Insights from the Gartner 2011 PPM and IT Governance Summit

 

I attended Gartner’s 2011 PPM and IT Governance Summit last week with the Daptiv team . Here are a few insights on Gartner’s latest thinking I picked up from the conference:

1. Project Management is in transition.  IT Organizations have realized that not all work can and should be managed as a project.  Moreover, all projects are not created equal and gone are the days of using a waterfall approach for managing all projects.  This is reflected in Gartner’s latest thinking on IT work  which includes  a new framework that categorizes work based on the certainty of requirements and their time to value.  This helps organizations choose the methodologies that best fit the type of work such as agile projects, waterfall projects, service requests, operations, etc.
2. The nature of PMOs in organizations is evolving.  Given how many PMOs have failed due to their perception as “Methodology Police”, PMOs in the future will be less about being the central enforcers of project and program management, governance and compliance.  Instead, PMO functions are more likely to be embedded in business units and more focused on business outcomes.
3. CEOs expect IT to deliver competitive advantage.As we pull out of recession and more investment funds are becoming available, innovating and taking calculated risks are the key to success.  Taking a portfolio approach to IT initiatives will give companies the ability to assess risk vs. reward and make informed decisions on what initiatives best meet their portfolio and investment criteria.
4. PPM is the glue that ties IT Governance, IT Service Management and Enterprise Architecture.  As programs and projects are the methods for creating change, and portfolios the organizing “glue”, a PPM framework , along with well-defined processes, is the best way to tie together the practice areas of IT Governance, IT Service Management and Enterprise Architecture.  PPM vendors looking to serve the IT management space must develop solutions that integrate with these areas.
5. It’s organizational alignment that makes PPM successful.  Gartner re-iterated what many experienced PPM practitioners have learned: If companies don’t have their people and processes in alignment, it is very difficult to achieve success with a PPM tool.  Companies looking to realize business value through PPM should not just select vendors based on the capabilities of a tool but look at the vendors based on their domain expertise and their ability to look at people and processes.