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Embedding Portfolio Management Through Effective Communications
| Despite uncertainties in today's economic environment, organizations remain under pressure to successfully execute business strategies. These challenging conditions demand that organizations innovate and gain an advantage through projects. Yet launching a bunch of projects won't save the day. We need solid portfolio management to enable that competitive edge. It's not just about software, methodology and frameworks, after all. To perform well, portfolio management requires a cultural change and solid communications within an organization. And yet, we still suffer due to poor communications. Many companies, for instance, invest significant effort and capital on projects and programs that do not directly align with corporate objectives because those goals are poorly communicated. Meanwhile, others struggle to balance risk and fail to seize opportunities because of ineffective communications that do not support informed decision-making. For example, I worked on a project of high complexity that had huge technical challenges. These challenges could have been better addressed if there had been more communication among different research teams in our organization. The payoff to investing in project communications can be substantial, as many studies -- such as a recent one from PMI -- point out. Companies that excel at portfolio management are able to complete projects on time and under budget, increasing ROI and other benefits. But how do we consistently communicate the portfolio management strategy, policies, governance and benefits throughout the organization?
I'm a firm believer that the role of communications is to ensure that portfolio management is embedded in the corporate culture. What do you think is the role of communications in a portfolio? |
Agile, to Scale
Categories:
Agile
Categories: Agile
| As agile matures, it's being employed at the program level by larger teams, many of which are broken down into groups. How must agile evolve to match these growing needs? In this first of two posts, we will look at some of the key objectives of the agile approaches designed for large-scale projects. Scott Ambler's Disciplined Agile Delivery and Dean Leffingwell's Scaled Agile Framework are two such approaches. These in particular reevaluate some concepts from the IBM Rational Unified Process framework. Among the most useful concepts shared by all three is the opportunity for teams to balance upfront planning needs while preserving agile's ability to refine the plan based on empirical observation of real results. All also speak more to what architectural underpinnings are necessary to give larger teams a firm foundation:
In larger teams, agile approaches -- such as the feedback afforded by iterations in Scrum -- remain popular, as do the technical practices centered around quality. Lean principles used by smaller agile teams remain important to reduce wait time, optimize the entire system and balance flow among teams. But the frameworks mentioned above also add a fourth dimension: synchronized relationships among agile teams. In particular, aligning teams so their sprints end at the same time is useful, because it facilitates the release of the product. So what's different for large teams trying to use agile methods? First, overall investment governance becomes all the more important. Larger projects require more preparation to justify the greater levels of funding. They also may have more complicated dependencies among teams. Organizations will need to find a way to allocate effort between work in their portfolio of projects. This includes not only features, but also infrastructure work and nonfunctional requirements. And organizations should also use investment gate models to ensure funds are invested wisely. Second, technical architecture is also very important. In smaller agile teams, people may experiment first and then evolve guidelines and patterns. But in larger teams, overall design and architecture plays a leading role so as to better coordinate among teams. System teams, or people who work on supporting teams creating features, also become important as the demand for a shared infrastructure increases. Finally, metrics quickly become important. New metrics -- designed specifically for larger teams -- provide a holistic view of the overall health of the large team, and also help gather and assemble data for the smaller groups within. This allows organizational leaders to see, at a glance, where the overall program stands, so they can make broad project decisions with wide impact. These general principles guide many methods to scale agile from teams of seven to 100 members. In my next post, we will look at some specific practices to enable large teams to find the benefits of agile. What do you think are the fundamental principles of scaling agile? |
Cultural Lessons from a Controversial Comedian
| Recently, I re-watched Borat during a long holiday weekend. Though it's a comedy, I think there are important lessons to be learned from its essence, which is an exploration of behavior: how a foreigner's actions — the norm in his or her culture — may seem offensive to another country's native population. In the film, Borat, a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan, travels to the U.S. and makes interviewees uncomfortable with his behavior. You may have had a similar experience when you started working in a multicultural project environment. The film showed several examples of issues project managers may have experienced in such an environment. From those, I have noticed the following two cause the most discomfort among project team members: Proxemics U.S. anthropologist Edward T. Hall invented this term to refer to our personal space. Depending on an individual's culture, the amount of acceptable space around a person varies according to subtle rules. In the film, Borat gives a great demonstration of invasion of personal space. He starts greeting New Yorkers on the street with a handshake and a kiss on each cheek. Most of the people react adversely. Some even threaten him. Team members in a multicultural project environment may experience similar aversion, particularly during the forming stage. I remember during a kickoff meeting in Argentina with team members from Argentina, Uruguay and the U.S., the Argentine host introduced himself with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek. He