Forming the PSO Task Force The PSO task force forms the strategy group for this project. They are to be con- sidered members of the project team. Their membership should be managers of those business units that will be impacted by the PSO. The size of the enterprise determines how many members there will be. A task force of four to six should work quite well, but a task force of 15 would be counterproductive. Without the support and commitment of each task force member, the PSO it is unlikely to succeed. Because their operations are likely to be affected by the PSO, they must be a part of its mission and have an opportunity to be heard as decisions are made on the mission, functions, and services the PSO will provide. Measuring Where You Are Several metrics have been developed to quantitatively measure the maturity level of your project management processes. We have developed one that consists of over 800 yes/no questions. (The interested reader should consult us at rkw@eiicorp.com for details on this proprietary product.) These questions cover all five maturity levels for all 39 project management processes identi- fied by PMI in their PMBOK. Figure 21.5 shows the results for a recent assess- ment for one of our clients. The data on each of the 39 processes have been aggregated to the knowledge area level. Figure 21.5 Maturity level data for nine knowledge areas of PMBOK. 5 4 3 2 1 Practice Baseline Practice Problem Best Practices Integration Scope Time Quality HR Communications Risk Procurement Cost Chapter 21 420 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 420 This one graphic conveys a lot of information about this organization’s project management maturity levels. First of all, the dashed line shows the maturity level of each knowledge area as documented in the organization’s project management methodology. The box and whisker plots are maturity-level data on how project management was practiced in several projects that were reviewed in the same quarter. The box and whisker plot is a summarized view of the data points for each project on a single knowledge area. Each box dis- plays the middle 50 percent of the data. The endpoints of the whiskers denote the extreme data points. The color coding denotes the status of the knowledge area. A red box indicates a process whose practice is significantly below the maturity level of the baseline process. A yellow box indicates a process whose practice is significantly above the maturity level of the baseline process. For example, take a look at the Scope Management knowledge area. The projects that were reviewed demonstrated a maturity level range from a low of 1.2 to a high of 4.1. The middle half of the data points range from 1.8 to 2.9. The Scope Management knowledge area was assessed at a maturity level of 3.5. In all cases where there is a maturity level below target or above target, it is an area that needs further investigation. The investigation should look for answers to the less than nominal maturity and take the necessary corrective steps to raise the level of maturity of that knowledge area. In those cases where the knowl- edge area is found to be performing above nominal, the investigation should look for the reasons for that exemplary performance and for ways to share their findings with other project teams. In determining where the organization is with respect to project management, there are two threads of investigation: ■■ The first is the organizational environment that the PSO will function in. This involves assessing the opinions of the managers whose business units will be impacted. Oftentimes this can be done with face-to-face interviews of key managers. ■■ The second is an attempt to assess the current relationship between proj- ect managers and the clients they serve. In this case the clients will be internal business units and external customers who buy their products. An assessment tool that we have developed at Enterprise Information Insights, Inc., that has been quite successful in practice is the Project Manager Compe- tency Assessment (PMCA). It is an assessment of a project manager’s project management competencies. (Contact us at rkw@eiicorp.com for information on how to acquire the tool.) Figure 21.6 is a report from that assessment tool. Project Support Office 421 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 421 Figure 21.6 An example project manager competency assessment. This PMCA reports findings in four major areas (business competency, personal competency, interpersonal competency, and management competency) as they relate to the individual’s project management behaviors. There are a total of 18 competencies spread across these four areas. Each one uses the box and whisker plot to summarize the opinions of the assessors. In this case there were eight assessors. The endpoints of the box and whisker plots denote the extreme data points. The hollow rectangle is the middle half of the data. The filled rectangle is the average of all assessors. The bolded vertical line is the individual’s self- assessment. This individual has a higher self-assessment of herself than do the managers who provided the competency data. This is especially evident in busi- ness awareness, business partnership, initiative, conceptual thinking, resource- ful use of influence, and motivating others. This person should be advised to Business Awareness Business Partnership Commitment to Quality Does not meet minimum requirements Meets Team Leader requirements Meets Project Manager requirements Meets Senior Project Manager requirements Meets Program Manager requirements Initiative Information Gathering Conceptual Thinking Self Confidence Concern for Credibility Flexibility Interpersonal Awareness Organizational Awareness Anticipation of Impact Resourceful Use of Influence Motivating Others Communication Skills Developing Others Planning Monitoring & Controlling Business Competencies Personal Competencies Interpersonal Competencies Management Competencies Chapter 21 422 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 422 take a close