PMO Setup T3 - Tips, Tools, and Techniques

We all know what project management maturity is and we all have our favorite PMM models and approaches to project management and capabilities maturity. But sometimes lost in the PMMM minutiae are practical suggestions that can get an organization started and keep it going down its own special path of improvement and maturity. Below are ten suggestions for project management maturity taken from a variety of leading models and thoughts on the subject that just about any organization can adopt.

1. Process. Think process not methodology. That is, adopt a project management methodology, institutionalize its use within your organization, assign owners for every process such as SDLC or Agile, and use it and improve upon it continuously.
2. Continuous Improvement. Establish a culture of continuous improvement that drives the organization toward project management process oriented thinking and that rewards adherence to and improvement upon the process.
3. Hero Worship. Do not engage in hero worship. Every organization has stars, but hero worship should be recognized for what it usually is, a process defect.
4. Recognition. Publicly share recognition for project success with the project team and appropriate line management. Reward individual efforts, such as project rescue, privately.
5. People Power. Extend upon project management tool usage skills with communications and interpersonal skills. Software is just a tool, whereas the people in the organization are what drives high levels of teamwork, performance, and project management maturity.
6. End Result Driven. Encourage project manager certification, but manage, appraise, and promote based upon project manager end results achieved.
7. Executive Involvement. Strengthen involvement and support by executives and the leadership team by giving them what they need in order to be engaged, make effective decisions, and appreciate and support the project management maturity needs of the organization.
8. Project Planning. Don’t rush project planning. Commit to developing effective plans at the beginning of the project. Take the time that is required in the planning process and review the initial project plans in great detail.
9. Project Execution. Don’t delay project execution. Rapidly execute the project plan. Where possible, over-achieve project objectives and wisely use gains in time and cost.
10. Reporting. What is not reported is not measured. Measure and report progress periodically. Use scorecards and dashboards to keep everyone informed and involved.

As always, if you have a tip or suggestion of your own, please share it here.

As a PMO Manager, what does enterprise project management mean to you and your organization? Is it managing the formal projects of the enterprise applying tools and best practices for project and resource management? Or, is it ensuring that project management as a skill, discipline, and toolset is propagated throughout the enterprise for the use of all those who have the business need for it? Or, is it perhaps both? It is exciting to see that more and more PMOs are taking a leadership position and making it a priority, in addition to their core mission, to ensure that all those business professionals throughout the enterprise that have a project effort, of any kind, to manage can do just that. And one such example of these kinds of enterprise business professionals that have projects to manage can be found in your marketing department.

Marketing professionals have projects to manage all the time. And what is it like to be a marketing program manager or coordinator with a project to manage such as a product launch, a customer conference, a business partner event, a competitive or market research study, etc, etc, etc? Well, there are a number of capabilities that the marketing professional needs to possess and successfully execute. A few that come to mind include:

• Communicator - giving effective presentations, planning meetings, managing conference calls & reporting
• Team Builder - getting the right resources, managing them, and ensuring they meet their deadlines
• Integrator - bringing everything all together
• Expeditor - keeping things going and on schedule
• Coach - advising, mentoring, and motivating
• Juggler - being able to managing many marketing projects and tasks at one time
• Leader - providing direction, taking corrective actions, and maintaining team balance and confidence
• Facilitator - knowing how to manage through the process and through the people

Doesn’t this sound more like project management than marketing? And what about those marketing projects? Many people assume that all marketing work more is simply day to day routine activities such as press releases, product marketing support, publication and advertising reviews, etc. But, what would you call a tradeshow, new media buy, new public relations campaign, a new direct mail campaign, a market analysis study, a benchmark study of competitors, the annual customer conference, a new website or website content upgrade?

These are a project endeavors; every one of them. None of these will likely make the formal IT Project Portfolio, nor should they. But they are definitely more than day to day, routine work. They are projects, marketing projects. And if you don’t treat these endeavors as projects, you will likely end up with serious problems in the delivery of these project efforts. Poor project management results in cost overruns, missed deadlines, unmet customer needs and turnover in key personnel. It is no different in the marketing department as it is in the IT department or PMO.

