Hello, I am putting together a proposal to manage a 6 month long Salesforce deployment (minimum viable product). I'm curious to know what project manager resource load is "typical" for a Salesforce implementation. There is a Salesforce integrator (solution architect, BA, etc.) engaged so this role is purely PM. Thoughts? Thanks in advance. Saving Changes...
- how rigorous are the expectations of the PM? Does your company go "full-PMBOK", "PMBOK-Lite" or something in between?
- is the PM expected to know the exact status at any given moment? If not, what is the frequency/cadence for updates?
- is the PM expected to attend all technical meetings?
- are there a lot of other meetings the PM is expected to attend/lead?
- do project team members update their own status, or does the PM perform the updates?
- what's the approach - agile, hybrid, waterfall? If agile, which flavor? (scrum, DA, SAFe, etc.)
I could ballpark it and say 20-50%, depending upon the above factors AND the current stage of the project, as in it can vary over time depending upon project activities, risks, and issues. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
As in other projects the 20% of the project total duration in average. Saving Changes...
As you mention it is an MVP (likely more of a MOVE/MBI/MMR as I doubt there's any "viability" to test with an established SaaS platform like Salesforce), will the focus of the initial project be purely on out-of-the-box configuration (NOT customization) and minimal (if any) integration?
If so, then the main drivers of complexity won't be technical but rather stakeholder and change management related. Assuming these won't be too challenging, I'd agree with Sergio's percentage as an average over the life of the project and scale it up based on complexity.
Thank you everyone. Aaron, in answer to your questions, this is all taking shape but it's not a company environment that will embrace anything but a light project management approach. Kiron, scope does include integration from Salesforce to Infor but apart from that is quite barebones. I agree that this is largely a technical project, but it's the business transformation where many benefits lie. I think the 20% sounds logical if it remains purely technical. My fear is the scope creep that could take place when I'm only there for 20%. Thank you all for the thoughts!
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1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Apr 27, 2021 11:01 AM
Kiron Bondale
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Thanks for the additional details, Ellen. The 20% is an average so I'd expect it will be greater at the onset and less as the project progresses, but if you will take more of a rolling wave approach to reduce the impacts of scope creep, then I'd see your involvement as ebbing and flowing over the course of the project in cycles.
Thank you everyone. Aaron, in answer to your questions, this is all taking shape but it's not a company environment that will embrace anything but a light project management approach. Kiron, scope does include integration from Salesforce to Infor but apart from that is quite barebones. I agree that this is largely a technical project, but it's the business transformation where many benefits lie. I think the 20% sounds logical if it remains purely technical. My fear is the scope creep that could take place when I'm only there for 20%. Thank you all for the thoughts!
Thanks for the additional details, Ellen. The 20% is an average so I'd expect it will be greater at the onset and less as the project progresses, but if you will take more of a rolling wave approach to reduce the impacts of scope creep, then I'd see your involvement as ebbing and flowing over the course of the project in cycles.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Adela TataruSenior Project Manager| Self EmployedVancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The above precisions are quite acurate. In one of my previous experiences I had the PM role on a Salesforce deployment, with an integrator that did the development work. Overall, it takes 20-25% of the time for pure PM tasks (planning, stakeholder management, communication, budget managing etc).
Scope creep can be kept under control as long as all the communication is clear and the decision instances are well set from the start.
In my experience the major pain point was the stakeholder management part, but it depends on the interest for the project and the impacts it can have on the business. Saving Changes...
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