility to know and understand how to manage that part of their work which is a project.
The role of the Quality Manager is no longer today what is was 20 years ago. In fact, this title is not commonly found in most organizations. We can expect to also see this happen in project management where the role of the Project Manager will evolve to such a degree that it will become a work skill that is part of every employee’s job responsibility. This will require a cultural shift so that it becomes a part of every employee’s responsibility to know and understand how to manage that part of their work which is a project.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Future of Project Management - Trend 2
There will be an increase in the number of centralized project management structures or Enterprise Project Management Offices
Organization’s project management functions will be centralized through the creation of an “Enterprise Project Management Office” or EPMO. This will help them to ensure that the projects that get initiated and implemented are supportive of their organizational strategies.
While many organizations have introduced the “Project Management Office” (“PMO”) to be an agent of change and created a project management infrastructure for the organization or department, the trend will be a more strategically focused project management function focused on ensuring that the portfolio of projects are prioritized, resourced and strategically aligned.
Global organizations will continue to have local PMOs but all will report into a single EPMO – using similar project management processes, tools and templates.
Organization’s project management functions will be centralized through the creation of an “Enterprise Project Management Office” or EPMO. This will help them to ensure that the projects that get initiated and implemented are supportive of their organizational strategies.
While many organizations have introduced the “Project Management Office” (“PMO”) to be an agent of change and created a project management infrastructure for the organization or department, the trend will be a more strategically focused project management function focused on ensuring that the portfolio of projects are prioritized, resourced and strategically aligned.
Global organizations will continue to have local PMOs but all will report into a single EPMO – using similar project management processes, tools and templates.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Future of Project Management
The first 10 years of this 21st century are almost over. Where is project management going in the next decade? Being able to look at current trends and see where they will take us is an interesting and thought provoking exercise. It can give us a much needed competitive edge to move ahead of the pack.
Through our continuous, extensive global research studies we have identified a number of key trends that will have a positive impact on organizations and how they manage projects over the next decade. Here are 8 trends you can expect to see happen that will help you gain organizational momentum. I'll present one trend in each Blog over the coming weeks.
As always, contact me with your questions, comments and own observations in regard to these.
Trend 1:
Organizations will undertake Project Culture Change Initiatives to ensure consistency in the management of projects.
Organizations that undertake the changes required to transition themselves from ad hoc and inconsistent project management practices to one where project management knowledge is incorporated into everyone’s job as a required skill set will see reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction rates. More organizations will implement a “Project Culture Initiative™” strategy to undertake this project cultural change to ensure the success in the management of all projects.
Successful project management systems do have a direct bottom-line impact on an organization as well as a profound effect on their structures, systems and resources. The process for creating the cultural change is easy but recognize it is journey. It is exciting but organizations will have to stay focussed throughout. Like all journeys, it takes time. When project management is built into the corporate culture than everyone who works on a project will immediately know what they have to do. They won’t have to locate a PMO or anyone else to tell them how to manage a project, what tools to use, what templates to use, etc.
Through our continuous, extensive global research studies we have identified a number of key trends that will have a positive impact on organizations and how they manage projects over the next decade. Here are 8 trends you can expect to see happen that will help you gain organizational momentum. I'll present one trend in each Blog over the coming weeks.
As always, contact me with your questions, comments and own observations in regard to these.
Trend 1:
Organizations will undertake Project Culture Change Initiatives to ensure consistency in the management of projects.
Organizations that undertake the changes required to transition themselves from ad hoc and inconsistent project management practices to one where project management knowledge is incorporated into everyone’s job as a required skill set will see reduced costs and increased customer satisfaction rates. More organizations will implement a “Project Culture Initiative™” strategy to undertake this project cultural change to ensure the success in the management of all projects.
