Important note:  this work was completed in 2009.

I was assigned as program manager to implement a major telecommunications ebonding capability for mobility services to signature customers throughout the world. This was a program to make a repeatable process that would help define a customized catalog of services for each customer yet a common interface to performing suppliers that would actually fulfill the orders for example a customer may have mobility needs in multiple countries throughout the world one in South America one in Asia one in Germany warning the Netherlands one in United States one in Mexico etc. etc. and there was no common wireless carrier they could fulfill all these orders. Each country had its own set of rules and data sets that made a single interface impossible to implement. My role as program manager involves several different steps:

1. Determine the key stakeholders in the program. I was given the charge to implement program management but there wasn’t any formal documents that made such an announcement. So I created a program charter and had an executive sign it and email it to his peers to authorize resources to plan the program.
2. Assembled a small team from the product house, operations, and IT to create a joint definition of work effort.
3. Shared this document with multiple organizations to assemble a core team of stakeholders and a responsibility matrix.
4. Created a program plan which defined various work packages and the time box timeframe for certain deliverables. Among these deliverables were a business requirements document. Benefits realization plan, and a governance model.
5. Developed seven project charters to implement the work efforts. Three of the charters were specific to IT development one of the charters was to the marketing and technical implementation plan two of the charters were specific to process and lifecycle support, and final charter were specific to developing a repeatable process for catalog management.
6. Mapped the cost of the projects based on a high-level order magnitude to a benefits realization plan and established the expectations for the deliverables.

To summarize, my planning processes is first to make sure I have owners and executive sponsorship from the business, next it is to do a program charter the authorized organizations to commit resources to the planning, next is planning the roadmap and the business realization plans, next is to issue a program plan which outlined how work package are aligned which then will generate a charter for each project that will help meet those objectives. Once the charters are defined a project manager will be assigned there will be responsible for implementing the requirements of the work. Tools and techniques that I use in this planning process is constant communication and dialogue with key stakeholders and a small work team. Interacting with knowledge workers through facilitating meetings with different organization to define business rules, program requirements, baselining documents and using the concept of progressive elaboration to monitor control their evolution from a planning cycle until project implementation. Finally, the process involves interacting with the teams through a defined governance model so all organizations know the protocol for handling issues, communicating status, and reporting task completion.

What vs. When?

It never fails to amaze me how many hours are spent trying to wordsmith terms and schedules in order to meet rules of political correctness.   I have spent hours of my career pretending we are developing a project plan focused on including a suite of capabilities to be delivered together, when in reality – there is an imposed constraint (due date) that must be met.  So therefore the question needs to be asked:  Is it a case of WHEN we can deliver all the capabilities, or is it a question of WHAT can we deliver by a certain date.  I’m not arguing one over the other, my argument is that time is much better spent using the Benefits model when there is a dictated delivery date.  The scope needs to be focused on WHAT can be delivered in the timebox.

This is where a well-defined benefits hierarchy helps the program manager.  The benefits hierarchy of benefit, outcome, and capability is a foundation for creating the roadmap and eventually the project deliverables.  Focusing on what provides the biggest benefits – rather than the contents of the "what in this timeframe can be defined" should drive the best decision within the defined constraints. (Let’s assume that all capabilities have the same cost/quality as this information may be implied within the benefit definition and associated attributes).  In the simplest sense, the scope of the project in the given time box can be determined by doing a binary check of each capability and what it contributes to the benefit.   Can we deliver this benefit in this timeframe? 

I know this assumes a logical quantitative world in which there are no pet projects and all people are rational – but it’s nice to dream.   However; in the imperfect world in which we live the capabilities should be prioritized first as high, medium, and low.  I imagine at that point all the lows are crossed off the list and ice boxed and the mediums are put on hold.  Then you should take the high benefit contributing capabilities and rank those as high medium and low.  (High is the same as mandatory).  Then ask the question:  Can all these be delivered in the timebox?  If the answer is no – you must move the time constraint!!!. 

If the answer is yes, you then ask, can it include any more capabilities?  If that answer is yes, you then need to independently rank the mediums and then go down one by one and ask the question: can we do the highs plus this one?  If yes – add it to the list, if no – it gets put into the icebox.

Now somebody will bring up the idea of well if I can have 2 and 5 but not 1, then I want to do that.  This exercise is one of those that sounds nice in theory, but becomes very expensive in practice.  The program manager really needs to make sure that the benefit/capabilities stand on their own.  And if they want to combine them – then the combined benefit is what must be evaluated against the line.  It really doesn’t make sense to spend lots of cycles piecing together different scenarios in order to see WHAT CAPABILITIES  we can get delivered, we should focus on WHAT BENEFITS can we start to realize.  This game leads to the bad practice of putting in low value capabilities just because we can get them in by a date as opposed to looking at the high value capabilities that will drive real benefits.

My daydream is over.  The politics of organizations will drive the game.  Unless a complete OCM project has been implemented that drives the decision model driven by benefits is in place – the games of how many things can I fit in the time box will continue.    But keep the faith program managers – by forcing benefits to be evaluated while these decisions are being made will be worth it when the icebox is opened for the next timebox.

