Leadership Webinar Mar 2016 - Reversing the Trend of Failed Projects- Dr Ginger Levin

Leadership

Sujatha Krishnaswamy Program Manager| Marsh & McLennan Austin, Tx, United States

Here is the official thread for today's webinar - Reversing the Trend of Failed Projects – The Program or Project Manager’s Leader by Dr Ginger Levin. Webinar starts MARCH 24, 2016 2:00 PM EDT (UTC-4). Looking forward to seeing you all there soon!

Link to webinar: http://www.projectmanagement.com/webinars/...Leadership-Role
Link to slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By7T0Ov72...iew?usp=sharing

Synopsis: Research conducted by PMI in its “Pulse of the Profession” Reports show “organizations continue wasting US $109 million for every US $1 billion invested in projects and programs” (PMI, Pulse 2015, p.2). This loss of $109 million is a large number, which has remained constant the past two years.

This webinar describes some research to determine why so much money is wasted and how to reverse this trend. It focuses on leadership and the people aspects of projects since people are responsible for program and project success or failure. It provides other suggestions than those noted by PMI in the “Pulse” reports and presents guidelines you can use to make key changes to decrease the continual loss of funds in failed projects.

Posted: Mar 24, 2016 12:03 PM (Updated by author: Mar 24, 2016 3:11 PM)

Sort By:

< 1 2 >

Sujatha Krishnaswamy Program Manager| Marsh & McLennan Austin, Tx, United States

Mar 24, 2016 3:02 PM

Replying to David Tsai

...

Thank you for the great presentation. Where can we download the presentation slides?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By7T0Ov72RS4czlfSHNCTk92THc

Posted: Mar 24, 2016 3:17 PM

Sunny Ko, CFA, PMP Sr. VP- Technology Operations| Wilshire Santa Monica, Ca, United States

Thank you, Sujatha.

Posted: Mar 24, 2016 6:18 PM

Florian Stadler Consultant en Coach| FSCC Almere, Netherlands

Link to the PULSE report: http://www.pmi.org/learning/pulse.aspx

Posted: Mar 25, 2016 4:43 AM (Updated by author: Mar 25, 2016 4:44 AM)

Ginger Levin Portfolio Program and Project Management Author, Consultant, Educator| Portfolio Program and Project Management Consult Lighthouse Point, Fl, United States

Mar 24, 2016 3:01 PM

Replying to Mary Kuntz

...

Thank you for the wonderful presentation. One aspect -- customer expectations are focused on quick solutions To survive, there should be an increased focus on the LEAN and AGILE approach.

Mary - I agree and personally want to learn more about Lean!

Posted: Mar 25, 2016 4:31 PM

Ginger Levin Portfolio Program and Project Management Author, Consultant, Educator| Portfolio Program and Project Management Consult Lighthouse Point, Fl, United States

Mar 24, 2016 3:03 PM

Replying to Sujatha Krishnaswamy

...

All thanks a lot for joining the webinar. Here are the questions raised during the webinar:
Here is where I cut & paste questions.
Mahmoud Othmane: Dr. Ginger Levin ,, Can I refer to your presentation today for my strategic management and leadership term essay ?
Raymond Cook: Question:? If you are always on time and underbudget for every project isn't that saying that you sandbag the estimates?
ABHIJIT SAMAJDWAR: Question: For an organization, it is more important to achieve the project objectives and deliver value today rather than complete the project in schedule and within budget. What do you say? Was it as important in past than it isnow?
Azucena Pena: QUESTION: From the statistics you’ve conducted, how many of the failed projects were headed by certified project management professionals (PMP)? Or were these lead by non certified PM’s?
Meena Khan: Question: If a Project is failed who is mainly responsible for that?
Alexander Smith: Question: How many key stakeholders can a project manager manage? Any ideas Ginger?
NITIN SINGLA: Question: Isnt implementation of LEAN Management important for organization running multiple large scale projects
Ravi Kumar Kanduri: Q: is it a must that PM to have a domain knowledge of the Project scope or is it enough if he/she can manage the stakeholders and communications?
Ignacio Vega: Question: The projects that have failed, the Projects have had a very good sales preparation during the offer to the customer?
Balaji Ganesan: QUESTION> what should be done to fix the goals in an organization where project golas change frequently in a year?
Chandrashekhar K: Question: As per your studies and research results what are the identifiers of a good project managers? Also what as per your view is more critical - completion of project within cost and time or delivering values to client & stakeholders even if that lead to some impact to project cost, time?
Raymond Cook: Question: If red is the new green, how is green reported?

Balaji Ganesan: QUESTION: HOW DOES ONE REALIZE FORCED CONSENSUS IS NOT PRACTICED IN A NOT EXPERIENCED TEAM?
Ravi Kumar Kanduri: Q: Where is this RED, Green, Yellow is mentioned PMBOK
Raymond Cook: Question: Don't some projects fail because the company took on a known risky project and the outcome wasn't what they hoped?
Sneha Kishnani: Q: who is the author of The Accidental Project Manager? and where can I find it on the PMI website?
Jamie Hollis: Question: In your experience, is an internal or external PM generally better for a project?
Alexander Smith: Question: is one reason for seeing more failing projects is too strict processes?

