Hi. I am a Project Office Manager working for an important IT Programme in Scotland. While implementing my PO, I have found a lot of resistace from the PMs, not only related to the new processes being implemented but also to the mentoring and training that we want to provided to them to improve their PM knowledge, specially for the juniors. The attitude is "we are here because we know what to do". 1.Do you think this is a cultural issue? These training plans have work in other countries. 2.Do you think it has to do with the fact that I am a foreing woman? 3. Do you think it as to do with the fact that there are to many changes going on at the same time? 4. Any good advise on how to haddle the situation? Continue? Back off for a while? Saving Changes...
Brian, in my last assignment I was at a PMO that used supply/demand to plan for all of IT (500 staff). Demand for the full calendar year, laid out per month and role(example: architect, developer, tester, QA) came from IT market segment leaders (who were interfacing with the marketing guys). PMO would then determine what supply was feasible (given market conditions, attrition rates, ....) and what hire rate would be required to meet demand. The supply/demand curve was then analyzed to see if IT was overcommitting or if there were any month with not enough demand (that usually happened towards the later part of the year). We tracked all of the data in an Access DB. Saving Changes...
Jan SchillerPartner and Chief Project Officer| Berkshire Consulting LLCArizona, United States
Hi International! It looks like you've enjoyed your first (few?) PO successes. Congrats!
Three items to add to all that has been contributed in this thread:
1) re: nonstaff IT PMs from differing companies...I've found they usually have "their" methodologies, best practices, etc. I have found NO success in asking them to drop "their" and adopt "ours" (frankly, experience with "their" methodology is a key consideration in determining the value consultants can provide). My suggestion based on my own experience: get familiar with "theirs" by requiring an assessment where you compare "theirs" to "yours". This will help you understand where there are similiarities, and help you find that common ground where you can emphasis those similiarities and then address the 'misalignments'. It's easier to manage and report on something you're familiar with.
Other success factors that might be relevant in your situation: acknowledge that time will be required of your customers in the initial stages of PMO delivery, and if possible, reward that contribution. And finally: sell the PROBLEM the PO was designed to address...I find that to be much more effective than selling the benefits or objectives.
You're on your way! Saving Changes...
Jan SchillerPartner and Chief Project Officer| Berkshire Consulting LLCArizona, United States
Brian, that's a great idea. I work on the IT side, both as project manager of application development projects and of PMO implementations. Three things I have found to be critical to being able to estimate resource requirements and staff accordingly from an IT side:
1) IT has to be at the table when the organization selects and then prioritizes the projects in the enterprise portfolio.
2) Projects are staffed according to their priority. As long as projects are prioritized in such a manner that only one project can be the top priority, this approach assures that a) top resources are allocated to top projects and b) projects for which there is a net deficit in resources (be it human--both IT and non IT! or nonhuman) are discovered in a timely manner AND before more projects of lower priority are launched, and c) the project can provide a shopping list, by skill, to HR so the process of filling the gaps can be initiated immediately.
3) Resource pool is defined (number, skills, current availability, etc.)
(OK, I lied...4) HR has an effective retention and hiring process in place that can be executed in a timely manner. It's all in the quality of the resource pool and how well your company can keep it stocked! Saving Changes...
Brian: I am not doing any resource planning since this is done internally within the contractors' project offices. My PO is temporary and only serves the programme internally. The resource planning is done in the corporate PO and I interact with them as needed. What we do is plan in advance for resources and send the request to human resources prior to the start of the work so they can find the good candidates for us. You are right o your appreciation of the way it should work. Thanks Saving Changes...
Hi Jan: It's been nice to see that people are still posting to the subject. Thank you for the congratulations. Yes, I am happy because things are running smoothly compared with the very hard times I had at the beginning of the set up of my PO. I will take your advise since I know I will have the opportunity to set up a new PO soon, this time it will be a corporate PO. That is my objective. Cheers Saving Changes...
I have been doing a lot of research on the "Earned Value" component of status reporting. It has been my finding that people are just giving "lip service" to the concept. I am a new member of this group and I'm just catching up to you guys. Can you give me "your" understanding of the topic, and your experience in it's use. Saving Changes...
