WE HAVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT, SO WHY ARE WE STILL FAILING? And Would We Recognize Success If We Saw It?

WE HAVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT, SO WHY ARE WE STILL FAILING?

And Would We Recognize Success If We Saw It?

Project problems and solutions

16.2% successful 52.7% challenged 31.1% failed

The Standish Group’s CHAOS Report, 1994

Promise of project management

Project managers emerging as professionals

PMOs

The problems The solutions

©Lindsay Chamberlain 2008

And yet…

According to the 2004 Standish Group CHAOS Report:

29% of IT projects are successful53% are challenged18% fail


Top reasons projects fail

Incomplete requirements Unmanaged change Project conflict Poor communication


Mistakes we are making

Implementing project management in a vacuum

Committing to too many projects Soft focus on project reporting and

control Inappropriate responses to change Lack of understanding of what we want


Q: How can we fix this?A: Enterprise project management.Seven steps to integrated project health

1. Engage stakeholders2. Portfolio planning3. Define success4. Prepare the organization5. Implementation: simplify, simplify,

simplify6. Support your project managers7. Learn from experience


Foundation

Plan Portfolio

Engage Stakeholder

s

Define Success

The foundation


Step 1: Engage your stakeholders

Risks of unengaged stakeholders Commitment to wrong projects Diminished support Working around you Deteriorating relationships


Step 1: Engage your stakeholders Set expectations – in both directions Understand

Strategic goals Needs Risk tolerance Dependencies Constraints

Follow up


Step 2: Plan your portfolio

Risks of an unplanned portfolio Overwhelmed by multitude of projects Lack of clear, strong vision Missed opportunities Missed dependencies Overtaxed work force Inability to meet goals


Step 2: Plan your portfolio

Define strategic goals Take a meaningful inventory Understand how projects support goals Purposefully plan project work


Step 3: Define success

Risks of poorly defined success criteria Decreased chance of getting where you

want to be Greater chance of ending up somewhere

you don’t want to be Missed leadership opportunities Poor morale Misaligned focus


Step 3: Define success

Portfolio and program: what are the high level goals

Project: what is important on this project Product: what does the end result look

likeSpecificMeasurableAchievableRealisticTime bound


Continuous improvement

Prepare the organization

Learn from experience

Implement &Support the PMs


Step 4: Prepare the organization Risks of an unprepared organization

Lack of participation Processes fail Diminished effectiveness of PM Misinformation Poor morale Sabotage


Step 4: Prepare the organization Identify critical needs and opportunities Develop a phased plan Understand costs Educate Open the communication channels Publish results


Step 5: Implementation - simplify, simplify, simplify

Start small but strong Utilize a phased implementation Consider a pilot Expect and encourage bottom up

leadership Review and adjust


Step 5: Implementation - simplify, simplify, simplify

Key initial elements Requirements and scope definition Change management Communication planning Risk planning Project measurement


Step 6: Support project managers Communicate success criteria Consult and listen Don’t shoot the messenger Encourage leadership, accountability,

and responsibility Allow flexibility Provide for continuing education


Step 6: Support project managers Project management basics

Planning Scope Estimates Risk Communication

Monitoring and status Project measurement Forecasts

Project control Project integration Change management


Step 7: Learn from experience Feedback: open dialogue

concerning current efforts Input: ideas for the future Review: objective analysis of

performance against plan Lessons learned at every

gateway


Seven step solution

Enterprise project management1. Engage stakeholders2. Portfolio planning3. Define success4. Prepare the organization5. Implementation: simplify, simplify,

simplify6. Support your project managers7. Learn from experience

LINDSAY CHAMBERLAIN, PMP, MLIS

Documents

WE HAVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT, SO WHY ARE WE STILL FAILING? And Would We Recognize Success If We Saw It?