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Get With the Program
Categories:
Program Management
Categories: Program Management
| For the past two decades, television dramas in Taiwan have faced fierce competition from Korea, mainland China and Japan. But in 2011, a modern Taiwanese drama -- "In Time With You" -- managed to challenge these markets, with ratings that rocketed to 2.7 million viewers. The production team responsible for this success warrants a closer look. In television, there is a type of producer known as a "show runner." This person is responsible for both the execution and creative aspects of the show for each individual episode and throughout the series. The role is similar to a project sponsor who not only needs to raise funds, but also has to clarify project scope, acquire the team and determine an acceptable risk tolerance. For "In Time With You," Jason Hsueh is such a show runner. In 2011, Mr. Hsueh started to adapt a Korean TV drama, "The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince," for Taiwan. But he found the terms of the adaptation agreement too restrictive. Eventually, when pre-production costs reached $50,000, he decided to stop -- it would be pointless if he couldn't make creative changes so the drama would be relatable to Chinese-speaking target audiences. This timely decision also stopped further financial hemorrhage of a high-risk project. But more importantly, it forced Mr. Hsueh to reconsider previous drama ideas, including "In Time With You." "In Time with You," a love story written by scriptwriter Hsu Yu Ting, had been considered for years but had not been brought to the screen. The story didn't follow the established formula for romance. However, Mr. Hsueh felt that this light love story, based on the lives of ordinary people, had potential. He boldly adopted a script many others wouldn't have attempted. The foundation of a successful drama is first a good script, and then a good director. Consider the drama to be the project, with the director comparable to a project manager, the person responsible for the production of the show. He or she is the one who puts all the artistic elements together, who brings the story to life by interacting with actors and interpreting the script. Mr. Hsueh knew that if he wanted to decrease risk on "In Time With You," he needed to find the right director. That's why he handed the reins to Arthur Chu, a director famous for a subtle, refreshing touch. Mr. Chu shot every take beautifully, and was very loyal to the original script. He directed the drama with good quality control, and the production team never inflated the script. Plenty of product placement opportunities knocked, but Mr. Hsueh only considered products that were in tune with the original story. This steadfast commitment to the original story -- along with a sophisticated, approachable marketing effort -- resulted in soaring ratings. Through careful execution, a previously neglected idea for a TV drama series became a blockbuster success in Chinese-speaking countries in 2012. It started with a good script (program management plan), a project sponsor and program manager (show runner), project managers (producers and director) and project team (technicians, actors and marketing staff). Even if the success of "In Time with You" was a surprise, it was not an accident. Have you seen program management adapted to other creative industries? |
Join the Evolution
Categories:
Leadership
Categories: Leadership
| Thousands of books, quotes, advice and research have covered the topic of leadership. In contrast, there is far less dedicated knowledge on project leadership. And yet, as mentioned in the opening remarks at PMI® Global Congress 2013 -- EMEA and in a recent Voices roundtable on talent management, project leadership is fast emerging as a critical skill for project practitioners. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the region where I live and work, is booming with projects, particularly in construction, oil and gas. In the region, project managers have been recruited traditionally for their technical and engineering expertise. However, due to regional growth, the dynamics of the project work force are changing, and so are expectations of project managers. It is now common for a typical core project team to be made up of members aged 30 to 60, with a mix of locals and expatriates from at least five different nationalities, all working together in one location. This environment of change and uncertainty requires project professionals to become more responsive, adaptive, people-centric and emotionally intelligent. For these reasons, I presented a lecture on this subject at a recent PMI Arabian Gulf Chapter meeting. From the discussion that evening, there seemed to be concerns about the role of a project leader versus the one for a traditional project manager. The main points of concern that I clarified that night were:
Getting into specifics, I proposed these ways in which a project manager differs from a project leader:
Although not everyone agreed with me, I insisted that project leaders are made from experience, so building leadership skills is something every project professional can do to work through the changing business environment. To that end, leadership skills and experience can be gained by:
Finally, to help you establish a project leadership mindset, regularly ask yourself:
How can a project manager evolve to encompass a project leadership role? |
Tips for First-Time Global Project Managers
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A project manager's first global project marks a pivotal time in professional development. A project with global scope offers an exciting opportunity to work with people from many different cultures and skill sets. However, global projects also come with unique challenges. These can include large physical distances between implementation teams, language barriers, country-specific regulations and other considerations that can negatively affect your project. To get off to a good start, project managers need to manage the differences between global and co-located projects within these essential elements: 1. Requirements: On a co-located project, there is a single set of project requirements. On global projects, it is common to encounter both global (such as quarterly financial reporting) and country (such as provincial tax) requirements. Failure to consider them can cause painful functional gaps upon implementation. Work with your project leadership team to define a prioritization scheme for both types of requirements. For example, prioritize the country requirements by regulatory mandate, business value and desired need. A prioritization scheme helps you achieve overall balance in meeting the project success criteria. 