Voices on Project Management

by Cyndee Miller

I know it’s only November, but I’m done with 2020. Alas, I have not yet mastered time travel. So I headed to the latest PMI Virtual Experience Series: “A Deep Dive in Business Analysis: Drawing a Map to the Future.” Yup, sign me up. I am so ready to draw that map for me and my team. Now, admittedly I am not particularly sports-obsessed, but American football coach Katie Sowers and tennis analyst Craig O’Shannessy offered up some great stuff on resilience. Hint: It starts with purpose.

“No matter what it is that we do, if we don’t have a why, we’re not going to be the best version of ourselves,” said Sowers, the first woman and the first openly LGBT coach in the National Football League.

The trailblazing leader also recognized that although COVID has spurred insecurity, it’s also provided an unexpected push that may guide us along the right path. “As hard as these times have been, it’s led to more communication, better preparation, and an environment where we have to find that internal motivation, which is really more permanent than external motivation,” Sowers said.

For O’Shannessy, it’s about understanding yourself—and your opponents: “You’ve gotta conquer yourself. You’ve gotta conquer your demons and really bring it together.”

And O’Shannessy knows of what he speaks, having coached some of the best tennis players in the world, including Novak Djokovic and rising star Matteo Berrettini. Project leaders looking to keeping their own teams motivated should focus on positive reinforcement—backed by data. “I go to the analytics and look for red flags and green flags,” he said. “I always make short highlight videos of the player excelling in a specific area. I’m constantly delivering these videos showing them excelling. When they see themselves out there doing well, it really works.”

Pre-pandemic, resilience was all about looking at risk versus preparedness, but now it’s data  driving the action, said FTI Consulting’s Caroline Das-Monfrais. “You cannot have a resilient organization without data.”

Yet processes and data can only take you so far, she said. “At the end of the day you need people. People are the critical enabler of resilience.”

And those people need to be more fearless about getting their POV across, said PMI’s Sunil Prashara. “Get it on the table and talk openly and equally.” Today’s ultra-VUCA world demands true changemakers, and it’s no longer enough for organizations and their project leaders to be agile—they have to be gymnastic.

Building resilience means people growing comfortable with uncertainty and focusing on “the little things they actually can control,” said journalist-turned-poker champ Maria Konnikova. Naturally, this is terrifying for most of us. Who wants to lose control? But when you trust the process, you can push forward and accomplish more. “You need to act, you need to actually take the plunge, knowing that you will never have perfect information,” she said.

Project leaders should “be curious about what you’re doing,” she said. You can’t manage a project well if it bores you or you’re checked out. “Find something in it that will actually engage you.”

Want more? Get ready for the next Experience PMI event, “Going the Distance: Forging Our Path Forward,” slated for 9 December: http://ow.ly/VCES50ChQg5.

How are you keeping your team motivated?

by Kevin Korterud 

It used to be that projects that were typically small in size, localized to a single team, and compartmentalized to the point where they didn’t collide when it came to schedules and resources. Over time, projects began to be packaged into programs that involved larger teams as well as a greatly expanded technology footprint. To manage these complexities of modern-day project delivery, organizations are increasingly turning to enterprise program management offices (EPMOs) or enterprise delivery management offices (EDMOs) that span waterfall and agile initiatives.

The need—and demand—for enterprise PMOs and DMOs is only growing with the pandemic. Here’s why:

1. Technology is in everything.

The business process landscape has become more imbued with technology— to the point where there’s no such thing as a business or technology project anymore … just delivery. And while the meteoric growth of tech has fueled success, it also creates challenges. It’s now common to have multiple delivery initiatives underway across a technically integrated landscape that can include everything from centralized enterprise resource planning systems down to personal mobility apps. In addition, project/program delivery and agile product delivery are taking place at multiple speeds and frequencies. Design, deliverables and testing all become much more demanding. All of this leads to the strong probability for delay on one initiative to cause schedule and resource conflicts.

EPMOs and EDMOs can provide technology enablement and assurance functions needed to keep delivery on track. For example, enterprise-enabled testing and scheduling tools whereby delivery teams can form, execute and implement requirements and user stories—without having to spend effort to acquire tools and train team members—saves precious time.

2. The cost of delay is growing.   

Early in my career, a senior project manager told me the best way to reduce costs on projects is to finish them on time. That advice remains relevant. As companies rely on technology as well as project, programs and transformations to create a competitive market edge, any sort of schedule delay reduces value. Delaying a market launch of a new mobile product entails parking resources, additional communication efforts, etc. Plus, given today’s landscape, a delay in one initiative can cause a chain reaction that affects other dependent initiatives, thus exacerbating the overall negative impact to business value.

