George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
What would be your elevator speech to a top level executive that is not convinced of PMI Standard is the way to go for his new projects?
Before you answer, please note that:
1) Not everyone is related to PMI Project Management Standards
2) Not everyone is convinced that Project Management brings automatic benefits to an organization
3) Not everyone is up to date with current technologies
4) This top executive could or could not be in the technology area Saving Changes...
George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
Before you answer, please note that:
1) Not everyone is related to PMI Project Management Standards
2) Not everyone is convinced that Project Management brings automatic benefits to an organization
3) Not everyone is up to date with current technologies
4) This top executive could or could not be in the technology area Saving Changes...
Kavitha GunasekaranProject Manager| Aerospace & Defence OrganisationChennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Let's start by explaining the need for Project management for managing projects by increasing their success ratio. The facts and figures about the percentage of projects that actually succeed would help. Fear of failure can be a great motivator. Besides how customers perceive the handling of projects by PM professionals and non-professionals might help. Once convinced on the need for Project management we could progress to the benefits of doing it the right way through the structured approach as provided by PMI standards.
This could result in management buy-in to the idea.
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1 reply by George Lewis
Jul 02, 2018 3:45 AM
George Lewis
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Kavitha - what if your top executive is already aware of some statistics.
Stunning Project Management Statistics on Failure:
1. 70 percent of projects fail. [source: 4 PM]
2. The failure of IT costs the U.S. economy about $50-$150 billion annually. [source: Harvard Business Review]
3. Just 40 percent of projects at IBM meet the company's three key goals (schedule, budget, and quality). [source: IBM]
5. 17 percent of IT projects go so badly, they threaten the existence of the company. [source: McKinsey & Company in conjunction with the University of Oxford]
I'm not sure of the accuracy of these statistics taken from here, but, I'm interested in the approach toward the top executive and your elevator response, this might be your only chance to face 2 face with him/her
from http://blog.mavenlink.com/21-shocking-proj...ontinue-to-fail
You might recall the article I'd re-posted a while back about predictability being the elevator pitch for project management.
Let's put aside PMI or the PMBOK framework - so long as an executive can understand the rationale for a disciplined approach to managing projects vs. "just do it", then it's a question of choice as to what framework they align with.
Kiron
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1 reply by Kevin Drake
Jul 01, 2018 6:20 PM
Kevin Drake
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You nailed it
Disciplined approach to managing projects vs. "just do it".
I had this issue many times in my life and the cost of rework was always the main key of just do it approach in addition that the final deliverables will be different to expectations.
You might recall the article I'd re-posted a while back about predictability being the elevator pitch for project management.
Let's put aside PMI or the PMBOK framework - so long as an executive can understand the rationale for a disciplined approach to managing projects vs. "just do it", then it's a question of choice as to what framework they align with.
Kiron
You nailed it
Disciplined approach to managing projects vs. "just do it".
I had this issue many times in my life and the cost of rework was always the main key of just do it approach in addition that the final deliverables will be different to expectations. Saving Changes...
Yes that's a good explanation as any. However, the execs will always want the monetary benefits so you are going to need to convince them of the value (aligned the business strategy) and the fiscal benefits. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Two very important things have been mentioned in the responses, forget about trying to convince them of a specific methodology, framework or philosophy other than they need a disciplined approach. But the as Sante pointed out they need to understand and buy into the benefits, the What Is In It For Me. WIIFM is often the only language a stakeholder understand. I'm a very practical person and I have personally never pushed a specific methodology but rather 'what works'. If this means using some PMI and some Prince and some Six Sigma then that is what I will do, as long as the governance is in place to keep things in check. Saving Changes...
George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
Jul 01, 2018 11:51 AM
Replying to Kavitha Gunasekaran
...
Let's start by explaining the need for Project management for managing projects by increasing their success ratio. The facts and figures about the percentage of projects that actually succeed would help. Fear of failure can be a great motivator. Besides how customers perceive the handling of projects by PM professionals and non-professionals might help. Once convinced on the need for Project management we could progress to the benefits of doing it the right way through the structured approach as provided by PMI standards.
This could result in management buy-in to the idea.
Kavitha - what if your top executive is already aware of some statistics.
Stunning Project Management Statistics on Failure:
1. 70 percent of projects fail. [source: 4 PM]
2. The failure of IT costs the U.S. economy about $50-$150 billion annually. [source: Harvard Business Review]
3. Just 40 percent of projects at IBM meet the company's three key goals (schedule, budget, and quality). [source: IBM]
5. 17 percent of IT projects go so badly, they threaten the existence of the company. [source: McKinsey & Company in conjunction with the University of Oxford]
I'm not sure of the accuracy of these statistics taken from here, but, I'm interested in the approach toward the top executive and your elevator response, this might be your only chance to face 2 face with him/her
from http://blog.mavenlink.com/21-shocking-proj...ontinue-to-fail
...
1 reply by Kavitha Gunasekaran
Jul 09, 2018 1:37 PM
Kavitha Gunasekaran
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That's a great advantage if the executive is aware of some statistics. Next we may have to focus on
(i) A strong business case for a framework with a 'balanced score card' approach bringing in the financial elements like the volume of business/business potential, customer expectations, learning and growth perspective for employees of the orgn for retaining talent and achieving business sustainability and also the fulfillment of organisational goals such as business diversification, growth etc.
(ii) The difference between the 'ab-initio/fire-fighting' approach to projects in reality and the 'adaptation and structured' approach in a PMI framework or any structured framework in question.
(iii) Why is it unnecessary, cumbersome and expensive to re-invent the wheel in the age of heightened competition and importance of timing of either a product launch or a delivery!
(iv) Customer/Sponsor's expectation about professional handling of projects involving high technological and/or management complexity
(v) Lastly, how a globally recognised framework helps groom the breed of PMs needed for his projects might drive home the point.
Saving Changes...
George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
Driving executive sponsorship. Actively engaged executive sponsors continue to be the top driver of whether projects meet their original goals and business intent. That fact was not lost on survey respondents, who revealed an increase in the percentage of their organizations’ projects with actively engaged sponsors compared to last year — an average of 62 percent compared to 59 percent, respectively.
George LewisProgram/Project Manager| DXC Technology CompanyHeredia, Costa Rica
In 2013, a survey from cloud portfolio management provider Innotas (now Innotas by Planview) revealed that 50 percent of businesses surveyed had experienced an IT project failure within the previous 12 months. Three years later, those numbers had actually increased; the 2016 Innotas annual Project and Portfolio Management Survey, which polled 126 IT professionals between January and March 2015, revealed 55 percent of respondents reported they had a project fail, up from 32 percent in 2014.
"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious and immature."