Successful project management systems do have a direct bottom-line impact on an organization as well as a profound effect on their structures, systems and resources. The process for creating the cultural change is easy but recognize it is journey. It is exciting but organizations will have to stay focussed throughout. Like all journeys, it takes time. When project management is built into the corporate culture than everyone who works on a project will immediately know what they have to do. They won’t have to locate a PMO or anyone else to tell them how to manage a project, what tools to use, what templates to use, etc.
Monday, January 11, 2010
How to Make Your PMO Improve Organizational Success so You Can Look Good to Management
Is it possible for a Project Management Office (PMO) to actually improve organizational success? The answer to this question is quite simply, "Yes."
Here’s why.
A recent research study of PMOs around the world reveals some very interesting findings about how some PMOs have actually improved their organization’s results despite a slower economic climate. You can learn the secrets of their success by reading the full 2010 Research Report, "How Project Management Offices Can Improve Organizational Effectiveness." The report includes helpful advice to get your PMO or EPMO to contribute positive results for your organization:
•How to apply project management to increase organizational success.
•How to create supportive structures necessary for project management to thrive.
•How to gain sponsor and management support for your projects.
•How to communicate and market the PMO/EPMO to the department and/or entire organization so they understand why it’s important to them.
•How to manage the challenges of managing multiple projects (portfolio management) successfully.
•How to deliver consistent project processes, tools and templates that will improve project success rate.
•How to document and retain knowledge from projects for future benefit.
Order Now and Save
You can order the report to receive generous savings before January 25, 2010. For more information about this useful new project management research study go to www.bia.ca or download a free executive summary at http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#2010grr.
Here’s why.
A recent research study of PMOs around the world reveals some very interesting findings about how some PMOs have actually improved their organization’s results despite a slower economic climate. You can learn the secrets of their success by reading the full 2010 Research Report, "How Project Management Offices Can Improve Organizational Effectiveness." The report includes helpful advice to get your PMO or EPMO to contribute positive results for your organization:
•How to apply project management to increase organizational success.
•How to create supportive structures necessary for project management to thrive.
•How to gain sponsor and management support for your projects.
•How to communicate and market the PMO/EPMO to the department and/or entire organization so they understand why it’s important to them.
•How to manage the challenges of managing multiple projects (portfolio management) successfully.
•How to deliver consistent project processes, tools and templates that will improve project success rate.
•How to document and retain knowledge from projects for future benefit.
Order Now and Save
You can order the report to receive generous savings before January 25, 2010. For more information about this useful new project management research study go to www.bia.ca or download a free executive summary at http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#2010grr.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
How to Save Time on Your Project and Win Sponsor Approval
Did you know that the major reasons projects fail is due to a breakdown of communication, lack of planning and poor quality control during the life cycle of a project? Just think about it... those challenges cost you and your company money, delays and frustration. We can help you solve those problems... After years of research and working with thousands of people just like you who want to improve their project management, we developed the Project Success Templates™. These templates will help you to: communicate better, develop a detailed plan for your project and improve the quality of your project delivery so that your project is successful.
These Templates are Superior to All Others
Although there are various project management templates on the market, I’m confident that you’ll find Project Success Templates™ superior to any other template product. Our templates are not just word processed forms. They are unique because they are interactive. They’re far superior to other project management templates.
Learn more
For more information about this great new product you can go to http://www.bia.ca/products or http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#all-in-one.
These Templates are Superior to All Others
Although there are various project management templates on the market, I’m confident that you’ll find Project Success Templates™ superior to any other template product. Our templates are not just word processed forms. They are unique because they are interactive. They’re far superior to other project management templates.
Learn more
For more information about this great new product you can go to http://www.bia.ca/products or http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#all-in-one.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
How to Select a Great Project Team and Increase Project Success
The wrong team can create havoc on getting your project completed successfully, causing delays, missed milestones and budget problems. Just think about it…without knowing that your team members have the right competency requirements for the project role that they assigned to, how can you guarantee success?
We can help you solve this problem.
After years of research and working with thousands of project teams, we’ve developed Project Management Competencies Assessments. These Assessments will help you to select people with the right competencies for both their project role and the project’s requirements…so you’ll be able to select a project team with the right skills to manage your project successfully.
