Project Management Techniques and Project Management Tips with Microsoft Project
You have a style that cuts to the chase and offers readers solutions rather than theory and incomplete thoughts. You provide a great service to the PM community! - Neal Whitten, www.nealwhittengroup.com
An assignment in a PMO can offer project managers experience in program-level risk and change management, expand their awareness of business issues and develop leadership skills. It can also offer the opportunity to become part of the solution to project management processes in need of fixing.
In a project manager’s career path, determining whether an assignment in a project management office is the right choice can be a difficult decision. Associate project managers often start in a PMO to gain exposure to project management. Seasoned project managers join a PMO to provide direction and help raise the level of project management maturity in the organization. Other project managers avoid PMO assignments entirely. The decision to join a PMO depends on a variety of pros and cons. Here are six good reasons to accept a PMO assignment or pursue an opportunity to join one.
1. Improve program management skills
A PMO assignment will provide a project manager with visibility to multiple projects that require program-level issue, risk, change and integration management. The challenges experienced at the PMO level are different than the challenges at the project management level. Joining a PMO will help the project manager become a better program manager through the experience. Ideally, aspiring program managers should join a program level PMO and apply the lessons learned and PMO processes to future programs. Assigning a program manager who has the relationship management experience and the core project management mechanics is a benefit to any program.
2. Increase visibility across the portfolio
Working in a PMO at any level of the organization will provide greater visibility to the projects in the program, portfolio and organization. Gaining insight into how multiple projects provide value to a corporate initiative expands the project manager’s business acumen. When managing a single project, the project manager’s opportunity to learn about a project’s business benefit is limited to the project. At the PMO level, the project manager will see multiple initiatives and understand how they all contribute to an organizational goal. Project managers will also gain the opportunity to develop portfolio management and governance skills as multiple projects are executed, monitor, and controlled across the portfolio.
3. Improve the process and methodology
Working in a PMO provides the opportunity to focus on project management process improvements and methodology adjustments. Project managers are often asked to follow a prescribed methodology that has inefficiencies and is ripe with process improvement opportunities. Since project managers are focused on project delivery, implementing process improvements for the greater project management community is not as feasible. When working in a PMO, the project manager has an excellent opportunity to provide feedback and apply past experience to improve the project management process.
4. Develop mentoring and coaching skills
A key function of an effective PMO is training and consulting other project managers on project and program management techniques. Working within a PMO can position the project manager as the expert in specific project management functions like schedule development or risk management. Other project managers can learn from the experience and leverage the PMO to improve novice project manager skill sets. Program managers can also benefit from PMO experts to help structure a program for success. If you are a skilled project manager, working in the PMO will demonstrate your ability to share your knowledge and help others develop. Coaching and counseling employees on skill development is a key management function.
5. Learn the organization's staff and back-office functions
Every project manager should have exposure to the financial, portfolio, and resource management processes required to govern major programs and organizational PMOs. Initiating and executing a project provides a silo view of how work is conducted in the organization. Working in a PMO role provides exposure to all the back office functions that support the different projects in the portfolio.
Working in a PMO will also provide new opportunities to learn how a project portfolio is governed. PMO managers may gain exposure to portfolio management tools like Clarity, Microsoft Project Server, Pacific Edge, and other portfolio management tools. Typically, project managers may interact with these tools from a schedule management or cost management viewpoint. If the PMO is responsible for managing the portfolio, exposure to these tools will be valuable in future leadership positions. Executives need to know how their projects are performing to effectively manage the organization. Understanding how to leverage portfolio management tools and processes further develops these skill sets.
6. Develop peer influence techniques
As a project manager, your sphere of influence and authority is limited to a specific project. As a program manager, the authority is limited to the scope of the program, however, the need for peer influence increases. Working in a PMO will help the project manager develop peer influence and gain buy-in to help manage specific deliverables where other organizations have no incentive to assist the program.
