Forward Momentum: Delivering Results

By Vicki Wrona, PMP

I recently read two articles by Roger Connors regarding how to increase accountability on our teams. (1-Accountability Leads To Greater Influence and 2-Uncontrollables?) While he is working with large organizations on complex projects, the principles offered apply to small teams as well. One of the complaints I hear from senior management is lack of proactive action by their employees or project teams. What I hear them talking about is accountability. In classes, I will often ask if participants have noticed that there are those managers or project managers who are able to get the better resources, more budget when needed, better management support and who tend to deliver more successfully? What do they do differently?

They act accountable for delivering results rather than sitting back and letting things happen to them. They are more proactive in a way that Connors offers as a simple thing to do. When working with a team, they often ask, “What else can I do?” This question posed to the team brings out new ideas, gets the team used to hearing the question and possibly thinking in these terms themselves. It is what allows teams to deliver more quickly by fixing inefficiencies or finding more creative solutions. It is what allows teams to deliver on budget when it seems that is not possible. It is what allows teams to discover new uses for either existing products or new products being created. It is what allows teams to educate the end user so the new process or the new product being developed is accepted, used or followed.

The other point made in these articles is that there is more in our control than most people initially believe. I often bring this point up when discussing risk with teams, and discussing steps that can be taken to prevent a threat or enhance an opportunity. We may not have final say in many matters (FDA approval, economic conditions, management priorities, etc.) but we can influence them to some extent, and often to a greater extent than we initially believe. Many people do not want to believe this, but again I will ask if you have seen someone who is able to influence more things than the average worker. Often, these people are not those high up in the org chart, but instead those who are proactive and willing to take accountability. To support this idea, Connors provides an example of a team who increased the speed of government approval tremendously, a process that many believe is out of their control.

What do you think? Do you believe we can influence accountability for ourselves and our teams? How have you done it?

By Bruce Beer, PMP

Editor’s note: This is the first post in a series on PMOs.

PMOs are increasingly becoming the “in thing” these days, even though they have been around for many years. So this series of articles will try and answer several main questions –

• What is a PMO
• What is the Business Value of a PMO
• PMOs: Why should You Want One?
• Establishing a PMO – How Do We Do That?  
• Integrating the PMO Into the Organizational Culture/Creating a PMO That Lasts

 WHAT IS A PMO?

A Project (or Program) Management Office (PMO) can be considered as the coordinated project management of multiple projects – usually those within a program but can also be a Company resource to be used by all projects within that company.

OK so what do they look like and what do they do – how would you recognize one if you tripped over one?

At a high level a PMO –  

1. Provides guidance and support to all projects in the program or Company
2. Enables successful definition, integration, acceptance and implementation of all deliverables within a program.
3. Is the main mechanism for meeting customer satisfaction by providing a single point of contact for the customer (internal or external) , enabling effective communication between projects, PMO, and customers
4. Provides consistency and reliability of all deliverables and processes within a program or company
5. Minimizes gaps and overlaps between projects

     1. Provides guidance and support to all projects in the program or Company

It provides a common approach to all projects covered by the PMO, it can provide templates for tools used on all projects so that they all have a common look and feel, it can provide guidance for projects on how to plan and implement common quality and risk management policies, and because a PMO normally contains senior PMs, the PMO can also mentor the PMs of the component projects. This will have benefits for individual PMs, the program(s), and in the longer term, the company as PMs standardize their approach to projects.

     2. Enables successful definition, integration, acceptance and implementation of all deliverables within a program 

Whether you are a supplier providing project services for an external customer, or you are providing project services internally to your own company, a PMO can provide a central and coordinated point for definition of all requirements, integration of deliverables from different projects or suppliers, and coordinated acceptance and implementation of the deliverables from each project and the overall program.

     3. Is the main mechanism for meeting customer satisfaction by providing a single point of contact for the customer (internal or external) , enabling effective communication between projects, PMO, and customers

Having a single point of contact with the customer – whether internal or external – allows the customer access to one source for reporting progress, status of either the program or individual projects, issues, risks, and changes either at the project or program level. This will avoid the customer having to chase down the individual PMs within a program to obtain information which may then be inconsistent and even contradictory! If the customer has an issue on any of the constituent projects they know who to contact for answers or resolution.

