I think that if the quality is putting the other objectives on stake, reducing the value for the company and increasing the risk of making a product/service unusable, maybe the project should be terminated to cut any losses. EPMO should be one of the responsibles to watch for these aspects...
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Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
In many companies, the ePMO will not have the delegated powers to "stop" or "terminate" the project. Rather, the ePMO reports to and provides recommendations to the Governing Body for the appropriate course of action. In this scenario, which is very common, it is the Governing Body that makes such a decision. An ePMO making a decision to "stop" a project would be much like a project manager making a deicsion to change the scope of a project. Of course, if the ePMO has the delegated powers to "stop" a project, like a project that has substantial quality issues at every gate review, etc, then the ePMO can exercise that power which it has been granted. Perhaps I am old school, but I prefer the Governing Body and the ePMO to have these kinds of powers clearly specified and reserved or delegated as a matter of policy. But if I had to answer your question, "Does anyone believe that an EPMO should have the authority to stop a project if it has substantial issues at quality gate reviews?", with either a yes or a no with no "it depends', my answer would be "no". What would your answer be..? I hope we hear and learned from others. Great question..! Saving Changes...
The gate review should have some “must” requirements that should be met in order for the project to proceed to the next step. Otherwise why have gate reviews?
The result of the failure to meet the minimal requirements is not to ‘stop the project’ but to request the team to address the issues and then have the gate review again.
This may create schedule / cost challenges that the team will need to address. The team should also ensure that the reasons for failure are identified and addressed to ensure that subsequent gate reviews will not result in the same issues.
What the ePMO can do is to assist the team in addressing the quality issues, facilitate the corrective QA that will ensure going forward a quality delivery of the project activities. The ePMO can also ensure that lessons learned are captured and take action to improve future project activities.
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Shailesh ThakkarDirector| Project Management Institute's PMOSIGJacksonville, Fl, United States
It depends what kind of functions EPMO plays. Some of the EPMO is only advisery or consultancy while others are with lots of authority. Assuming EPMO is responsible to phase-gate reviews and are responsible for approval to proceed another phase, the answer could be YES. Saving Changes...
M SchillingManager - EPMO| Available for a new engagementAnn Arbor, Mi, United States
I believe that the EPMO should stop projects that have substantial failures at their quality gates. I agree that final authority should reside with the project's governing body. However, if work was allowed to continue, while awaiting a decision from a governing body, money would be wasted and the results of the intervening work are likely to be thrown away. Saving Changes...
If by ‘stop the project’ you mean cancel / terminate, then only the sponsor and / or the organization’s project portfolio authority can approve this action. The EPMO can only recommend this approach. However, this is quite extreme – a project was undertaken because there is a business need. Termination should consider that the business need has not been met and that there is a potentially significant impact to the organization.
There are ways to ‘salvage’ a project, and in most cases, the ultimate business interest would be better served by this option rather than project termination.
If ‘stop the project’ means not allowing the next stage / phase to start because the gate conditions have not been met, then the actual impact is a delay in the project’s schedule and potentially a cost increase. If the EPMO has the role of project gate “keeper” then it has the authority to deny the project’s entry to the next stage / phase.
The project team should deal with the schedule / cost impact of the quality issues through the established procedures (project change requests, etc.) and address the issues that denied the entry to the next stage / phase.
I guess what we are trying to say is that:
- Project cancellation / termination is seldom an appropriate response to quality issues
- It is rare that the EPMO would have the authority to terminate / cancel projects
- It is normal to deny project passage to the next stage for severe quality issues
- It is beneficial to assign the EPMO the role of quality controller / project “gate keeper”
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Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Sorin great explanation I do agree up to a certain point. In most pojects the ePMO is a staff function.and quality assurance is within the ePMO. THe EPMO advises the projec manager to deny the project passage to the next stage. A project manager will discuss this advise with the project sponsor and the ePMO and balances the risks. Together with the project sponsor an informed decision will be made. Saving Changes...