Escalating to senior management is not always productive and the ability to negotiate and help others prioritize to meet program or organizational goals is a much-needed skill in both existing and aspiring program managers. As project managers rise along their career path, the need for peer influence becomes more important.
These are six good reasons why novice and experienced project managers alike should consider an assignment in a PMO. There are others. But it is important to realize that transitioning from a project delivery role to a PMO role requires a change in mindset — direct project management is not the core focus. That can make for a positive, exciting career move, but it doesn’t always.
This article was written by Andy Makar and originally published at http://www.projectsatwork.com
The project management office (PMO) often emerges as a construct to manage the project portfolio as a company’s project management maturity increases. The PMO may sit at different levels in the organization and provide a variety of functions to a program, organization, or an enterprise. Before organizations implement a PMO, they should understand the different types of PMOs available and the functions they support.
PMOs can be found at different levels of an organization including enterprisewide, organization-level or program-level PMOs. The enterprise level PMO has a strategic focus and its scope encompasses across all the projects in the corporate portfolio. Depending on the governance requirements, all projects may report into the enterprise PMO, or only select programs or projects may report directly to the enterprise PMO. Independent of portfolio reviews, the enterprise PMO is a top-down organization that defines the project management standards, tools, and techniques other organizations should follow.
An organization- or department-level PMO focuses on the specific projects executing within the organization and implements the standards, tools and techniques prescribed by the enterprise PMO. Depending on the project size, complexity and organizational impact, department-level projects may be reviewed by the enterprise PMO for improved communication and support.
A program-level PMO provides the administrative and project management support to projects within the program. Its scope and influence is limited to the program since its authority is an extension of the program manager’s authority. A program level PMO can be considered the “arms and legs” of the program management function that drives program delivery.
The scope and authority will vary depending on the hierarchy of an enterprise, organization-level or project PMO. However, each PMO can provide several key functions to support the portfolio. These functions range from the classic project management processes found in the PMBOK to the administrative tasks sometimes bestowed upon business planners or staff generalist positions.
Governance: The PMO’s governance function plays an important role by providing decision support for project sponsors, decision makers, and stakeholders involved in the program, organization and enterprise. Documenting governance decisions and tracking action items for future governance sessions provides the administrative support needed for effective decisionmaking.
Performance Management: The performance management function integrates project level status reporting and generates the program level status for executive reviews. The PMO investigates specific performance issues and communicates early warning signs of troubled projects. The PMO also enforces consistent performance reporting guidelines so each project reports project performance consistently.
Schedule Management: The schedule management function assists the program by identifying project level milestones and integrating them into an overall program level plan. The program level plan is a summarized view of critical program milestones. If the program is leveraging tools such as Microsoft Project Server or CA Clarity, the PMO may integrate the detailed project schedules into a detailed program schedule. The PMO also monitors schedule variances and recommends corrective action.
Financial Management: Tracking actual spend and forecasting future costs while navigating a company’s internal billing and reconciliation procedures can often be a full time role within the PMO. Reporting cost variances and adjusting program forecasts based on change control is a critical function for fiscal success.
Risk, Issue and Scope Management: The processes of risk management, issue management and scope management apply to programs as well as individual projects. The PMO supports individual projects by identifying and evaluating risk, issues and change requests to a program. The PMO manages the specific reviews and documents key decisions. Projects are organized within a program due to synergies gained from working as an integrated set of activities. The key processes of risk, issue and scope management also need to be integrated for mutual benefit.
Resource Management: Resource allocation and resource capacity needs to be managed across the program for effective utilization. Depending on how well resources are allocated, different projects may have additional resource capacity and skills that can be shared across the program. By establishing a resource management model and tracking utilization, programs can make better decisions for project prioritization. The key to an effective resource management model is the quality and reliability of the underlying data. The PMO manages the data collection and reporting process.
Quality Management: The PMO provides quality management by providing expertise in quality control, quality assurance, coordinating quality inspections, and process coaching. This function is often perceived as administrative overhead and intrusive to individual projects, however, it is a critical function for consistent delivery. The PMO should inspect project level deliverables and more importantly provide coaching to project teams requiring additional project management support.
