I am sure that I am not the first, last or only Project Manager to work in an environment that lacks project management process and is very chaotic. That said I am looking for guidance and advice regarding cultural atmosphere. I am being asked to create a Project Management Office in a cultural that finds it hard to accept and put into action standards around projects.
I am not talking about a lot of bureaucratic paperwork or heavy laden processes, I am talking mainly about what is necessary up front at the start of a project to make sure that the business folks and the technology folks understand what the other is talking about and asking for.
I am a single entity (only Project Manager) in the company and the position I hold is buried in an operational group far removed from management. I have spoken to my manager on several occasions about the importance of planning a project right from the start; being allowed to work with the business units to understand their strategic direction and business requirements, but keep getting put off. They usually do not involve me until the project is well into the design or really into the development stages.
I can not see developing a PMO if they can’t understand what the role of a Project Manager is when it comes to projects. I believe in, “it takes two…” and that there has to be something I’m not doing or doing wrong, or could be doing better.
I have been a Project Manager for quite some time, but I’m starting to think I don’t have the means to influence.
Saving Changes...
Dear Anonymous, we set up a "virtual" project office not too long ago to facilitate improvement and address many issues like you have described. It was met with tremendous success and appreciation throughout our organization. First, this is what we didn't do. We did not create an organization or reorganize anything, we did not implement any new tools (though we have our eye on this for the future), we did not perform any gap analyses or maturity assessments, we did not conduct or bring in any training or tell people that they had to learn project management, and we did not issue any policies or edicts regarding how things had to be done. What we did do was the following. We started putting together on our department intranet a project management best practice reference framework of key processes, guidance and suggestions, and a list of project management documents. We quickly got bogged down trying to put this together, so we decided to look around for a ready to use best practice framework. We found exactly what we needed in a best practice content offering called Processes On Demand by BOT International (www.botinternational.com). I would highly recommend them to any PMO or "virtual" PMO. Regarding your "it takes two" comment about setting up a PMO when the role of the project manager is not even understood, I agree with you but I would also say that though it takes two, "it starts with one". In our case, we singularly set up our best practice framework with the objective in mind of promoting understanding and providing access to best practices in way that is viewed (by the participants) as saving time and improving the quality of the project effort and teamwork. Our view of course is that we are just now beginning the process of maturing the capabilities of the organization and achieving the "it takes two" participation, buy-in, and commitment. Saving Changes...
Hi Anonymous, I undertook a similar exercise in a Systems Branch that had been in operation for decades and had no formal SDLC, no up to date standards and no templates.
To implement something like this is just another project and should be managed as such. I didn't have much support to start with so I prepared a business case (all the standard stuff), a work break down structure (to help with estimating costs and to show mgt what was involved) and a proposed Project Charter.
This was eventually accepted. During the project I produced all the deliverables you would expect from any project (lead by example). In this particular type of project I believe communication is the key.
I had the project update as a regular item on every staff group meeting and always attended to provide info regardless of where the project was at.
I organised for staff representatives to undertake formal reviews of all the deliverables and at the completion of the project
I ran a very successful inhouse training in the use of the SDLC and templates etc where staff were away from their normal work location for the day and lunch was provided.
Rather than shunning the project part way into the project I had staff asking for new templates and assistance in the activities they were undertaking.
I have just commenced a similar project elsewhere for a project management infrastructure and will be following the same format with the addition of a brief audit at the commencement as a benchmark to use to measure the success of the project. Saving Changes...
