The Path To The Corner Cube - A Project Management Fable, Chapter III: The Strategic Managers Weigh In

 

As the meeting with Jane West and her PMO Core Team was breaking up (Chapter II), I asked Oscar if he had arranged for me to meet with the Proposal Management Team as I had requested when we first met (Chapter I).

“Yeah, they’ll be here in this conference room at the top of the hour. It’s kind of funny…” Oscar continued. “When you first asked to meet with them, I was rather dubious about why you wanted that. But, when I called Randy Jacobs, the head of the Proposal Management Team, he was excited. I guess they really want to meet you.”

“Not me, specifically. They want to know more about the products and projects.”

“How do you know…”

Just then Randy Jacobs walked in the room, accompanied by Suzanne, Toby, and Quinn, the members of his core team.

“Stanly Raspberry! So good to meet you!” the gregarious Randy began. He introduced the other members of his team, and everybody sat down. “How can we help?”

“I was looking at some of ACME’s shareholder disclosure documents, and comparing them to Monolithic’s. It looks like ACME has around a third of the market share in this industry, and Monolithic has half. Is that right?”

Randy’s gregarious grin fell in an instant, and he immediately became defensive.

“My team is doing the best they can!” he stormed. “Working long hours, without overtime pay, of course…”

“Relax, Randy. I’m sure they are. But I’m not here about them, or you. As I’m sure Oscar has told you, I’m here about the Project and Product Management. Tell me, how has product and project performance affected your team?”

Randy’s shoulders slumped, as he simultaneously relaxed but felt a twinge of despair.

“Monolithic’s beating us, Mr. Raspberry, and it’s not because of my team. They’ve got us on price, pure and simple. Our quality is roughly equal, and they’re sometimes late with their deliveries…”

Oscar and I exchanged glances. It is exactly as he said it was at our first meeting.

“…  but unless the, umm, invention can up our quality at the same price point, or even lower it, we’re locked in a losing battle, long-term.”

“So you’re okay with the use of the invention going straight into product/project management?”

“Okay with it? I’ve been demanding it, ever since we got the patent!”

“What’s stopping you?”

“Lindstrummer!” the entire room said in unison.

“Every time we propose a machine upgrade to take advantage of the new development” Suzanne began, “Lindstrummer slams the brakes on its procurement until we can show a Return on Investment to ‘justify’ the expenditure.”

“But, since it’s impossible to know how beating Monolithic on price or quality will impact the ‘bottom line’” Quinn added, “we can’t prove a positive ROI against the cost and downtime of the upgrade.”

“Market share advantages are typically non-quantifiable in the balance sheet.” I commented.

“EXACTLY!” the room affirmed, again, in unison.

“Of your proposal backlog, how many of your customers are government, or will predictably go with the lowest bidder?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you that exactly…” Randy began.

“Rough numbers will do.”

“About half.”

“How much does that represent in potential contract backlog?”

“I can’t tell you that, either.”

“More than the cost of equipment upgrade and downtime?”

“Absolutely. Is that how you want to pursue this?” Randy asked.

“No, but it’s good to know in case that becomes the basis for the decision. You confirmed earlier that ACME’s market share is around 33%. What would you like it to be?”

“Realistically? If we can get re-tooled reasonably soon, we should be able to add a good five points in the mid-term, and ten in the long-term.”

“Sounds reasonable” I replied. “I have a recommendation for you and your team, if you care to hear it.”

“By all means.”

“Sort the proposals in your proposal backlog based on which ones are likely to go to the lowest bidder, and which ones are more focused on availability, or quality. Your CEO, Mr. Daystrom, is expected to make a decision on a path forward here within the next couple of weeks. If the decision goes against you and Jane, and Lindstrummer continues to set the ROI as the overarching standard for the decisions going forward, put minimal effort into the lowest-bidder proposals, and focus on the others in the backlog, including your advertising efforts.”

“And if Daystrom decides otherwise?” Quinn asked.

“Then the whole backlog is back in play. Something else that may end up being of great use…” I continued.

“Name it” Randy replied, clearly becoming more comfortable that I could help him and his team.

“You don’t have to tell me, but if you could have as a back-pocket bit of information, it might be useful to know the win rate of the proposals for lowest-bidder work, and the win rate for all of the other ones.”

Randy smiled broadly. “I think I know where you’re going with this. Toby, can you pull that together?”

“It will be on your desk by the end of today.”

The young and pretty Quinn fixed me with an intense gaze.

“Mr. Raspberry, if this organization backs Jane’s PMO with respect to the decision to update the business model away from justification through Return on Investment, and towards project performance, we could personally be in trouble.”

“She’s right, Randy. What do you think?”

Randy didn’t hesitate.

“Let’s do this. If we don’t, we’re goners eventually anyway. This way we have a real shot at getting ACME’s business model straight.”

Next week: I meet with the CFO