Learn more
Go to http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#pmca for more information about this innovative new assessment tool that’s available from Business Improvement Architects.
We can help you solve this problem.
After years of research and working with thousands of project teams, we’ve developed Project Management Competencies Assessments. These Assessments will help you to select people with the right competencies for both their project role and the project’s requirements…so you’ll be able to select a project team with the right skills to manage your project successfully.
Learn more
Go to http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#pmca for more information about this innovative new assessment tool that’s available from Business Improvement Architects.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Stop Wasting Money on Bad Project Management
In these times of transition we are astounded at how many organizations continue to waste money on badly managed projects. In the past several months we have been asked to do some preliminary investigation on multi-million dollar projects. In each case they are considerably over-budget (in one case it is now $40 million USD). Our recommended action is to undergo an in-depth project health check/audit. Usually completed in several weeks, they deliver powerful recommendations based on the root causes of the problems. They include an implementation plan on how to immediately the recommendations to get the project back on track. In our experience, within a couple of months, the losses will stop and the projects will be moving in the right direction.
Here's the dilemma. The project leaders, directors and even some CEOs are concerned that this project health check/audit will be;
•A witch hunt
•Looking for blame and excuses
•Looking for scapegoats or victims
•An intrusion by the Project Management Office
•A mechanism for punishing the project manager and other resources for not following quality project management processes
•A way to strike fear into the heart of the project manager
So they often choose to hire a technical expert. For example, an engineer or network specialist, etc. in the hopes that throwing more money at the projects will turn them around. Then we do another quick analysis and the project's are usually worse than before. Our recommendation remains the same as before. We don't know what to do unless we can conduct a health check/audit in order to identify the problems.
On one recent project I asked the CEO: "If the project is over-budget by about 40 million, are you willing to invest less than 0.25% of this to do a health check that will probably save you millions?"
The response was depressing. They agreed but have still deferred their decision. In conversations with other members of the executive it became clear that there was concern on the part of the CEO that we might find something that will lead directly to him. Although we can never be certain whether or not this will be true, the intent of an audit is not to look for blame or excuses. Rather, it is designed to identify the root causes of the problems which have led to the current situation and to provide recommendations on how to get the project moving back in the right direction.
Don't make the same mistakes. Project health checks/audits will provide you with great benefits. Get rid of the fear and move toward the opportunities.
All the best,
Michael
Here's the dilemma. The project leaders, directors and even some CEOs are concerned that this project health check/audit will be;
•A witch hunt
•Looking for blame and excuses
•Looking for scapegoats or victims
•An intrusion by the Project Management Office
•A mechanism for punishing the project manager and other resources for not following quality project management processes
•A way to strike fear into the heart of the project manager
So they often choose to hire a technical expert. For example, an engineer or network specialist, etc. in the hopes that throwing more money at the projects will turn them around. Then we do another quick analysis and the project's are usually worse than before. Our recommendation remains the same as before. We don't know what to do unless we can conduct a health check/audit in order to identify the problems.
On one recent project I asked the CEO: "If the project is over-budget by about 40 million, are you willing to invest less than 0.25% of this to do a health check that will probably save you millions?"
The response was depressing. They agreed but have still deferred their decision. In conversations with other members of the executive it became clear that there was concern on the part of the CEO that we might find something that will lead directly to him. Although we can never be certain whether or not this will be true, the intent of an audit is not to look for blame or excuses. Rather, it is designed to identify the root causes of the problems which have led to the current situation and to provide recommendations on how to get the project moving back in the right direction.
Don't make the same mistakes. Project health checks/audits will provide you with great benefits. Get rid of the fear and move toward the opportunities.
All the best,
Michael
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Refocus Your PMO - Part V
3.Manage the resourcing across all projects
The resourcing of projects continues to be a top priority of management and a significant barrier for PMOs in achieving their mandate. Management are not “on board” because they are uncertain what the resources are doing and why. They often perceive that work on projects is an intrusion to their employee’s daily work requirements.
