Jayson ReadProject ManagerEden Prairie, Mn, United States
I work in an IT department with somewhat disparate project managers. There's no PMO and no real governing body that regulates or enforces standards across projects and teams. We all pretty much work within siloed teams that are aligned with the different modes of the business.
In February of this year, I started a Project Manager Roundtable to start bringing the PM's in the IT department together so we can start buiding a community of sorts rather than everyone running and doing separate things. We have started meeting once every other month and there seems to be a high level of interest from those involved.
The last thing I want is this to trail off and start losing its steam. I'm looking to my fellow ganttheads to give me advice on how to structure this and tips to keep this moving so we all keep getting benefit from it. Saving Changes...
Ken BensonProject Manager| Acxiom CorporationConway, Ar, United States
Jayson, looks like you are still making progress; keep up the great work. Take good notes at your roundtable sessions. You could use these to begin an operations manual for the Project Management Team. By documenting what you do, how you do it, the frequency, etc., you can begin to put together a source for existing and new PM Team members that will show them the methods, tools, etc that the PM's use. Don't make it complex, just document the facts and the process. It would reduce the ramp-up time and save on training by documenting the consistency and differences in methodology applied. Lessons learned is also another technique to reduce the repetition of errors and mistakes and accentuate best practices. Keep it up; you are on your way to success. Saving Changes...
Sylvie EdwardsProfessor/Program coordinator| Durham College (DC)Whitby, Ontario, Canada
I have actually helped a client do something similar in a PMO setting. The key is knowledge exchange and making certain that everyone gets something and contributes something to the process. A great way to ensure that it is working is to tie your "discoveries" to a process improvement for the work itself.
One thing that I found great was to rotate the meeting facilitator and to have everyone contribute each month a new piece of information, tool, template... for discussion. This helps in maintaining the principle that it's not all about YOU but about the group.
Hope this helps! Saving Changes...
Jayson ReadProject ManagerEden Prairie, Mn, United States
Sylvie and Ken, thanks for your thoughts. We've started documenting our common processes and have started building a best practices library of what we do.
Also, I do plan on rotating the leading of the discussions once we get our feet firmly planted in the organization. I agree with Sylvie in that it places the ownership more squarely on the group rather than one person.
SF, I like the idea of making these mini-projects as this is the way that we all think anyway. I'll see about implementing that strategy in the upcoming meetings as we gather more details around our processes.
Again, thanks to all and keep the ideas coming! Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Sounds like a lot of success stories. I am guessing that, somewhere along the way, you encountered project managers that may not have been as enthusiastic about building a community of practice... "too busy", "waste of time", "not relevant", etc., despite high-level sponsorship. What naysayers have others encountered and how did you deal with them Saving Changes...