Most marketing departments are eager, and overdue, in their desire to move past the “just do it” ad hoc approaches in favor of more effective project management. We have all heard the cliché, “people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” This is especially applicable in marketing projects. And, are the critical success factors in these projects any different than traditional PMO projects? Not really. You have the same:

• Time pressures to develop realistic timelines and deliver on time
• Buy-in and support levels required to obtain
• Stakeholders to keep informed
• Resources to identify, acquire, and manage
• Revenue goals and return on investment to meet
• Scope creep and changes to manage
• Progress to track and problems to manage

And how do these marketing professionals approach these critical successful factors and challenges? Well, they approach them using email, voicemail, and Microsoft Word. Some may venture out to use Excel for their tasks lists. There are so many problems with this.

• It’s totally manual in data calculation
• It’s too hard to make and many any kind of changes to phases or tasks
• It’s too hard to change time or cost data
• There are no automatic updates to schedules
• There is no ability to manage change automatically
• There is no ability to see the ripple effect of project delays
• It’s too hard to show the impact of resource availability
• There is no automatic reporting for stakeholders

In summary, it’s simply not using the right tool for the job. This would be similar to using Microsoft Word to create a spreadsheet. The solution to this problem is a project management tool, any project management tool. There are those that advocate the use of Microsoft Project. Others prefer other tools and even subscription offerings. Which tool you select or recommend for the business professionals to use may not even really matter. Of course it is more important from a PMO perspective to select a tool, an easy tool, and provide the appropriate support and training, if necessary, for the tool. Toward that aim, the focus should be on such things as:

• Moving from email and Word to a PM tool more appropriate for the effort
• Being able to quickly and easily set up the project plan phases and tasks
• Being able to determine if the project can be delivered on time
• And being able to identify and coordinate resource needs

So, if you are a PMO manager, take a moment to think about what the PMO is doing for all of those users on the business side to help them with their projects efforts. Consider making it a priority to establish and make available project management as a skill, discipline, and toolset throughout the entire enterprise for the use of all those who have the business need for it. Take the marketing department as one of many examples throughout the enterprise. Successful project management in marketing requires a project management tool, so let them have one.

We all know or have an idea of the kinds of project management skills that PMO Managers like their project managers to have. And the PMP credential serves as a positive indicator that a project manager is like to have both knowledge and competence in the various skills and knowledge areas that make up project management. But what about habits and traits? What do PMO Managers like to see in the project managers in terms of habits? What are habits?

Well, Stephen Covey defines habits as the overlapping of knowledge, skills, and desire as shown in the image to the left. That seems to be a good place to start and using that definition, here is a short top-five list of A+ habits that PMO managers like their project managers to have.

• Number 5: Acceptance
• Number 4: Appreciation
• Number 3: Admiration
• Number 2: Approval
• Number 1: Attention

Starting from the bottom of the rank and working up is the fifth habit, acceptance; acceptance of people, acceptance of goals and objectives and strategies, and acceptance of the decisions that management and the leadership team has made and has to make. To some extent, everybody has a deep need to be accepted unconditionally and without reservations by other people. When you accept other people just as they are, without comment, criticism, or any suggestions that they need to change in some way, you raise their comfort level, their self esteem, and their ability to work and express themselves. And when you don’t, the reverse of these things is likely to occur. One of the simplest ways to express acceptance of another person is to simply offer that person a smile and mean it. It works all the time.

The fourth habit PMO managers like to see project managers have and demonstrate is appreciation. It may sound like a cliché, but it is quite true. The more appreciative and thankful you are of good things that exist, they more likely that they will increase and expand. And one of the most effective mindsets and ways of thinking that you can have is “an attitude of gratitude.” Instead of complaining and criticizing, like too many people are quick to do, focus on the positive. For example, it is easy to complain about or become frustrated when implementing a new PPM tool that doesn’t quite work the way you would like it to. Often, features we don’t like and things that might bother us a bit overshadow great areas of value and the things that we do like. For some folks, it is easier to be discontent than appreciative. To get into a habit of being appreciative, two words, “Thank You”, can greatly help. Develop the habit of saying thank you to anyone and everyone for any action or deed that warrants some kind of thanks. When you thank someone, their esteem goes up and the spirit of appreciation is contagious.

The third habit that PMO Managers like to see in project managers is admiration. What is admiration? In the context of PMOs and PMO Managers, admiration is taking the time to notice and admire people’s achievements and accomplishments. Make it a habit to admire all those around you. Compliment them for their achievements such as delivering a project, obtaining their PMP, or even making a good presentation. When you compliment a person for their achievement, it makes them feel great. It increases their self esteem. It makes them want to be their best and get noticed more. No amount of management thanks and feedback can equal the peer to peer admiration of those that participate in the workplace. And, there is very much a boomerang effect that comes back to you. When you admire someone and pass along a compliment, you make their day and it is hard for not just a little bit of that good feeling to rub off on you too.