Benefit Realization and Analytics

One of the most compelling reasons for benefit realization the ability for the program manager to report back to the business that the investment value is being realized. In order to perform this task properly the program manager is going to apply many of the principles of analytics. This blog wants to give high-level definition of analytics and how they will apply to program management and benefits realization.

As the image shows analytics have a couple major components to them that are right in line with the entire benefits realization concept. First analytics is a higher-level of looking at your data and communicating results visually as well as tactically. Analytics is looking at patterns in the data, it may be trends in maybe cause-and-effect it may be direct or indirect relationships. So the first step is understanding the data in the enablers to create. Second analytics relies on statistical disciplines, this includes using tools to extract data in the appropriate research in business intelligence in order to quantify the performance of that data.  Finally analytics does favorite data visualization to communicate the inside of the knowledge that has been obtained by the program manager that is reporting the actual results of the benefits realization.

In some ways the use of analytics expands the role of the program manager into a couple different areas both the delivery of the solution as well is running of the business. Analytics falls mainly under a business analysis skill set, and PMI now has a certification in business analysis, as well as performance analysis of the different components with in the program itself.  The program manager will need to be able to look at production data and be able to identify the patterns and communicate those and how they relate to the program itself. Analytics will require the current state the future state of the KPIs and how the benefits are going to be able to measure is associated KPIs. The other area that analytics will expand the program manager skill set is on analyzing a series of data points as opposed to just a snapshot in time traditionally project managers are able to give a readout of the current earned value, with respect to schedule and cost and project be earned value to completion. Analytics, as applied to the program, will also need to look at past performance and project future performance across multiple components and the people aspect of implementing these components.

What analytics will drive is a new means of communicating for the program manager. As mentioned in the definition above analytics resonate with the visual explanation. The program manager will be expected to provide that visual explanation interrelationship between expected results in actual results and the approach to close the gap is the variance is about tolerance level. This is not to be dependent on good data which will drive the program deliverables to ensure the proper hand also milestones are defined. It will also require the program manager to be able to map out the relationships between project results and business performance.

This is an exciting growth area for program managers and a great opportunity for a strategic project management office to be able to deliver more value to the business. This is another step in the journey to aligning the strategy of the company with the investment is being made. The program manager be looked at to be able to explain the journey and demonstrate where the organization is on that journey. And be able to do so in a visual data proven presentation that will transcend all components of the value chain.

I have a one hour chapter presentation or webinar on benefits management.  I have also developed and delivered workshops and prestation for many organizations including ProjectWord and PMI.

Introduction to Benefits Realization

Are we getting what we need?

At the 2015   PMI Annual Leadership Institute Meeting, PMI CEO Mark Langley told the audience that his single most frequent request from the Business Community was to have Portfolio/Program/Project Managers utilize Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities in Benefits Realization. This session will introduce the concept of Benefits Realization and how it is an important subset of Program and Project Management.  It will cover a definition of Benefits, a discussion on the currency of the benefits, and conclude with an interactive definition of a benefit in a Benefit Realization Plan.  Designed for practitioners at all levels, this will cover an in-demand skill for PPPM professionals in the 2010’s and beyond.

Complimenting Benefits Workshops, this presentation is an opportunity for you to better understand the relationships between Benefits Realization and Corporate strategy and establish yourself a Project Manager “who can do it!”.  It is an energized, pragmatic presentation, with many real-life examples, humorous anecdotes, and proven methods to the map between project objectives and corporate strategy.  It also includes time  for Q&A where you will learn:

• What are  benefits and dis-benefits and what are some of the human bias that make it a difficult process for most organizations?
• The purpose of a Benefits Map and how defining the Project Benefits can transcend the project completion through a transition to operations.
• The role of the project manager and the project outcomes and how they interact with Benefits Realization.

A project must be designed to provide benefits back to organization.  Whether they are revenue centered benefits to reduce cost or maximize revenue, or cost effective benefits forced by external mandates, there is a reason the company is making the investment.  This presentation helps to bridge the gap between the strategy and implementation and how the project manager fits into the picture.

The presenter, Dave Davis, PMP & PgMP is a practitioner of PPPM and a recognized professional in helping organizations. He has 30+ years as a manager (business, project, program, & knowledge), business analyst, curriculum advisor, instructor, and course developer. His PMI roles include Chapter President, Standards committees, and certification question writing. He is currently on the PMI COP Advisory Group. Dave holds 3 master’s degrees including an MBA from Xavier University, and eBusiness Project Management Certificate from the University of British Columbia.  He has published many articles and delivered presentations at professional conferences throughout Europe and North America.  Dave has developed and delivered advanced training for many universities and private companies.  Besides the Project Management certifications, Dave is certified as a Professional Business Analyst, Benefits Management, and Mindjet Mind mapping.  He also holds a Master’s in Business Administration, the PMI Leadership Masters Certificate and is a Six Sigma Green Belt.

This meeting is your opportunity to strengthen your Distinguished Project Manager toolbox!

This is a small video regarding how many organizations fund their programs for a year.  I am working on a new software package to start sharing knowledge via "whiteboard" snippets.

http://youtu.be/HiqO0EiivpI

We're All in This Together !!!

Dave