Project Managers Without Borders

In my previous blog entry, ”When you are making the World a Better Place, Who Has Time for Paperwork?”, the blog provided a framework that improves the chance that a project delivers on-time, on-budget, and actually meets the needs and expectations of the organization’s stakeholders. This oversight can help ensure a steady donor stream, maintain public confidence, and support continued commitment to an organization’s strategic objectives and goals.

What are the levels and characteristics of Project Management Maturity?

• Level 1: Initial Process.
  • The organization and project management is in a knee-jerk state.
• Level 2: Structured Process and Standards.
  • Concept of project management is being grasped by the organization. Local experts may be present.
• Level 3: Organizational Standards and Institutionalized Process.
  • The organization is structured throughout its processes and the projects are carried out via standardized, repeatable Delivery Frameworks.
• Level 4: Managing Processes.
  • Project management is a key delivery mechanism of change. Improving delivery is accomplished through measurement and the use of performance key indicators.
• Level 5: Optimizing Process.
  • Continuous improvement is the ongoing motto through the use of Project management, small changes leading to larger changes in the future. Key performance indicators on effectiveness and efficiency monitored and achievable. The organization and projects follows the continuous improvement.

How to measure the progress to maturity?

The best means to measure this progress is through the following performance measures as Mohammed Abo Ramadan (2015) indicates the following table:

Table 1: Summary of the performance measures in NGOs literature

How does a NGO increase its maturity through the use of Project Management?

Tools exist on the website in which you can use:

http://www.iil.com/pm/kpmmm/kerzner_five_levels.asp

http://www.pmsolutions.com/resources/view/what-is-the-project-management-maturity-model/

http://www.pmi.org/learning/library/pmo-maturity-assessment-model-6079

Use the above tools to take project management maturity snapshots of your organization. Take another maturity snapshot six months later. Compare snapshots to one another to determine which project management practices have demonstrated an increasing level of project management maturity and which areas need further work. Work on those areas and in short time Level 4 and Level 5 is achieved.

Another maturity tool comes from the financial sector. Improving the financial maturity level within the organization is the backbone to Project Management Maturity. The United Kingdom National Audit office has developed a financial management maturity model (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/financial_management_maturity_model.pdf). The model has similarities characteristics to the Project Management Maturity Model.

Why?

Project Maturity is really the NGO being organized and mature in its operations, strategies, and future directions. Maturity can help ensure a steady donor stream, maintain public confidence, and support continued commitment to an organization’s strategic objectives and goals.

What other benefits have you noticed (as a PM or as an NGO) Project Management provides to the Non-Profit sector? What kinds of challenges does one face in the Non-Profit world that you would never see in private or public sector industries? Chime in the comments section below!

Combining creative and analytical skills helps NGOs' project performance!

NGO (Non-Government Organization) and NPO (Non-Profit Organization) Founders take pride in creating organizations that address various social justice issues, such as establishing green environment, sourcing micro financing for small businesses, or providing educational opportunities for girl-children. Their energy, skill, and creativity works in government, local agencies, and grassroots movements to make the dream a reality. But energy and passion needs to be balanced with rigorous planning, organization, and management. This is where a Project Management skill set can step in.

Here are the top 3 reasons why your NPO organizations should care about Project Management.

#1 - You only get one chance to make a good first impression

Make it count!

In today’s world, there are several non-profit organization options out there for almost every charitable goal imaginable. With tool sets like Charity Navigator, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and GreatNonprofits.org at their disposal, the average donator is much more discerning with who they give their money to. Keeping in mind that approximately 39% of (IT) projects fail, it is in the best interest of any non-profit organization to limit the possibility of project failure and ensure the people who provide funding maintain confidence in the organization’s ability to deliver on their promises.

Since poor project management process is one of the main reasons projects fail, it makes sense to invest in project management oversight to mitigate this issue before it derails your project and undermines the confidence of your donors and stakeholders.

#2 - Money does not grow on trees

Can’t Grow a Money Tree - Matt Harris - CC BY-NC

Closely related to #1, we have to remember that money is finite and this is especially true in the non-profit sector. For IT projects, the average cost overrun is 43% and a whopping 71% of projects come in over budget (est. waste in the US alone: $55 billion per year). PM processes help to mitigate these issues by a strong focus on Project Planning, managing scope creep, tracking and measuring progress, and keeping stakeholders engaged and informed throughout delivery. This ensures that *what* needs to get done is directly tied to *how* are we going to get there: PM oversight can help provide the tactical approach to achieve the NGO's strategic objectives.

