Ubeydullah SakinMA, PMP| Head of PMO, Istanbul Metropolitan MunicipalityIstanbul, Türkiye
Hi to all, I am rebuilding my department's management system using PMI Standarts. I benefit from various other methodologies but being a PMP, PMI is the basis for the system I am designing. We work in public relations sector. We have 1000+ employees, half of which works as agents in our call center. The rest works in field, IT and BI. My question is, how successfull can PMI work in non-project environment? Should I continue or just look for alternatives? Saving Changes...
Sort By:
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
All related to PMI are guides, no more than that. You have to take those guides and search/create a method based on one life cycle model (adaptative or predictive), life cycle process (iterative, waterfall, etc). When you analyze your daily life you will see that you follow most of the PMBOK knowledge area and process. The way you do that (method) is up to you. The same when you tried to apply this to your organization. Saving Changes...
Ubeydullah SakinMA, PMP| Head of PMO, Istanbul Metropolitan MunicipalityIstanbul, Türkiye
That is exactly what I am doing right now. I trust the results will be great for my department. However, I have not witnessed any other organizations establish their non-project management on PMI Standart, that concerns me a little. I guess the only way to learn is to employ a simulation of the model to one of the units and see how it fits.
...
1 reply by Eric Simms
Mar 03, 2017 8:52 AM
Eric Simms
...
You’re right; a real-life test is the only way to know for sure whether PMI Standart will work in your non-project environment. It doesn't matter that you haven't seen others doing likewise; many people fear trying something new and instead just imitate what everyone else has done. I hope your test delivers favorable results.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Perhaps I did not understand well your point but "non project environemnts" are operations. You always have project environments. If not, you have operations. So, everything you do is a project or an operation. Operations is a continue and that is because are not considered projects. In some cases, for some reasons, organizations perform some operations as projects (that is the case where I am today). Mainly because control requirements. So, the next step after define if something is a project or belong to operation is to decide what you will use. To decide, you have to consider all of this as a pyramid. The basemed is some approach based on quality (Agile, Lean, Six Sigma, PMI way, etc). Then you have life cycle models to support the approach (there are only two: adaptative or prescriptive), then you have life cycle process based on those models (iterative belongs to adaptative, waterfall belongs to prescritptive, for example), then you have methods based on those life cycle process (SCRUM for iterative, SDLC for waterfall, for example) and at the top you have tools (any tools) to support the models. So, you can mix of all that to create your own way to take initiatives. In fact, you can have more than one. That is our case where we have 5 differents that we decide to take regarding some simple check list based on our business strategy (an organization could have more thatn one business defined into it), our business architecture and the type of solution we need to create. Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Mar 03, 2017 8:13 AM
Replying to Ubeydullah Sakin
...
That is exactly what I am doing right now. I trust the results will be great for my department. However, I have not witnessed any other organizations establish their non-project management on PMI Standart, that concerns me a little. I guess the only way to learn is to employ a simulation of the model to one of the units and see how it fits.
You’re right; a real-life test is the only way to know for sure whether PMI Standart will work in your non-project environment. It doesn't matter that you haven't seen others doing likewise; many people fear trying something new and instead just imitate what everyone else has done. I hope your test delivers favorable results. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
There is always a first time for everything and I agree with my fellow colleagues Sergio and Eric. You are basically running operations so PMI Standards if tailored to suit your needs should hopefully work well for your organization. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I am confused - you want to use project management process to manage operational activities? Keep in mind, PMI did not invent project management and did not invent management. SO
1. For project work - I am with Sergio; PMBOK Guide gives us processes and you need to have a method
2. For non-project work - you need to refer to general management and business processes Saving Changes...
You may wish to use the ITL framework and ITIL Service Lifecycle which is best used for a IT Data Center environment, call center and help desk. The environment you are talking about is a Service Management environment that is more operational that project oriented. The software used provided a workflow for the tickets etc. Just google ITIL to research and I'd talk to your data center staff/managers internally and work together. Saving Changes...
Ubeydullah SakinMA, PMP| Head of PMO, Istanbul Metropolitan MunicipalityIstanbul, Türkiye
I was only meaning to ask a few questions and figure the rest myself but finding the change to learn from your experience I would like to briefly explain what and why I am doing.