The second habit that PMO Managers like to see in project managers is giving approval to others. Now, project managers typically do not have direct reports. But project managers are in a position to give their approval to others on just about an every day basis. This approval can be given to peers, subordinates, and especially to management and the leadership team. A project manager can voice their approval over actions and decisions. There are no rules for giving feedback in this way or for who you can and who you can’t pass along your nod of approval to. And often, you might find that management comes to you formally or informally like on an elevator, at the break room, or in the parking lot and asks you a question like, “what do you think of our decision to etc, etc, etc,” Such instances, and others, happen daily and give project managers an opportunity to approve others. When is the best time to give someone your approval? Immediately. Without delay, right after the person has engaged in praise-worthy behavior.

And the first habit that PMO Managers like to see and value in project managers is being an expert in the habit of paying attention. This is not only being a great listener, but a great observer as well. Most people are better talkers than they are listeners. And most people are better at doing than observing. But, paying attention is a discipline that you can take and apply in just about any project endeavor or work situation. And you can be so helpful to others when you pay attention. For example, how many times have you sat through a presentation? Perhaps, you project sponsor is presenting a topic or perhaps your project manager is giving a PMO performance update. Are you listening to the presentation or are you paying attention to the presentation? And by paying attention, are you receiving the presentation from your point of view or are you observing how others in the audience are listening to the presentation, their body language, their non-verbal communication. Almost always, your PMO manager or colleague that is giving the presentation will not be in a position to observe like you can. They will be more focused on their giving of the presentation than on their listeners receiving of the presentation. Hence, you are in a great position to be of significant value in relating how things went and if necessary and appropriate to even step in and help.

Well, there you have it. Five A+ habits that PMO Managers like to see project managers have; Acceptance, Appreciation, Admiration, Approval, and Attentiveness. And in my book, five A’s make for a good report card.

Don’t do things for the first time more than once. [Did I read that right. That doesn’t make any sense.] My friend, you read it right. And, It doesn’t make any sense, yet it happens time and time again. Recently, I worked with and spent some time with a PMO Manager. And I asked him what the keys of his success and the success of his PMO were? I was expecting to hear things like skill, experience, maybe a new twist on how to use a tool or institutionalize a process. So, what he told me came as a bit of a surprise. You see, when he started the PMO, there were the usual mission statements, goals, objectives, and strategies. But what he focused on most and what he asked his team for help in focusing on with him was to only do things for the first time once. And not a second, third, and fourth time.

As I thought about this and as he cited example after example, his words were really nothing more than a common sense approach to CMM or PMM. But often, that is exactly what is lacking in maturity models, a common sense approach. How many times have we all heard the saying, “don’t re-invent the wheel?” It is incredibly time consuming, frustrating, and simply bad business to repeatedly go about an endeavor or task without the benefit of the prior experiences, good and bad, of others.

Now, you won’t find a "how-to" for this in the PMBOK. There is probably less than fifty words altogether that address lessons learned and corrective action and what to actually do about these things. And for many organizations, OPM3, though a great model and purchasable toolkit kind of product, is likely to be more than many organizations, especially smaller ones, can reasonably take on.

So, whether it is the way you manage a project, use a tool, or interact with others, only do things for the first time once. Take the time required to institutionalize how to go about whatever it was that you just did for the first time, so that others, including yourself, don’t have to do it for the first time again, again, and once again.

Have you ever had a near death experience? Or, have you had a real good scare? Often, during or after such an event, your mind races around sometimes going down the path of flashbacks and other times recounting things, oddities, one after another and for no apparent reason. Well, not too long ago, I had such an experience. Not quite near death, but it was a very good scare. You see, I was minding my own business doing yard work when I noticed that there was a patch of crabgrass growing in my St. Augustine lawn. As a relatively new resident of Orlando, Florida, I am still learning how to maintain St. Augustine grass. I have learned quite a bit about bugs, diseases, and weeds that are common problems with the particular variant of St. Augustine grass that I have called Floratam. I also learned that Floratam got its name from Florida and Texas A&M, the Flor from Florida, and the TAM from Texas A&M, where this particular variety of St. Augustine was grass was developed and released in 1972 as a disease and bug resistant grass. But I have to tell you, when it comes to this grass, the terms disease resistant and bug resistant could not be better examples of what an oxymoron is.