#3 - Haste Makes Waste

According to a KPMG Global survey, short-term projects (<1 year) are more likely to fail than those of longer durations. While one’s intuition might be that a short-term project is easy and should not be additionally burdened with administrative and management overhead (or costs!); it is these projects that are at most risk. When we rush projects or skimp on delivery methodology, we increase the risk of failure. Projects - especially shorter ones - benefit from good planning, well-defined requirements, schedule management, and cost control. In the non-profit world, there is little margin for waste: especially if you are to remain appealing to your donor base. From this perspective, Project Management oversight is a smart investment.

While Project Management is perceived as a lot of forms, paperwork, and administrative burden, in reality, it can provide invaluable returns for an NGO (Non-Profit Organization). By increasing the chance that a project delivers on-time, on-budget, and actually meets the needs and expectations of the organization's stakeholders, this oversight can help ensure a steady donor stream, maintain public confidence, and support continued commitment to an Organization’s strategic objectives and goals.

What other benefits have you noticed (as a PM or as an NGO) Project Management provides to the Non-Profit sector? What kinds of challenges does one face in the Non-Profit world that you would never see in private or public sector industries? Chime in the comments section below!

By Mario Trentim

All projects and organizations struggle with getting stakeholder engagement right. Unfortunately, there are few guidelines, techniques, or case studies available to overcome this common obstacle . A successful project depends on stakeholders’ expectations and perceptions and satisfying these expectations is crucial. Most of the time, stakeholder engagement is considered synonymous with soft skills rather than methodology, which leaves engagement up to chance and the luck of having a charismatic project manager.

But stakeholder engagement does not need to be left to chance! Here are 4 steps to improve stakeholder engagement and obtain valuable support in non-profit sector projects.

Figure 1 – Four steps to engage stakeholders effectively (Trentim, 2015)

#1 Establish What Results Your Stakeholders Care About

The first step is to identify stakeholders, document their expectations and engage them in a collaborative effort to define project purpose and value propositions. Uncovering needs and aligning realistic expectations right from the start is paramount.

To identify stakeholders, there are different tools and techniques, such as brainstorming, organizational analysis, categories, checklists, lessons learned, historical information, benchmarking and expert opinion.

One of the most effective tools is to create and update a Stakeholder Breakdown Structure with common categories or types of stakeholders. In Figure 2, you find a suggestion of stakeholder breakdown structure for an IT project.

Figure 2 – Stakeholder breakdown structure (example)

#2 Develop A Plan to Deliver to those Expectations

Once you have a long list of potential stakeholders, it is possible to analyze and prioritize based on importance and influence. Sometimes, there is a large number of stakeholders and it is not possible to involve all of them in the same way.

That’s when analysis and categories are useful. Based on common interests, individual and group contributions, the project manager can decide on the best strategies to involve and engage persons, groups and organizations.

There are various tools and techniques to collect requirements and define scope. We will discuss some of them in a future article. If you’re curious, take a look at problem structuring methods, collaborative approaches to combine different perspectives into a “big picture” in problem solving.

#3 Work Your Plan!

     Now that you have your project plan in place with all the input and help from your stakeholders, it is time to put engagement strategies to work. Project execution is always challenging because it depends on a variety of factors.

It is not uncommon that stakeholders lose interest along the way because they engage in new ventures, raising issues in commitment, buy-in, participation and contributions that were agreed in the beginning.

Never take planning and commitment for granted. Always confirm along the way and frequently review the stakeholder register for new stakeholders and to analyze changes in attitude.

#4 Follow-up and get Feedback (Please Keep in Touch)!

     In daily activities of running a project, it is easy to forget the importance of keeping in touch and getting feedback. It is essential to have a process in place to review stakeholders’ satisfaction at every phase or milestone. This prevents problems from growing bigger and jeopardizing the end of your project.

What challenges have you faced in creating stakeholder engagement, and how have you managed them?? What are the main challenges of project management in nonprofit organizations? Any suggestions of tools and techniques we could add to those steps? Please leave your comments below.