look at how she sees herself relative to how others see her. This self- inflated phenomenon is not unusual. We have seen it time and time again in many of these assessments. People are simply not aware of how they affect others. As a group, her interpersonal competencies are held in high regard by her fellow workers. Her personal competencies, especially initiative, conceptual thinking, and self-confidence, may be problematic. If either of these two assessments, either the maturity level of your project management processes or the project manager competency assessment, uncovers problems, an intervention may be needed prior to any further PSO planning. For the purposes of our exercise, the assessments have shown us that the organization is ready to move forward and strongly supports the creation of a full-service PSO. The next step is to take a look at the existing methodology. There are two areas of investigation: ■■ The first is to assess the maturity level of the project management processes that are in place. This can be done by using commercially avail- able tools (such as Project Management Maturity Assessment). ■■ The second area of investigation is to assess how project teams are using that methodology. Again, there are commercially available tools for this assessment (Project Management Competency Assessment, for one). Please contact us at rkw@eiicorp.com for more information on these and other similar assessment tools. For the purposes of this example, assume those assessments show that the organization is at Level 1 maturity both in terms of their project management processes and the practice of those processes. Establishing Where You Want To Go The future of the organization in the example seems to rest on its ability to restore market share. As expressed in the POS, Sal has as a long-term goal the achievement of level 5 maturity in the PSO. His strategy will be to achieve that in phases, with each phase providing business value to the organization. The PSO is expected to be a full-service PSO. Its mission, functions, and organiza- tion are given in Table 21.1. Table 21.1 Example PSO Mission, Functions, and Organization MISSION To provide the project management services and support needed to establish a mar- ket leadership position for the organization in the customized furnishings business. (continued) Project Support Office 423 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 423 Table 21.1 (continued) FUNCTIONS All project administrative services Project management processes to support all project types Comprehensive software for all phases of product development A customized and complete PM training curriculum A revolving staff of consulting project managers A professional development program for project managers ORGANIZATION An enterprise-wide unit attached to the president’s office EPSO director will be a three-year renewable appointed position Permanent staff consists of: Project administrator to deliver support services Manager of methods and tools Senior project manager consultant Project manager consultant Curriculum development specialist Senior trainer Trainer The long-term goal of the PSO is to ensure project success. It should be obvi- ous that goal means at least the attainment of Level 3 maturity. Without a doc- umented process in place and in use by all teams, it is unlikely that there will be any measurable increase in the rate of project success. On the other hand, to casually state that Level 4 maturity is the goal of the PSO is not appropriate. That is clearly a business decision. To attain Level 4 maturity is a big step. It is very costly in terms of the extent of change in the organization. We would liken that change to the evolution of the enterprise to a projectized organizational structure. To move from Level 4 to Level 5 is a matter of imple- menting a continuous quality improvement process within the PSO. That is far less traumatic and usually involves not much more than putting teeth into a proj- ect review process and a concerted effort to capture and implement best practices from the organization’s projects, as well as projects external to the organization. Referring for a moment back to the data in Figure 21.5, because the middle half of the data points all fall below the average of 3.5, Scope Management needs some improvement. This would be an area where a continuous quality improvement effort would focus. The results of a continuous quality improvement effort in Chapter 21 424 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 424 Scope Management might look something like the hypothetical data dis- played in Figure 21.7. Note that not only has the process baseline maturity level improved from 3.5 to 4.1 during the period from 3/2002 to 12/2002, but the mid-range of the maturity level of the practice has moved from (1.8–2.9) to (3.9–4.3). The maturity level of the practice of Scope Management has increased significantly, and its range has decreased. This is a marked improve- ment! If this organization had set as its goal to increase the Scope Management maturity level of its process and its practice to 4.0, it would have achieved that goal. Establishing How You Will Get There It goes without saying that the lower your current project management matu- rity level is, the more challenging it will be to move to Level 3 or higher matu- rity. Level 3 is where the PSO can really begin to make an impact on the practice of project management. It is at this level that the organization is fully bought into project management. Teams must use it, and the PSO is monitor- ing that usage. Best practices are identified through project reviews and folded back into the methodology. All signs are positive. Figure 21.8 gives a brief description of what actions should be taken to move from one level to the next. Sal’s plan consists of four phases. Each phase ends with a milestone that signi- fies the attainment of the next level of maturity. So Phase One is complete when the organization has reached maturity Level 2 in the PSO. Phases Two, Three, and Four are similarly defined. Within each phase there are a number of deliverables that add business value. These deliverables have been prioritized to add business value as soon as possible. Figure 21.9 describes the high-level plan through all four phases. Figure 21.7 Continuous quality improvement of scope management. 