But I am digressing; let me get back to the crabgrass. Here is the situation. I am working in the yard, I spot a patch of crabgrass in otherwise pristine St. Augustine lawn, and I decide to extricate this crabgrass manually, that is pull it out by hand, since it is too late in the year to treat it with any kind of weed killer. The patch is not that large, probably four feet by four feet at most. The crabgrass easily pulls out and in no time at all I have filled up a lawn trash bag with the stuff. And, as I am pulling the last little bit of this weed out of my lawn, I spot in the corner of my eye a cute little worm making its way for my hand. As I turn my head to get a better look, I noticed that this cute little colorful worm is actually quite long for a worm, about 12 to 15 inches. And then I further notice that this cute little guy is sporting red, yellow, and black bands.

Instinctively, at that moment, I jumped back and not a bit too soon as this little guy coiled and lunged in an effort to strike my hand. Staring down at this creature, the old cautionary and rhyming saying popped into my mind, “red touching black, a friend of Jack; red touching yellow, will kill a fellow.” For those of you who haven’t heard this saying, it is referring to the differences between the harmless and non-poisonous King Snake and the deadly and very venomous Coral Snake.

You see, both snakes are banded with Red, Yellow, and Black bands. But the order of the bands is different. The King Snake’s Red and Black bands touch, where as the Coral Snake’s Red and Yellow bands touch. And this little guy at my feet was indeed a snake, not a worm, and it’s red and yellow bands were adjacent to each other. Yes, it was a Coral Snake. Not big, in fact Coral Snakes, don’t get very big. But, the venom of the Coral Snake is neurotoxic. It paralyzes the nerves.  Often people pick up a Coral Snake because it is so small and pretty not realizing how dangerous and deadly this snake is. The Coral Snake hangs on while biting, more like chewing, and injects as much venom as possible.  There are a high percentage of fatalities from the bit of the Coral Snake.  Without immediate treatment, a snake bite victim will likely die. In our neighborhood, there are dozens of children at play. I can just imagine what would happen if one of the kids had happened upon this snake rather than me. Now, I truly love and respect nature and I normally don’t kill snakes, even poisonous ones, but for safety concerns I did kill and bury this Coral Snake right away. If this upsets you, I welcome your comments and suggestions for what else to do. In hindsight, I should have called our county animal control hot-line. I have come to learn that they can handle these matters.

In the aftermath of this near tragic event, I couldn’t get that old snake proverb out of my mind. “Red touching black, a friend of Jack; red touching yellow, will kill a fellow.” And this got me thinking about how useful proverbs, these short memorable sayings offering words of wisdom, can be in our daily lives. And, especially how such things as proverbs can be ever so relevant to the management of the PMO and the management of the projects of the PMO. The idea being, if you remember the proverb, you will remember how to apply the wisdom. So, inspired by that little Coral Snake are the following 25 proverbs for your PMO. 

1. Any task, no matter how complex, can be estimated accurately, once it's completed.
2. The most valuable, and least used, word in a project manager's vocabulary is "no".
3. Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do it.
4. You can bully a project manager into committing to an impossible project completion date, but you cannot bully him into meeting it.
5. Too few people on a project can't solve the problems - too many create more problems than they solve.
6. A change freeze is like the abominable snowman: it is a myth and would anyway melt when heat is applied.
7. A user will tell you anything you ask about, but nothing more.
8. A user is somebody who tells you what they really want the day you give them what they first asked for.
9. The conditions attached to a promise are forgotten, only the promise is remembered.
10. There's never enough time to do it right first time, but there's always enough time to go back and do it again.
11. I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
12. The sooner you rush into coding, the later you finish the project.
13. If project scope is allowed to change freely, the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.
14. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
15. The person who says it will take the longest and cost the most is the only one with a clue how to do the job.
16. The bitterness of poor product quality lingers long after the celebration of meeting the project date is forgotten.
17. A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
18. What has not been put on paper has not been said.
19. If you fail to plan the project, you are planning to fail the project.
20. The more you plan the project, the luckier you get.
21. If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, you haven't understood the project plan.
22. If you don't attack the project risks, the project risks will attack you.
23. A little bit of project risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning.  
24. The sooner you fall behind the project schedule, the more time you have to make it up.
25. When all's said and done, a lot more was said than was done.

There you have it, twenty-five proverbs inspired by a coral snake. If a few of these proverbs bring a smile to your face, that's great. If but one can be of help in some small way, then that's an added bonus.