Jesus Rojas Zavarce: Question: What is thhe best option to keep the inventory of the programs and projects when there is no official PMO in the company?
Lori Pokorsky-Loy: QUESTION: if project goals change, does that not lead to scope creep?

Mahmoud - of course

Raymond - I never padded - in consulting, we would use the standard 10% contingency reserve but since low price often is the deciding factor at the end, we tried to offer the lowest price possible in which we could still make money and deliver a quality product or service on time, We had an excellent win rate.

Abhijit - It was important in the past as it is today; it was expressed differently but related to the organization's objectives.

Azucena - I am unsure - but go to the PMI web site and download the 2015 Pulse of the Profession Report!

Meena - I do not think you can blame any one person - it could be that the project never should have been done and it lacked a defined business case, it could be a change in the organization's objectives or those of the customer made the need for the project obsolete; it could be the team did not want to finish the project, as in one of the research studies - it cannot be a single individual's fault.

Alexander - we know from research that project manages spend 90% of their time communicating - but one cannot spend time with all of the stakeholders but need to spend time with those who are critical to success - I would try to limit it to 10 - realizing also that some stakeholders will have interest in the project or program at different times. Of course you need to engage with the customer, key managers who are influential in your organization, such as the CFO or CIO, your team, and any other external or internal people as each program and project is unique. Make sure as well that you engage those stakeholders who are positive so they remain positive and use them to help you convince others who may be negative to at least be neutral and hopefully positive - and provide consistent, transparent information to everyone.

Nitin - I am not an expert on Lean but what I do know about it, I like.

Ravi - It is nice to have knowledge of the technical area - why - you then can show you can speak the same language. it is not necessity though as you are the program or project manager. When I was in a position at the FAA and was in its first agency-wide PMO, I lacked any knowledge about aviation. Instead, I tried to contribute to the group by learning as much as I could about project management to compensate for my lack of knowledge of aviation. Also later in consulting, I did a lot of work in the food industry - I was not a food scientist so I contributed by bringing an outside perspective to the various projects I had in a transformation program.

Ignacio - your question is one we need to solve - the business development people need to bring in program and project managers when they are writing proposals and before they are making sales presentations - this means they need some knowledge of PM; in the same way, the PM people need some knowledge of the BD arena - as a member of APMP (Association of Proposal Managers), its Business Development Institute has a Capability Maturity Model. Go to www.bd-institute.org and you should be able to download a copy - it addresses this issue in its Level 3 of he model. Another great reference is recent doctoral student who did his thesis on this area - connect with Dr. Saadi Adra! And recognize on some of these large pursuits, they are actually projects and need to be managed as a project - meaning BD needs to understand PM and involve program or project managers who will do the work once they get the program or project.

Balaji - goals are continually changing with mergers, acquisitions, leadership changes, etc, It is our role then to make sure our program or project is aligned with the goals when they do so - you may, as a program manager, need to adda nother project or as a project manager make some changes to your deliverables. And if you find your program or project is no longer aligned with the goals, it is time to speak up so there are no further sunk cots and resources then can be reallocated to other initiatives.

Chandrasekhar - I would emphasize critical thinking as a required competency as well as communications, which also involves listening as key. And, I would want to deliver value while still being on time, within budget and have a quality product or service - all are required for success,

Raymond - green still is reported as green - the idea is not to be afraid to report as red or yellow - you need to do so to discuss and focus on alternatives so the project is not in a red status and truly is in green.

Balaji - we want consensus - it is the second best way to resolve conflicts, but it should not be forced. If so, we get into an Abilene Paradox situation, as Dr. Jerry Harvey explains, and we then have to focus on managing agreement - if you have consensus make sure everyone agrees - if you are not sure ask each person involved, and if you sense some doubts try to find out why.

Ravi - it is not in the PMBOK but is in leading books on metrics.

Raymond - typically a portfolio will have a few high risk, breakthrough projects - it is a great way for the organization to grow. But since they are high risk, they can fail unless they are effectively managed. Then they deliver tremendous value to the organization.

Sneha - Marjorie Anderson at PMI put together this eBook - it is on the PMI web site or on projectmanagement.com

Jamie - my preference is the internal project manager as he or she then has access to budget data and any other sensitive information. If an external project manager is used, an internal person should take an active role in contract administration.

Jesus - you could use it as a way to gain support for a PMO or you could volunteer to do it especially if there are not many people knowledgeable about project management - you could point out its purpose and why it is needed.

Lori - yes, scope creep could occur if the project's scope changes but it also could result in a way to reduce some other requirements for the project that now may not be needed.

Thanks to all!

Posted: Mar 25, 2016 6:15 PM

< 1 2 >

Please login or join to reply

Leadership Webinar Mar 2016 - Reversing the Trend of Failed Projects- Dr Ginger Levin

Sponsors

Vendor Events

Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data

Newsletters