Through integrated schedule, resource and dependency planning across delivery initiatives, EPMOs and EDMOs trigger early warning mechanisms and help marshal senior leadership decision-making to help mitigate delays.

3. Harmonization equals velocity.     

Today’s delivery landscape is dramatically different from the past. Along with the size, scale and varying modes of project, program, transformation and product delivery, multiple third-party labor and hardware/software suppliers are more deeply involved. It’s also more common for delivery initiatives to have a global footprint, adding another layer of complexity. And COVID-19 further exacerbates these challenges by inhibiting communication, collaboration and impacting hardware/software supply chains. 

Let’s use the analogy of a busy airport, where there’s a need for a centralized function to help harmonize the way different people, processes and technology components work together. In that case, distinct sector, tower and ground controllers organize the flow of traffic, minimize delays and in some cases avert potential disastrous conflicts.

The same rationale holds true for EPMOs and EDMOs, which are uniquely positioned to provide essential services such as: common delivery methods, third-party supplier and supply chain management, enterprise-level risk management, integrated scheduling management, resource management and dependency management.

I sometimes long for the simplicity of small, compartmentalized projects that could move at their own pace to completion. However, we all have to face today’s delivery reality. Some ways of working we were all used to may come back with the pandemic under control, but in the meantime we still have delivery responsibilities—and EPMOs and EDMOs can be a big help in making sure we meet those responsibilities.   

To what degree are you seeing the need for enterprise EPMOs and EDMOs?

By Cyndee Miller

A wee bit desperate for some positive news? Well, I’ve got just the thing: Most Influential Projects is back!

No big shocker here that MIP 2020 is stacked with COVID-fueled innovations. With the coronavirus racing across the U.K., a team from the National Health Service transformed a London exhibit hall into a massive emergency medical facility—in just nine days. UNICEF, Microsoft, the University of Cambridge and Dubai Cares teamed up to transform a pilot project originally aimed at refugee children into a virtual learning platform for underprivileged students from Ukraine to Zimbabwe who’d been shut out of classrooms. Virgin Orbit shifted course to design and deliver emergency ventilators, while the organizers of Shanghai Fashion Week teamed up with Alibaba to produce history’s first purely digital fashion week.

Then there’s the project that tops the list, epitomizing a major theme of 2020: progress over perfection. The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator aims to identify, accelerate and scale seven of the most promising vaccine candidates by coordinating R&D efforts. Microsoft’s Bill Gates—a major financial backer of the initiative—acknowledged that the “few billion” U.S. dollars the project will waste will be more than worthwhile, considering the human lives it will save and the catastrophic effect the coronavirus has already had on the global economy.

The latest slate of Most Influential Projects goes way beyond COVID control, however. The Kangaroo Island Recovery project helped save one of Australia’s most iconic ecosystems from raging wildfires. Toyota is giving us its take on a fully autonomous world with Woven City, and Enel Green Power is helping Chile turn away from fossil fuels and bolster its unofficial role as Latin America’s clean energy leader with the Campos del Sol mega solar farm project.

And the excitement doesn’t stop there. This year’s adventures include 30 (!!) Top 10 lists broken out by sectors and geographic regions. (You can geek out over the data science list, gawk over the newly created wonders on the architecture list and smirk over Tiger King making the entertainment list.)

For me, one of the most interesting choices was Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons. For the record, I’ve never even played the game. What struck me was the backstory. Katsuya Eguchi has said his work on the original Animal Crossing was inspired by the heartache he felt after leaving family and friends to move from Chiba to Nintendo’s home city of Kyoto, Japan. Fast forward a couple decades and much of the world was experiencing that very same sense of isolation and loneliness. Then along came New Horizons, offering community and companionship—even during The Great Lockdown. The really weird part? The release date may have seemed like impeccable timing, but it was actually due in part to project delays. New Horizons was originally slated for a 2019 release, but when Nintendo execs realized hitting that target would require a grueling schedule for the team, they pushed the date back to March 2020. In a deliciously ironic plot twist, a decision to help employees maintain a healthy work-life balance ended up producing windfall profits.

Your turn: Take a deep dive and let me know your MIP vote in the comments.

by Cyndee Miller

We’ve pretty much seen it all in 2020: accelerated transformations, momentous pivots and, well, spectacular flameouts. But even before COVID came along, plenty of project teams have stared down adversity and delivered. One prime example: the PMI Project of the Year winner.