Communications Management: Every project and program requires a communications plan. Although the target audience and frequency may vary at the program and project levels, the PMO creates the overall program communication standards for projects to follow. The PMO will also assist the program manager in developing necessary communications to program stakeholders.
Supplier Management: The PMO supports supplier management by monitoring the various suppliers providing services to the program and notifying the program manager of supplier performance issues. Supplier performance scorecards are integrated through the PMO and individual suppliers work with the PMO to understand performance-reporting standards.
These functions are specific to project management delivery; however, additional administrative functions such as document management and facility management may be supported. The scope of functions provided depends on the form and needs within the program, organization or enterprise. Once a company determines the form of PMO needed, they can use these functions as a PMO checklist to develop the project office.
When organizations first establish a PMO, it should have a PMO development plan. Each of these processes can appear as high-level tasks in the development plan to ensure the PMO is delivering all its functions. Organizations may prioritize specific functions depending on need and project management maturity; however, fully functioning PMOs have established processes that integrate and roll up through the program, organization and enterprise.
Does your project management methodology hinder rather than enable project delivery? At first glance, this question may offend rather than provoke critical thought. After all, a PM methodology is supposed to ensure work is completed using a disciplined, proven set of processes to ensure consistent and reliable project results.
If a PM methodology is supposed to enable project delivery, why are PMs bogged down with documentation for every single step, process and procedure in the methodology? It can often feel like the PM is spending more effort managing the administrative documentation instead of managing the day to day risks, issues and schedule delays.
As project managers, I’m sure all of you have seen various methodologies to initiate, plan, execute, control and close your projects. I’ve had the pleasure of managing a variety of projects in different Fortune 500 manufacturing firms. Each firm had a different methodology tailored to their organization, although they all had a foundation from the PMBOK. In order to complete the planning phase in one organization, the project manager was required to complete 16 documents. In another organization, the planning phase required 25 documents. It makes you wonder if delivering the project is an exercise in filling out paperwork or actually delivering the project scope for the business partner.
The purpose of this article isn’t to call for a reform to PM methodologies and project administration. There will always be a critical set of documents required to manage any project such as the project schedule, issue log, risk log, change register and of course status reports. Project administration is part of the job; however, the goal in streamlining a methodology is not to remove administrative tasks but to optimize the administrative tasks and reduce non-value add documentation.
A candidate for PM methodology optimization is the project management plan. Pull out your PMBOK book and you’ll recall the project management plan is the formal, approved plan to manage project execution. Although often used interchangeably, the project plan is not the project schedule--rather it is a comprehensive document that describes how the project will be managed and supporting processes within the project.
The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) has published a standard for a software project management plans (IEEE 1058) that identifies key sections for any project management plan. The standard includes process sections for the project organization, managerial processes and technical processes. The processes for risk management, issue management, change management, quality management and additional project management processes are often documented in the software management plan.
In some methodologies, project plan development is non-existent and substituted for the norms and standards found in the organization. In other organizations, a project plan template is used and project managers are required to complete the document during the project planning phase. As project managers move to new projects, an entirely new project management plan needs to be completed. Depending on the scope, the project management plan can easily span 15-20 pages describing the project management processes.
There is a significant opportunity for optimization by reducing the amount of administration required by project manager and the project management plan. Instead of creating a new project management plan, the PMO should consider owning the project management plan document and provide a template that requires minimal customization by the project manager.
If the PMO wants to ensure consistent processes are implemented, a standard project management plan should be developed that contains the processes and tools used to document risks, issues, change requests, quality management and configuration management. Project management processes are often supported by a suite of tools to capture risks, identify issues and facilitate change requests. Instead of having the project manager reiterate the process steps in the project management plan, a better optimized solution already includes these steps in the document and allows the project to customize.