An important role of the PMO is to ensure that all project managers know how to develop a detailed project plan which clearly identifies all of the tasks to be done and the name(s) of the resources that will be responsible for doing them. These project plans should be input into project management software and reports generated regularly.
If this is completed consistently across all projects the PMO then works with management to analyze the consolidated resource reports and help them deal with over-allocation issues including some guidance on help them find solutions. These might include assigning a different resource to complete a specific series of project tasks, identifying that some tasks may be delayed or that the resource assigned is not actually completing the task and rather, they are responsible to oversee its completion and therefore are not as time constrained as the report indicates.
It is beneficial to discuss resource over-allocation issues with the functional managers of the project resources. Discussing the issue with functional managers will help to identify opportunities for alternative resources or changing functional work priorities. As well, calling this issue to the attention of senior management will identify if projects can be re-prioritized. The prioritization of projects may be changed owing to a lack of resources to complete one or more of the projects or the senior management may provide larger budgets to some of the projects so that external resources can be hired.
The PMO needs to develop a plan to oversee the management of all resources across all projects on a continuous (at least monthly) basis. The resource plan will link all projects to organizational commitments for resources on a continuous basis and will anticipate potential resource issues.
The resourcing of projects continues to be a top priority of management and a significant barrier for PMOs in achieving their mandate. Management are not “on board” because they are uncertain what the resources are doing and why. They often perceive that work on projects is an intrusion to their employee’s daily work requirements.
An important role of the PMO is to ensure that all project managers know how to develop a detailed project plan which clearly identifies all of the tasks to be done and the name(s) of the resources that will be responsible for doing them. These project plans should be input into project management software and reports generated regularly.
If this is completed consistently across all projects the PMO then works with management to analyze the consolidated resource reports and help them deal with over-allocation issues including some guidance on help them find solutions. These might include assigning a different resource to complete a specific series of project tasks, identifying that some tasks may be delayed or that the resource assigned is not actually completing the task and rather, they are responsible to oversee its completion and therefore are not as time constrained as the report indicates.
It is beneficial to discuss resource over-allocation issues with the functional managers of the project resources. Discussing the issue with functional managers will help to identify opportunities for alternative resources or changing functional work priorities. As well, calling this issue to the attention of senior management will identify if projects can be re-prioritized. The prioritization of projects may be changed owing to a lack of resources to complete one or more of the projects or the senior management may provide larger budgets to some of the projects so that external resources can be hired.
The PMO needs to develop a plan to oversee the management of all resources across all projects on a continuous (at least monthly) basis. The resource plan will link all projects to organizational commitments for resources on a continuous basis and will anticipate potential resource issues.
Monday, January 5, 2009
How to Save Time on Your Project and Win Sponsor Approval
Did you know that the major reasons projects fail is due to a breakdown of communication, lack of planning and poor quality control during the life cycle of a project? Just think about it... those challenges cost you and your company money, delays and frustration. We can help you solve those problems... After years of research and working with thousands of people just like you who want to improve their project management, we developed the Project Success Templates™. These templates will help you to: communicate better, develop a detailed plan for your project and improve the quality of your project delivery so that your project is successful.
These Templates are Superior to All Others
Although there are various project management templates on the market, I’m confident that you’ll find Project Success Templates™ superior to any other template product. Our templates are not just word processed forms. They are unique because they are interactive. They’re far superior to other project management templates.
Learn more
For more information about this great new product you can go to http://www.bia.ca/products or http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#all-in-one.
These Templates are Superior to All Others
Although there are various project management templates on the market, I’m confident that you’ll find Project Success Templates™ superior to any other template product. Our templates are not just word processed forms. They are unique because they are interactive. They’re far superior to other project management templates.
Learn more
For more information about this great new product you can go to http://www.bia.ca/products or http://www.bia.ca/products.htm#all-in-one.
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