5 4 3 2 1 Scope Management Process Baseline Scope Management Practice Problem 3/2002 6/2002 9/2002 12/2002 Project Support Office 425 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 425 Current PSO Maturity Level INITIAL (1) • Some defined PM processes are available. • Informal support to teams as requested. • No PM training is available. Characteristics of PSOs at This Maturity Level Initiatives that Will Move the PSO to the Next Maturity Level • A documented PM process is in place. • Part-time support to teams available. • Limited PM training is available. REPEATABLE (2) DEFINED (3) MANAGED (4) OPTIMIZING (5) • PSO responsible for professional development. • Complete PM training is available. • Project portfolio is managed as a business. • Fully documented and supported PM process. • Full-time support to teams is available. • All project teams are using the PM process. • PM processes are integrated with other processes. • More extensive PM training is available. • A continuous improvement process is in place. • There is measured improvement in project success. • Assemble a task force to establish a PM process. • Document the PM process. • Make PM training available. • Establish programs to increase PM process usage. • Establish a full-time PSO staff to support teams. • Monitor and enforce compliance. • Increase available PM training. • PSO begins to identify and adopt best practices. • Metrics are defined to track process quality. • Project reviews are used to monitor compliance. • Projects are made part of the business plan. • Put project portfolio management in the PSO. • Give the PSO an active role in project staffing. • Offer more extensive training. • Create a career development program in the PSO. • Staff project managers in the PSO. Chapter 21 426 Figure 21.8 How to move to the next maturity level. 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 426 Figure 21.9 PSO plan overview. Challenges to Implementing a PSO Too many executives have the impression that a PSO is mostly a clerical func- tion and that establishing one is not too difficult. Nothing could be further from the truth. J. Kent Crawford provides a compelling discussion of some of those challenges in The Strategic Project Office: A Guide to Improving Organiza- tional Performance, published by Marcel Dekker in 2001. Crawford’s challenges are as follows: ■■ Speed and patience ■■ Leadership from the bottom up ■■ A systems thinking perspective ■■ Enterprise-wide systems ■■ Knowledge management ■■ Learning and learned project organizations ■■ Open communications Offer basic PM training. Design and document the O&P Project Management Methodology (PMM). Offer O&P PMM training. Customize the PM training to the new O&P PMM. Design and implement a project review process. Establish a project portfolio management process. Design and implement a quality improvement process. Maturity Level 2 Q1 2003 Q1 2004 Q1 2005 Q1 2006 Q1 2007 Maturity Level 3 Maturity Level 4 Maturity Level 5 Project Support Office 427 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 427 Speed and Patience Effectively deploying a PSO can require two to five years for full implementa- tion. That is a long time. According to the Standish Group research, the longer the project, the higher the probability of project failure. The way out of this apparent dilemma is to plan the PSO deployment in stages. Each stage must deliver visible and measurable value to the organization. To do otherwise is to court disaster. Leadership from the Bottom Up A major strategy in putting a PSO in place is a bottom-up strategy. At the department or project level, you will have to demonstrate value by showing the results that a PSO can achieve. By way of example then, others in the orga- nization will see that success and ask how they can do it in their own areas. This grassroots effort will be contagious and will be one of the keys to a suc- cessful PSO implementation over time. A Systems Thinking Perspective This point goes to the very heart of a PSO contributing at the corporate level. At some point in the implementation of the PSO, senior managers will begin to see how an effectively managed project portfolio can contribute to corporate goals. Senior managers begin to think about the portfolio and not just the projects that make it up. This transition from Level 3 to Level 4 maturity is the result of a major discovery by senior management. They begin to think in terms of a systems perspective. Enterprise-wide Systems This characteristic is clearly one of a Level 4 organization. The integration of the project data into the other corporate databases allows senior managers the tools they need to make enterprise-wide business decisions where projects are the strategic components of their business plans. Making this jump from sin- gle project focus to strategic portfolio focus is the sign of a Level 4 PSO. Knowledge Management To drive thinking to the enterprise-wide level requires sophisticated corporate databases, standardization of data capture, and the applications systems to extract knowledge from information. Even something as simple as a database of best practices and lessons learned has been implemented in only a few orga- nizations. Part of the reason for the lack of those kinds of databases is because Chapter 21 428 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 428 project management is in its infancy. There are standards at the project level but few standards at the portfolio level. Learning and Learned Project Organizations Most organizations have not taken the education and training of project man- agers very seriously. That fact has to change if the PSO is expected to make an impact on project success. A comprehensive curriculum with a variety of delivery approaches is needed. Career and