I'm trying to get my upper management (owners) to see the potential increase in corporate efficiency by implementing a company wide Project Management philosophy.
Presently we have four individual software departments each responsible for 'different' types of products and projects. My thoughts are that if we combined all four groups resources into a single resource pool, we could provide the engineers project diversity and be able to handle a larger number of projects than any one team could control on their own. One stumbling block is that all four departments have unique managers and management style, and they would have to be convinced that they are not giving up any status or control, but that they will have many different engineers available to 'bid' on an upcoming project.
Can someone point me to an article on this, or perhaps give me some direct advice on how to implement this plan. Also, you may have experience trying this, and this type of plan always fails.
Anyway - Help?
Thanks in advance,
Paul PS - This is also posted to newsgroup alt.projectmng, as I need all the help I can get!!!
Paul,your approach would mean more of a market/solution-oriented focus for the company as a whole through improved coordination between SW functional areas and higher resource utilization. That said, you'll need to work through the culture change issues, level of management commitment, and so on. I suggest you first set up a project management office (PMO) rather than tackling the whole restructuring issue from the bottom-up. In other words, a top-down approach that then drives out your resource pool idea. I've attached a PMO checklist to help you hit the ground running.
Further to Tom's suggestion of getting your PMO started, I attended a very good 1 day seminar on "Creating A Project Management Office" by Bates Project Management, Inc. Their number is: (613) 567-2060 x259 Saving Changes...
Paul, I really do not go back through too many posted items; however Cindy updated this one and it caught my eye. The easyest approach and normally accepted by management is to develop a business plan for the approach. In the plan discuss the pros and cons to the proscribed approach. Make sure you do not jsut give all the benefits. Then provide a comparative analysis of the way things are against the proposed structure. And most importantly show the bottom line return on investment. A fully matrixed organization would leave the managers in place with their current roles. The PM's would then be in charge of projects and "Borrow" people form the managers as required. Saving Changes...
