Does ANYONE benefit from your PM information system?
From the Easy in theory, difficult in practice Blog
by Kiron Bondale
My musings on project management, project portfolio management and change management.
I'm a firm believer that a pragmatic approach to organizational change that addresses process & technology, but primarily, people will maximize chances for success.
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A project management information system (PMIS) is not an investment which most companies would make lightly. The one time and ongoing hard costs coupled with the change management effort involved in implementing such tools can be significant so it is reasonable to expect that there will be some tangible value derived once the dust settles.
Unfortunately, in spite of PMIS’s being commercially available for more than a couple of decades, they sometimes provide us with a live example of the Abilene paradox with everyone involved being fully aware that their system is a joy and money-leeching false deity which bestows no boons on anyone, least of all those who are required to offer information tithes to it on a weekly basis. Yet, investment in the system continues unabated, and the mandate to use it is frequently reinforced.
Does the mere existence of an implemented PMIS provide any benefit? Wouldn’t this be similar to installing a fake security camera which could provide some degree of assurance even though it is all form but no substance? Does the requirement to submit project updates regularly create the right kinds of discipline in project teams?
I highly doubt it.
Just because I am required to feed the beast on a weekly basis doesn’t mean that I will provide quality sustenance, especially if I see no WIIFM and even more so if I get coerced to do so.
What’s the root cause for such an unfortunate situation?
While we could point to a bad procurement decision, a lack of understanding of the processes being automated, or insufficient requirements gathering, these are sometimes just symptoms of the real culprit – poor stakeholder engagement.
If the PMIS purchasing decision and implementation is done without properly engaging one or more key stakeholder communities, the likelihood that data quality or presentation gaps exist will increase dramatically.
As with establishing PMOs, the implementation of a PMIS should be orchestrated like any other strategic project. It should be supported by an appropriately vetted business case, and planned and executed in a disciplined manner including effective, holistic stakeholder identification and engagement.
In other words, practice what you preach.
(Note: this article was originally written and published by me in April 2016 on my personal blog, kbondale.wordpress.com)
Posted on: February 26, 2018 06:27 AM |
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Comments (12)
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It's the old saying: "garbage in, garbage out". I have seen PMIS's feed like a zombie, and just like a zombie, nothing useful comes out. Great alert to the plight of many PMIS's Kiron.
Anish Abraham
Privacy Program Manager| University of Washington
Auburn, Wa, United States
I completely agree with you on this, Kiron and thanks for sharing.
I agree to the view that the implementation should we well orchestrated, like any other project, or to be specific, like any other system implementation (such as ERP / CRM etc.). People, process and Technology integration plays very important role, and the timing of the functionality launches are crucial from organization readiness point of view. From my experience, agile approach have been more successful - to gradually enhance PM system rollouts.
Finally, as Kiron rightly mentioned, if the system rollouts are not well planned and orchestrated, failure would be imminent like with any other user interactive systems.
Thanks Chetan - agility can be applied to all types of projects and especially when faced with a large, complex PMIS.
Interesting article, Kiron. I learnt something new: the Abilene Paradox.
The crux of the problem of PMIS', from what I have seen, is not necessarily wholly on the implementation or the choice of system itself. A system is only as good as the people who utilise and maintain it.
The bigger problem seems to belong to the following areas:
1. Lack of knowledge transfer on the PMIS. Incoming teams lose out on efficient and effective methods of using the system;
2. Lack of ownership of the PMIS. It is always an "external task" to update the PMIS. PMs and project teams keep putting it off till the last minute;
3. Clunky UIs or data entry methods. Yes, this is system related. Given the complexity of calculations a PMIS conducts, it needs a variety of data at various different points in different projects and programs. The complexity of data required is passed on to the user at the time of data entry and this does not endear the system to any user.
Once timeliness of data entry and on-going maintenance of the PMIS suffers, all the parties that would have benefited from it start seeing gaps. Software then gets a bad rap, naturally, as a result.
Vincent Guerard
Coach - Trainer - Speaker - Advisor| Freelance
Mont-Royal, Quebec, Canada
Often I think IS, including PMIS are not plan by potential user!
making is much less valuable
I remember a project where I would get over 100 of update a day, for lack of workable criteria for push update.
Does this has to be present in small company as well or just big organization or PMO, I have seen an archive on common drive in a small company with access for anyone has a login and wants to pull information.
RAJESH K L
Project Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, India
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
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- Albert Einstein
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