started with the Uruguayans, who have a similar greeting. When the host got to the first U.S. team member, he stepped back, extended his arm as far as he could and said, "A handshake is OK for me." In situations like this, warn your team members beforehand that there might be cultural differences, and urge them to be upfront with their preferences while respecting others' norms. Stereotyping In my experience, stereotyping is the main source of conflicts in a multicultural project environment. In the film, Borat stops at a rodeo dressed as a cowboy to interview a rodeo owner. Because Borat has a large mustache, the owner assumes he's from the Middle East. The owner recommends Borat shave his mustache so he can look "more Italian," which may help him fit in better. If not managed well, stereotyping may become a barrier and impact the project work. I recently witnessed this during a project that included implementations in Latin America. One of my European colleagues was very vocal about the stereotyped unpunctuality of Latin Americans, recommending strict controls be placed to avoid any schedule slip. I had a private discussion with him to find the source of his concern. It turned out that he had not had previous experience working with a Latin American team, and he was operating on a stereotype. I asked him to give the team members a chance to prove themselves before he set any controls. In the end, his perceptions were unfounded — the team members worked as expected and met schedule requirements without the need for controls. As projects become more global, project managers need to understand cultural complexities that lie below surface behaviors. I would advise using a holistic approach to find out more about people's cultural values and beliefs. Have you learned cultural lessons to apply on your project team from unconventional sources? |
Work Before the Work Plan
Categories:
Project Planning
Categories: Project Planning
| While reviewing a project work plan this week, I thought back to the first generation of work-planning tools. I marveled at their ability to mechanize manually arduous activities, such as progress calculations and schedule charts. After using these tools on a few projects, I felt supremely confident about creating a work plan and managing a project of any size. But as I became more proficient at using them, I found myself struggling to make the work plan match what was actually going on with the project. After much frustration, I spoke to a senior project manager. She suggested that before even touching the tools, I needed to rethink my approach to work planning. Here are some of her tips that I continue to employ today:
I recommend capturing a fixed commitment -- that is, the amount of hours by resource per week. This accounts for even those resources that, by the nature of their labor contracts, can only devote a certain number of hours to the project. It also highlights the capacity these resources have to work on other projects. If the capacity is a set amount, you can quickly determine a more accurate project schedule. What are your tips for getting off to a good start with work planning? |
Go for Growth
| One of the key stakeholder management roles fulfilled by project leaders is helping team members grow and improve. Remember, you cannot be successful as a leader unless your team succeeds in achieving its objectives! You have four basic ways to develop team members: teaching, coaching, counseling and mentoring. Understanding the differences and selecting the right approach for each situation helps you help your entire team to succeed. Teaching The focus of teaching is to impart knowledge and information through instruction and explanation. The goal for the student is to acquire a skill or pass a test. Learning has a one-way flow, and the relationship between teacher and student is minimal. Effective for: Simple knowledge transfer. This can be facilitated by external experts delivering focused training sessions or asking a skilled team member to do the teaching. Your job is to make sure the right training gets to the right people at the right time. Coaching Coaching usually focuses on skills development and performance--how to do something better, faster or more effectively. The role of the coach is to give feedback on observed performance, typically in the workplace. The coach is likely to set goals for the student and measure performance periodically as that person develops new skills. Coaching requires a close working relationship between learner and coach. Effective for: Driving improved performance. Every elite sports team has a committed coach. As a team leader, you need to take this role seriously if you want to lift your team's skills and performance to the elite level! Counseling The counselor uses listening and questioning to build self-awareness and self-confidence in the student. The goal is to help the person deal with something they are finding emotionally difficult. As with teaching, learning in this manner is one-way, and the relationship is minimal. Effective for: Helping a team member deal with personal difficulties, such as when someone feels he or she has been harassed or victimized. Don't be afraid to bring a skilled external counselor. Mentoring Mentoring is a partnership between two people, with an emphasis on mutual learning. Good mentors adapt to the needs of the learner. The role of the mentor is to build capability and help the learner discover personal wisdom by encouraging him or her to work toward career goals or develop self-reliance. Because the mentoring relationship is focused on the mentee's personal goals it should be kept separate from direct lines of management control; it is very difficult to mentor a direct report. Mentors may draw on a number of approaches (teaching, coaching and counseling) to help mentees achieve the goals they've set for themselves. Because the relationship is mutually beneficial, strong bonds are often forged, which often outlast the mentoring relationship. Effective for: Building the capability of the learner. Carefully select the people in which to invest the effort and emotion of building a relationship. If it's not right for you, help your team member find the right mentor. However you choose to develop in your team members, the investment is worthwhile. An empowered, motivated and skilled team is the best underpinning you can have in your quest to be a successful leader. What combination of methods do you use to help team members grow? |