My department is a part of a Municipality, responsible for Public Relations. We manage a call center with 500+ employees and various field operations with another 300+ employees. Being a governmental organization, we are highly exposed to volatile EEFs. Naturally the strongest of these is the politics. High volatility results in relatively rapid change of junior management and swapping of activities and change in processes. (Change in management results in redistribution of tasks, whether logical or not, this is the case). We have already tried ISO and EFQM ( 4 stars) to establish a sound management system. Although these contributed to our issue, they did not meet our expectations. We do not have a strong control system.
The reason for that, I believe, is they focus on establishing standart processes for implementation of activities (not that they shouldn’t but our conditions are different), and they lack agility. Due to various reasons we are unable to adopt strictly standartised workflows. But we still want to monitor and control our work. And most significantly, we want to accumulate experience, as you would guess.
So I figured, If I can define every single activity we undertake, and define metrics, risks, resources etc. for them, regardless of the business process, I can evaluate my organization. Surely there will be plans for each K.A. and overall procedures, but not strict workflows.
From where I stand, I think if I can create an Activity List and define precise attributes for them (an “activity dictionary”) my control system would not be effected from management related changes in the workflow.
Creating a change management system with related logs, and intorducing other monitor and control tools, I am hoping to increase control over the organization and keep and always up-to-date guideline for new managers.
I know I should not get ahead of myself, and my team’s capabilities. If you have advices, I will be grateful.
Sergio-Do you think my case is similar to yours?
Eric and Rami-Thank you.
Mounir- Could you point me to some general management processes that would help with my case?
Naomi-I have only heard of ITIL, but I am going to review it in detail right now.
...
1 reply by Naomi Caietti
Mar 05, 2017 2:13 PM
Naomi Caietti
...
Call Centers work in a service management environment.
Certainly understand your situation; I'd separate the operational from the project management functions. You will find that the service areas will plug into a workflow that touches and interfaces with the PMO but should not be under the umbrella of the PMO. Of course, if this is your assignment we are here to help steer you in the right direction.
Research, do some interviews and talk to the Call Center Manager, Data Center Manager and other stakeholders to get a bigger picture of your organization. Come back with any questions; many here happy to provide insights.
I was only meaning to ask a few questions and figure the rest myself but finding the change to learn from your experience I would like to briefly explain what and why I am doing.
My department is a part of a Municipality, responsible for Public Relations. We manage a call center with 500+ employees and various field operations with another 300+ employees. Being a governmental organization, we are highly exposed to volatile EEFs. Naturally the strongest of these is the politics. High volatility results in relatively rapid change of junior management and swapping of activities and change in processes. (Change in management results in redistribution of tasks, whether logical or not, this is the case). We have already tried ISO and EFQM ( 4 stars) to establish a sound management system. Although these contributed to our issue, they did not meet our expectations. We do not have a strong control system.
The reason for that, I believe, is they focus on establishing standart processes for implementation of activities (not that they shouldn’t but our conditions are different), and they lack agility. Due to various reasons we are unable to adopt strictly standartised workflows. But we still want to monitor and control our work. And most significantly, we want to accumulate experience, as you would guess.
So I figured, If I can define every single activity we undertake, and define metrics, risks, resources etc. for them, regardless of the business process, I can evaluate my organization. Surely there will be plans for each K.A. and overall procedures, but not strict workflows.
From where I stand, I think if I can create an Activity List and define precise attributes for them (an “activity dictionary”) my control system would not be effected from management related changes in the workflow.
Creating a change management system with related logs, and intorducing other monitor and control tools, I am hoping to increase control over the organization and keep and always up-to-date guideline for new managers.
I know I should not get ahead of myself, and my team’s capabilities. If you have advices, I will be grateful.
Sergio-Do you think my case is similar to yours?
Eric and Rami-Thank you.
Mounir- Could you point me to some general management processes that would help with my case?
Naomi-I have only heard of ITIL, but I am going to review it in detail right now.
Call Centers work in a service management environment.
Certainly understand your situation; I'd separate the operational from the project management functions. You will find that the service areas will plug into a workflow that touches and interfaces with the PMO but should not be under the umbrella of the PMO. Of course, if this is your assignment we are here to help steer you in the right direction.
Research, do some interviews and talk to the Call Center Manager, Data Center Manager and other stakeholders to get a bigger picture of your organization. Come back with any questions; many here happy to provide insights. Saving Changes...
Community Champion