     4. Provides the basis for consistency, reliability, and reduced risk for all deliverables and processes within a program or company

Consistency within a program is a sign of professionalism, rather than having a mixture of different standards, documents, contents, processes etc. thrown together, it looks like one unified production. Having one overview of all projects and requirements enables more efficient and consistent approach to the planning, integration, and implementation of requirements with reduced overall risk. For instance, integration of the schedules from constituent projects enables a unified schedule for the whole program, and can highlight the critical path through the whole program taking into account the dependencies within individual projects to be evaluated. Integrating risk and change throughout the program can enable the impact of risk or change from one project on any other project to be evaluated and managed. Because deliverables will be more consistent and integrated at the overall PMO level, the reliability of the resulting system is likely to be improved.

     5. Minimizes gaps and overlaps between projects

Just as with a project based WBS, a PMO level WBS will reduce overlaps and gaps between projects and their deliverables as viewed from the higher level. This will enable planning to be more comprehensive and complete, so reducing the opportunities for negative impacts on the key baselines.

The next blog in this series will look at the business value of PMOs, and how they can be cost justified and provide a positive ROI.

By Vicki Wrona, PMP;  Rob Zell

While listening to podcasts and reading articles that I enjoy, I thought that if we all share our favorite business blogs and podcasts, we might find a few gems to brighten our weeks. Below are some suggestions. What are your favorite podcasts?

From Vicki:

The podcasts I enjoy listening to are:

• Get it Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More podcast by Stever Robbins provides good tips for professionals.

• TED Talks – available in hi-def video or audio only, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Topics include business, environment, technology, engineering, science.  The podcast can be found at http://feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video.

• To The Best of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK) by PRI and Wisconsin Public Radio. I have subscribed to this podcast for years, both through audible.com as well as directly from their site. I am a fan of this show, its wide (huge) variety of topics, and its excellent interviewers. I have enjoyed shows on topics I would never have thought about or taken the time to look into.

From Rob :

I admit to not listening to many podcasts as I tend to be more of a visual learner. I enjoy a series by RSA called RSAnimate.  You can find them on YouTube for free here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rsa+animate&aq=0&oq=rsa

RSA creates videos from audio tracks of famous authors talking about their works and matches it up to video of an artist sketching the concepts. Fun and educational for the auditory and visual learner. It includes summaries from Daniel Pink (Drive), Sir Ken Robinson (on education), and many other thought leaders. It’s fascinating to listen to the summaries while the artist expresses the content visually.

By Dr. Gerald Mulenburg, PMP

A principle is the “basic way in which something works.” All major disciplines are based on principles. Think of just about any field of work and there are a set of principles involved: law; medicine; nursing; engineering; all of the trades such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc. And so there are principles for project management that apply to any project. The six principles outlined here are essential to accomplish a project in the most effective and efficient way.

1: You need to know where you’re going.

As so eloquently stated by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” To successfully accomplish a project, you need to where you’re going; be clear about what it is you need to accomplish. Far too often it’s, “Lets just start and we’ll figure out the details later,” a certain prescription for trouble in the form of delays, restarts, and overruns. 

2: You need to know why you’re going there.

If you’re not sure why you’re doing a project, it’s difficult to know whether you’re making the correct decisions. Knowing where your end point is and why it’s important are essential. 

3: You need to decide how you’re going to get there.

Knowing where you need to go and why, it’s now up to you to determine how you will get there. This will be your plan or roadmap to achieve the project’s goal. 

4: You need to do the things needed to get there. 

With your plan in hand, it’s time to implement it toward accomplishing everything you need to do. But a plan is just a plan. 

5: You need to know how to change along the way.

The territory you’ve identified to be crossed in your plan is not the reality. You need to identify and implement the inevitable changes necessary to the project along the way. 

6: You need to know when you’re done.

Implementing your plan and making necessary changes takes you to where you need to be, and you need to know when you’re done. This you determine at the beginning of the project so it’s clear when you arrive there. 

Following these six principles in your project management practice provides the greatest chance of project success. But just because the principles are simple to describe, it doesn’t mean they’re easy to do. There are a lot of forces that affect what is happening during a project, and many of these forces may be out of your control. Since you can’t control them, you must manage your way through or around them. This is a challenge facing project managers for all but the simplest of projects.

Do first things first, and second things not at all.
—Peter Drucker