professional development pro- grams for project managers are few and far between. The PSO is positioned to deliver, but senior management must first make the commitment and provide the needed resources. Open Communications Communications between and among projects and from first-line managers through to executive levels must be open and free. The PSO can establish and maintain the channels of communications. Putting It All Together In this chapter we introduced the PSO, discussed its roles and responsibilities, and gave a plan for establishing one. The five-level Capability Maturity Model is a good way to measure the maturity of your current PSO, and it provides a sound basis for a continuous quality improvement program. Discussion Questions 1. Given that your PSO is going to support all three types of project manage- ment methodologies presented in this book, what advice would you offer as to organizational structure, staffing, and functions provided? Be spe- cific and back up your statements with the reasons for your suggestions. 2. Senior management will always ask what business value they will realize from the PSO. How would you measure the return on investment for your PSO? Project Support Office 429 25 432210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 429 [...]... ——— 1997 The PMI Book of Project Management Forms Upper Darby, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN: 1-880 410- 31-1) ——— 1999 Project Management Software Survey Newton Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 52-4) ——— 1999 The Future of Project Management Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 71-0) ——— 2000 A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge... Radical Project Management Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall (ISBN 0-13-009486-2) Extreme Project Management Extreme project management and more generally agile project management are products of the software development discipline They remain there today For that reason the references that follow are almost exclusively focused on software development Ajani, Shaun 2002 Extreme Project Management: ... Stephen Ward 1997 Project Risk Management: Processes, Techniques and Insights New York: John Wiley & Sons (ISBN 0-471-95804-2) Cleland, David I., et al 1998 Project Management Casebook Upper Darby, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 45-1) Cleland, David I., et al 1998 Project Management Casebook: Instructor’s Manual Upper Darby, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 45-1) Cleland,... Project and Team Management Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 47-8) Cleland, D I., and W R King, eds 1983 Project Management Handbook New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold (ISBN 0-442-22114-2) Bibliography 441 Conway, Kieron 2001 Software Project Management: From Concept to Deployment Scottsdale, Ariz.: The Coriolis Group (ISBN 1-57 610- 807-4) Crawford, J Kent 2002 Project Management. .. Management Body of Knowledge Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN: 1-880 410- 23-0) ——— 2000 Project Management Experience and Knowledge Self-Assessment Manual Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 24-9) ——— 2001 Practice Standards for Work Breakdown Structures Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 81-8) Putnam, Lawrence H., and Ware Myers... 1996 Management of Project Procurement New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc (ISBN 0-07-030552-8) Ibbs, C William, and Young-Hoon Kwak 1997 The Benefits of Project Management: Financial and Organizational Rewards to Corporations Newtown Square, Pa.: The Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 32-X) Ireland, Lewis R 1991 Quality Management for Projects and Programs Upper Darby, Pa.: Project Management. .. Organizing Projects for Success Upper Darby, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 40-0) Verzuh, Eric 1999 The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc (ISBN 0-471-32546-5) Ward, J LeRoy 2000 Project Management Terms: A Working Glossary Arlington, Va.: ESI International (ISBN 1-890367-25-7) Weiss, Joseph W., and Robert K Wysocki 1992 5-Phase Project Management: ... Managing Software Development Projects 2d ed New York: John Wiley & Sons (ISBN 0-471-07683-X) ——— 2000 The EnterPrize Organization Newtown Square, Pa.: The Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 79-6) Wideman, R Max 1992 Project and Program Risk Management: A Guide to Managing Project Risks & Opportunities Newton Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 06-0) Wysocki, Robert K.,... Management Maturity Model: Providing a Proven Path to Project Management Excellence New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc (ISBN 0-8247-0754-0) Darnell, Russell W 1996 The World’s Greatest Project: One Project Team on the Path to Quality Newtown Square, Pa.: The Project Management Institute (ISBN 1-880 410- 46-X) Davidson, Jeff 2000 10 Minute Guide to Project Management Indianapolis: Macmillan (ISBN 0-02-863966-9)... evaluation decision making processes, 194 portfolio management, 354 exception reports, 212 execution phase, project management, 20–21 explicit business outcomes See success criteria Extreme Programming Explored (William Wake), 449 Extreme Project Management: Unique Methodologies, Resolute Principles, Astounding Results (Shaun Ajani), 448 extreme project management (xPM) defined, 332 go/no go decision, . project management with how to run a software package. The two are very different. I know of no project management software package that can teach you the concepts and principles of project management. . Support Office 423 25 432 210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03 9:34 AM Page 423 Table 21.1 (continued) FUNCTIONS All project administrative services Project management processes to support all project types Comprehensive. improvement of scope management. 5 4 3 2 1 Scope Management Process Baseline Scope Management Practice Problem 3/2002 6/2002 9/2002 12/2002 Project Support Office 425 25 432 210 Ch21.qxd 7/2/03