The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is on track to disrupt Europe’s natural gas sector. The US$6.5 billion pipeline stretches 1,835 kilometers (1,140 miles) across northern Turkey, traversing over mountains and under bodies of water, including 19 kilometers (12 miles) below the Dardanelles.

Led by TANAP Dogalgaz Iletim A.S., the pipeline is the longest stretch of the Southern Gas Corridor, a game-changing program of over 250 energy projects across seven countries that will transmit natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe for the first time.      

A massive impact? Check. A massive investment? Check. But things didn’t go off without a hitch. As the team built out the pipeline, project leaders had to work around sensitive archeological sites—uncovering roughly 1,000 artifacts during the project. Whenever the team faced potential delays stemming from cultural or environmental concerns, work didn’t stop. Instead, the team leap-frogged down the line and returned to work on the previous site when conditions allowed. Project leaders also provided incentives for contractors to safely reach key milestones early. 

Their efforts worked: The team closed the project on time and US$5 billion under budget “to the highest quantity and safety, social and environmental standards,” says Mustafa Ayan, former project CTO and now COO of TANAP Natural Gas Transmission Co., Ankara, Turkey. 

And project leaders are also ensuring their lessons learned don’t just stay in their heads. Team members are pooling their experiential insights to create a book that will not only help TANAP sponsors and stakeholders, but will be shared with the industry.

TANAP was in good company for this year’s Project of the Year award. Consider the other two finalists:

• The Montréal Tower Revitalization Project: The iconic leaning structure sat empty for 30 years—until a five-year, US$113 million initiative transformed it into a thriving commercial space.
• Fort McMurray West 500 kV Transmission Project: The five-year, CA$1.57 billion effort marked Canada’s first PPP for a transmission line. The result? A more efficient grid and more affordable transmission.

Check out a recap of the three projects in the PM Network digital exclusive. And then dig into full case studies in the December issue of PM Network. If you can’t wait until then, grab some popcorn and head to the 2020 Project of the Year playlist on PMI’s YouTube channel.

by Dave Wakeman

I’ve spent most of this year musing on leadership—and how so much of what we’ve learned comes from watching the mistakes people have made. As we head into the end of the year, I want to revisit leadership, but through the lens of doing things the right way. Here are three tips on how to be the leader your teams, organizations and communities can look to for guidance as so many of us continue to work through the pandemic: 

1. Be Consistent. One of the more apparent challenges spurred by the pandemic is how time has blended into itself. Our home life, work responsibilities, leisure activities and everything in between mix together in ways that can be unhealthy and unsustainable. Some of us can’t seem to finish things because we feel like we never have space to think or get away from a problem long enough to get a different perspective. Other people underperform because of the accumulations of stress that we’re all dealing with in ways both big and small. 

One of the few normal activities our son has been able to continue this year is soccer (or football, as the non-Yanks call it). It’s been a boost to my son’s mental health because he gets to hang out with people he’s familiar with and play his favorite sport. And the coaches have been real saviors for my son and his team, driving home the need to be consistent in their efforts, their focus and the way that they approach practice. 

 For me, I find it helpful to be consistent in sitting down at my desk to write, setting my goals, and focusing on doing one or two things a day that I can control. 

2. Communicate Constantly. I don’t have to tell anyone about information overload, with news about COVID and the thousands of pings and dings that distract us from our responsibilities each day. This means that many of us miss the information we need or want. As leaders, we need to spend some time making sure our message gets across and that we’re delivering it consistently, even if we’re repeating the same message. 

Back to my son: His elementary school has been all-virtual since March and it’s been a big adjustment. But the principal of the school has been very consistent about communicating with families about what’s going on and what the kids are dealing with. He’s been scheduling weekly virtual chats and sending out a minimum of two emails a week to keep parents informed about decisions around the learning environment and the possibility of bringing some kids back to campus. He doesn’t always have the chance to share new information with us, but we know he’s going to provide us information no matter what.

3. Be Flexible: I want to combine flexibility and empathy right now because I think they go hand-in-hand. Like I mentioned at the top, we’re overwhelmed by how our lives end up blending together in ways that aren’t always healthy. We’re dealing with uncertainty, more and different stressors, and, probably, more and different responsibilities in our lives. 

People aren’t going to perform the same way. All of us are navigating strong feelings or stress from different events and in unusual ways, and we need to recognize the best thing we can do right now is give people room to process what they’re dealing with and to move through it.  

In turn, leaders must also extend that same grace to themselves. Spend some time recognizing when you need a break and be willing to step back and take it. 

What are the biggest leadership lessons learned you’ve gained this year? Share in the comments below.