To avoid offending the innocent where I am, I am posting anonymously. I usually don’t do that. I’m looking for several perspectives on how others might respond in this situation. Our organization has always struggled with the difference between managing a group of people who are working on a project … versus … project management. And maybe the difference really is subtle. Most projects here seem to be well organized, completed on-time, and with satisfied customers. This all gets done here with almost no project management structure and certainly no emphasis on project plans. Projects range in size from 1,000 hours to over 30,000 hours, but metrics are never reported. Project management certification is sneered at by many. Project structure is viewed as bureaucracy. Our success can be attributed to some good team leadership and team members that are accountable. To some extent, I say let’s not mess with success. But that makes me wonder if our definition of success needs adjusted. The longer this continues, the more I am beginning to question the little process and structure that I do use. Saving Changes...
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George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Couple of questions to understand better your environment:
How about your cost-efficiency? Anybody is looking to see what really costs the organization to deliver those good projects, and if there are ways of maintaining the quality but reducing the costs?
Also, are there many cases when people work long hours of overtime just before a deadline to “get it done”? Do you have significant resources turnover (are people leaving the company) or most people are there for the long run?
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Anonymous
You are already honing in on where I've been thinking... that we really have no idea if we are doing things as efficiently as can be. To answer your questions: We don't have many death marches, nor is there much turnover. Our customers' main complaint is that they wish we could do more. But few here believe that there is a correlation between better PM process and getting more done. Saving Changes...
In a world where more needs to be done, who is managing the pipeline? Who determines project priority? Does the business identify priorities? Is there a cadre of highly competent technical gurus that solve the majority of problems? How are changes in scope managed? Are delivery dates flexible?
When looking to determine if project management is required, understanding the priority of the deliverables, flexibility of schedule, and determination of costs becomes a critical success factor. That your organization is delivering on their project commitments is admirable. But - I would bet that the measure of success is very high level - met/match type of criteria.
As a project manager - while I like to meet my schedule, costs, and scope - as amended by changes, the real measure of success is customer satisfaction - so if they're happy with the efforts of your organization - perhaps project management isn't something your organization needs. Saving Changes...
George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Project Management, as an engineering discipline, enables more efficient similar activities through the use of predefined “blueprints”, methods, tools, techniques etc. This will enable the group to not reinvent the wheel every time, thus wasting effort and time.
I think the response is in your customers main complaint, that they wished you could do more. I would suggest taking a critical look around: do the folks around you know what they have to do and how to do it, or are they spending time in meetings trying to figure out what to do next (from a project perspective, not meetings to resolve a technical issue)? Are they consistently delivering by the deadline without working long hours for the “last minute crunch”? Do they have days of doing nothing followed by days of overtime to meet a deadline?
If you analyze your processes and activities and you have no waste (all resources – including time – are efficiently utilized), therefore delivering at full capacity, maybe Donald is right and project management is not the answer for your company. Or, if you have processes, methods, tools, techniques clearly defined for your activity – even if they are “common knowledge” and not documented on paper – maybe you’re already applying project management concepts already without calling it as such.
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Anonymous
I would worry about any place that felt that they were doing “good-enough” and had no desire to consider how project management best practices could help them. Without metrics, how could you prove or disprove that everything was working good-enough or that resources were effectively deployed? I agree that customer satisfaction is a primary bottom line. But satisfaction is relative. If I all I had ever owned was a horse drawn cart, I might think that I am very satisfied when I receive a motorized cart. If I’ve never seen a high performance modern vehicle, my satisfaction is relative to what I have.. not what I could have. Saving Changes...
Steve HillPrinciple Consultant| LiquidHub IncReading, Pa, United States
I had a similar experience as you describe where things “just got done” without formal process. When I looked hard at what was going on the tech department I’d been hired to lead, the operative word quickly became “formal”. The teams had informal process in place that supported the primary precepts of project management. A schedule was followed although it may have been in document form; issues were addressed although not collected in a single document; scope was controlled (including approved changes); status meetings were informal team “stand-ups” whenever needed; the list goes on. All of this was due to strong leads that had the experience to know what to do and how to work together.
Part of my role was to implement project based process to assure our clients that our level of quality and delivery would be sustainable. By looking at what they were doing rather than what they weren’t doing, I found that we needed little more than a relabeling of the existing, informal process to more project-friendly terms. This satisfied the client in that they saw familiar terms and a documented process. Little else changed.
If you gain anything from my diatribe – your first step should be to look into the existing informal process to realize why things are going so well. Build on that only as you needed.
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