2. Estimation: A global project typically features added complexity and costs not found with a co-located project. This calls for estimation to include additional effort to manage the previously mentioned requirements, as well as cross-geography coordination. The latter can include things such as team member travel time and global communications. In addition, there can be additional costs, such as import duties on equipment, that can add to the overall estimate. To ensure good estimation, identify global and local estimation components to more accurately account for the additional complexity. 3. Scheduling: Scheduling milestones, effort and resources on global projects is one of the greatest challenges for a project manager. The first thing to remember is to include country-specific scheduling considerations, such as regional holidays and vacations. In addition, always leave room in the schedule for project risks that can arise from unstable governments, new regulations and labor disputes. Finally, be prepared for unexpected surprises from nature, such as snowstorms, floods, volcanic eruptions and other disruptions. If such an event happens, meet with your leadership team to discuss whether to reset the project schedule around the unexpected surprise. While global projects can present some unique problems, they also can be very rewarding when managed properly -- even if a volcano erupts! What tips do you have for first-time global project managers? |
First Steps Toward Recovery
Categories:
Lessons Learned
Categories: Lessons Learned
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In my previous post, I discussed points to help prevent problem projects. Here, I'll talk about what to do when you realize an existing project is headed for trouble. Let me try to explain it like this: If you are driving a vehicle, what happens when you see a red light? You know that when you come to it, you will stop. After the light turns green, you will look both ways before proceeding. When our projects hit red lights, we as project managers must also stop and assess our environment. As you look at the big picture, review your inputs, factors and the overall sanity of the project. Examine your risk register or issues log. Is the status of risks or issues showing something that was missed and needs to be addressed immediately? For example, something easily overlooked is when the schedule for applying security patches is on the same timeframe as the testing phase. This sort of impact can cause testing to grind to a halt, with the team unaware of the source of conflict. A review of the risks or issues log would have highlighted these events. Another source to review is your budget plan. Have unplanned circumstances arisen, such as the need to produce more prototypes? Does the acquisition of resources require additional time? Is equipment becoming obsolete or in need of repair? Expenses such as these caution you to slow down and reevaluate your budget. Be aware that ultimately, you may need to secure a renewed budget approval. Consider client relationships as well. Are your clients becoming unsatisfied and impatient, regardless of how well you're completing deliverables and meeting milestones? If so, you may need to allay fears or even compromise on a feature of your project. Perhaps that means reconfirming a budget forecast, or something as simple as picking up the phone and calling the client with an impromptu status report. One last piece of advice: Take a look at lessons learned. It's very likely a previous project manager may have outlined specific pain points on similar problem projects. These will provide valuable insights that even the most technically experienced project manager can lean on. They're good for figuring out what to do in grey-area situations: when it was difficult to get management signoff on a needed budget increase; how a concern was handled when a client change request was denied; or how to garner support when team conflicts arose. After you recognize there's trouble ahead, how else do you assess the size of the problem? |
The Secrets to Managing an Innovation Portfolio
Categories:
Portfolio Management
Categories: Portfolio Management
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Managing a portfolio of innovation projects is very different from traditional portfolio management. Innovation projects hold more uncertainty. It is usually difficult, if not impossible, to provide good estimates and a detailed project plan. And while most organizations care about managing the development of marketable new ideas, few really know how to foster them for business results. The first step to managing a portfolio is determining the role and ROI of innovation in a business environment. Innovation, in essence, has to bring tangible results and a competitive advantage to the organization by generating new revenue, reducing costs, improving asset management and increasing reputation. To achieve these goals, innovation portfolios aim for steady innovation flux, or a constant pipeline of new ideas, for a sustainable competitive advantage. That requires balancing short- and long-term benefits and costs of the following:
For example, it would be shortsighted to generate only incremental innovation; in the long-term, there will be no breakthroughs. However, incremental innovation brings short-term revenue, which is important to keep the company going. Basis and radical innovation generate new products, but require significant time and effort. A good portfolio balance mixes incremental, basis and radical innovation projects in a way that best fits the organization. Another important aspect of managing an innovation portfolio is selecting the right ideas. Selection is particularly crucial to innovation projects because of the commitment to a long-term "technology roadmap" (i.e., if you choose to invest in Blu-ray products, that means you have a Blu-ray portfolio). Investing in the wrong technology can put an organization in financial jeopardy. Complexity is also greater because you're creating something new and without precedent. So the challenge is choosing projects that support the organization's long-term objectives while still considering these aspects. In summary, innovation portfolios need different selection and prioritization criteria. Here are suggested criteria, ranked from most to least important:
The criteria above are mainly qualitative, so you should also use an enterprise-wide scale for grading each project's potential to generate innovation:
After selecting your innovation projects by balancing the above criteria, tailor key performance indicators. Here again, KPIs will differ from a more traditional portfolio. Some I have used in the past include:
Does your organization have research, development and innovation projects? Do you use an innovation portfolio? How are they managed? Share your thoughts below along with your Twitter handle, and Voices on Project Management will publish the best response as a blog post. |