If an organization uses Microsoft Sharepoint or EMC’s ERoom to store project documents for configuration management, the project management plan should already document the process for checking and checking out the documents. The project manager simply needs to provide the location in the configuration repository. If an organization uses project portfolio management tools like CA Clarity, Primavera or MS-Project Portfolio Server, the project management plan should already state the expectation that project managers use these tools to store risks, publish project schedules and document change requests.
Some areas will require specific project manager involvement including the project schedule, key milestones, resource training and communication plans. The effort to provide this information is greatly reduced since the bulk of the document is already completed.
The benefit of this approach is the document is already written for consistency and the project manager simply needs to follow the process rather than repeating how issue or change management will be supported in the project. The project manager can modify sections of the project plan while still remaining consistent with the PMO processes and tools used to control and execute the project.
An effective PMO will look to optimize the project management methodology and enable their project managers with tools and templates that meet project management standards but also reduce the administrative burden. Adopting this viewpoint also encourages the PMO to be less administrative and more collaborative to project execution and delivery. Instead of producing another template that project managers need to fill out, the PMO is enabling the project managers to overcome the project administration hurdle. The project management plan is just one document that can be a candidate for optimization. I’ve got another 15 to go…
Establishing a project management community of practice requires a modest amount of effort, but if you follow these steps, you’ll have your first community of practice meeting within a few weeks. The steps are neither complex nor time-consuming, but they do require some planning to ensure a successful community of practice launch.
Step 1: Write a mini-charter
As project managers, it shouldn’t surprise you that the first step in any initiative is to draft a brief charter describing the goals, objectives and scope of the community of practice. Developing the charter is an important step since it establishes the key goals and objectives about project management community of practice and describes the groups overall intent. It is a useful document that can be shared with other business units, departments or interested participants.
The charter doesn’t need to be a massive ream of information. Usually a one- or two-page charter document is sufficient to describe the purpose, benefits, goals and objectives. The estimated duration for this activity is one to two hours. If you’re brainstorming the scope with a few team members, it may take you a little longer to synthesize ideas and reach consensus.
Step 2: Create a presentation about the COP
The next step is to draft a presentation deck using your favorite presentation. You don’t need a lot of slides--just enough to convey the idea, scope, benefits and next steps with the community of practice sponsor. A brief outline may include:
Definition of the COP
Objectives
Scope
Assumptions and Dependencies
Topics and Event Calendar
Sponsor Responsibilities
Attached to this article is a sample template you can use to promote your own community of practice.
Step 3: Identify a sponsor and obtain buy-in
Once you have your presentation deck assembled, schedule a meeting with a key leader in the organization who you think might champion the idea of a community of practice. An obvious choice is your organization’s enterprise project management office, although some communities of practice may be reluctant to ask the PMO to be the main sponsor.
Due to the dynamic learning nature of the community of practice, tailored or modified project management practices and tools may be introduced. Sometimes these tools and techniques are not PMO-sanctioned and a community of practice may feel pressured to obtain the PMO’s blessing before sharing an effective idea. I’ve worked with various PMOs where the staff in the PMO is no longer as close to project or program delivery and lose perspective on tactical project management. Other PMOs are excellent sponsors for a community of practice since they uses it as feedback mechanism for new processes and standards.
The senior leader in your organization should be willing to champion the community of practice’s efforts. The sponsor’s commitment shouldn’t cost anything as the community of practice is a free, self-directed team interested in promoting project management and sharing lessons learned throughout the organization. The sponsor should be willing to promote the community of practice as news in an upcoming staff meeting or department meeting.
Step 4: Establish a planning committee
Initiating, planning and executing a community of practice isn’t a one-person show. Successful communities of practice have several self-directed team members that are willing to serve on a planning team to identify project management topics and manage meeting logistics. Depending on the scope, a community of practice planning team may ask for representation from each business unit as a method to promote and exchange planning ideas across the organization.
Once you have your planning group assembled, brainstorm a list of potential project management topics, identify internal and external guest speakers, and draft a calendar of events for the community of practice’s activities throughout the year. You don’t need to plan the entire year at once. Adopting an interactive approach to refine upcoming events is an effective technique to generate new ideas and modify presentations based on changes within the organization.
