How to improve internal projects?

Anonymous

Hi everyone!

I currently work as a project coordinator in finance department of a software development company. What we call a project is basically any non-routine task with duration of 2-6 months (like, develop and implement a policy/process). Most of them have internal (i.e. from inside our department) customers but often there are also stakeholders from other departments (legal, HR). Therefore the main focus is on communications - my role boils down to maintaining the list of projects, updating status of each project within it, and reporting to all stakeholders if there are any issues potentially causing a delay.

The problems I see:
1. Tracking time spent on projects is seen as unnecessary burden, and as a result we don't know the total cost of projects, nor can we estimate the effort required for similar tasks with any degree of certainty. My manager, the CFO, supposedly is ok with it.
2. There's no formal risk management process, we do not even attempt to identify, measure or discuss risks. I can only assume that those responsible for final result somehow do manage their risks (as most projects finish... sooner or later), they just don't document it.
3. I don't have control over projects, and those who do - they almost never use PM best practices in their projects and don't see why they should. The manager is ultimately interested in getting things done, and as 80% of projects are more or less successful, although sometimes later than expected, he seems to be satisfied with status quo.

To sum up: I'm not quite sure to what extent project management methodology should be applied to internal projects in the company I work for and what additional value could be gained (if any). I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts, opinions and experience.

Posted: Apr 12, 2016 9:45 AM

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Wayne Mack Retired| Retired South Riding, Va, United States

I would first determine if these internal projects are truly projects in a PMBoK definition - are they efforts that are bounded in scope, level of effort, and time?

I suspect that these may be indefinite deliverable items with an indefinite delivery date. As an alternative to treating these as projects (regardless of corporate terminology) would to treat them like an ongoing program. Use a rolling wave planning approach to develop a list of near-term deliverables. Continue the effort until the deliverables have satisfied the underlying corporate need, then stop the effort.

Applying formal project management techniques to non-project work is a disconnect that merely leads to frustration and wasted effort.

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1 reply by Evgeniya Kachan

Apr 16, 2016 8:34 AM

Evgeniya Kachan

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Hi Wayne,

Thank for your input. These projects are indeed projects, as they are typically a one-time exercise resulting in predefined deliverables. The level of effort, though, is rarely assessed, and time-wise, they're typically assigned some arbitrary and often unrealistic deadline, while concerns about it are usually dismissed, no matter the arguments.

However, thanks for suggestion to treat more undefined efforts as programs, I haven't thought about it this way.

Posted: Apr 16, 2016 8:11 AM

Evgeniya Kachan Projects Manager| ABBYY Moscow, Russian Federation, Russian Federation

Apr 16, 2016 8:11 AM

Replying to Wayne Mack

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Posted: Apr 16, 2016 8:34 AM

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