A community of practice event doesn’t have to be a formal presentation of a project management topic. A community of practice can sponsor PMP certification study groups, professional networking events and even social nights out to get to know one another. In one community of practice, the organization sponsored a Project Management Summit that promoted all the company’s internal project management resources including methodology teams, PMO support, training courses and additional learning resources. The summit included project management software and training vendors and featured different informational sessions on project management topics. New and experienced project managers quickly learned about all the resources available to them.
Step 5: Select a date from your first COP event
Your first community of practice event doesn’t need to be as ambitious as a project management conference. Start with something small that will provide immediate value to the project managers in the organization. A favorite topic of mine is “Lessons Learned in MS-Project” since MS-Project has a learning curve and if you don’t use it correctly then project managers can quickly become discouraged.
“Lunch and Learns” or brown bag sessions are an easy way to host an event. Attendance is usually better if you offer some incentive to attend (i.e. food) but this might be cost prohibitive depending on the size and budget. The key is to provide a forum for project managers to network and encourage knowledge sharing. Feeding them doesn’t hurt either.
Step 6: Promote and Market the COP
Leverage your community of practice sponsor to communicate the upcoming event. Ask to attend your sponsor’s next staff meeting and provide a brief five-minute overview of the community of practice. Ask the staff members to cascade the information to their organizations. Another effective technique is to ask the PMO to send an invitation to all the project managers in the organization. A week or two before the first community of practice event, post flyers on bulletin boards or in common areas where people will see the flyers.
Promoting isn’t difficult to do but requires some time to get the word out and start generating buzz about the community of practice. If your planning committee has representation from each business unit, you can cascade your event and each representative to promote the community of practice in their organization.
Step 7: Host your first COP event
Conducting your first event can follow a simple format. Ask your sponsor to kick off the event with a few words about the importance of the community of practice and benefit of sharing lessons learned across the organization. Deliver the project management topic and allocate time for questions and answers. Remember to ask members to sign-in and leave their e-mail address as you may want to contact them directly regarding future events. Have a few hard copies of the presentation materials available and ensure the materials are distributed electronically before or after the event.
If your organization has a multiple participants from other locations, considering hosting the event with Web conferencing software like WebEx or Live Meeting. Depending on the PM topic, you may want to consider recording the event for reuse and include it in a project management library. If you find yourself presenting on the same topic frequently, a downloadable copy of the presentation may save you the headache of delivering the same presentation again and again. Ask your enterprise PMO to host the presentation materials on their department website or create your own site to archive the information for future visitors.
Initiating a project management community of practice is a straightforward exercise in effectively planning and promoting a series of meetings. By following these steps, you’ll effectively establish a learning resource pool that will help contribute to the PM maturity and the raise the awareness of PM and lessons learned with the organization. In the next article, we’ll review the stages of community of practice development.
This article was written by Andy Makar and previously published on www.gantthead.com
One example on how you can improve your PM profile with GoogleDocs and LinkedIn. Linkedin.com is one example of social media at work, and I’m assuming everyone has heard of it. It is a useful professional networking alternative to the more personal social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace. If you haven’t created a profile or haven’t updated it in a while, you’ll want to log back in and review some of the latest features. One of the nifty features is the integration with GoogleDocs. LinkedIn integrates with Google Docs and with a few clicks your Google Doc hosted presentation is embedded on your LinkedIn profile.
It is a useful tool to showcare your own project management expertise while contributing to the community at large. Ofcourse you don't want to publish your company's strategic roadmap, but a lessons learned presentation that has been generalized for a larger PM audience would be an excellent topic. I encourage you to log back into your LinkedIn profile and share a relevant PM presentation with your network using GoogleDocs. I’ve used this tool to promote a recent public presentation on mind mapping and it is an easy way to share information in a slideshow format.
You spend a lot of time promoting and communicating your project at work. Take a few minutes and promote yourself!
