I began work with my Organisation (Telecoms Industry) in January 2004, the immediate goal or objective was the launch of Telecom services in 5 New Countries. As a Project Manager I was responsible for the launch of 3 of the 5 Countries. This was a new undertaking in that while it was true that new Countries were opened in the past they typically took on average 6 months to achieve and were rolled out one at a time.
My role therefore was more than simply that of a Project Manager, I was also directly involved in bringing a new attitude and approach in relation to how things were done. The scope and approach to the New Country launches was huge, 5 New Country launches in an average of 18 weeks each from start to finish giving a increase of productivity in excess of 30%. As with all new ideas, approaches etc. there was an element of doubt within the Organisation as to whether or not this could be achieved, my immediate goal was to ensure a clear and immediate win with the successful launch of the first country.
The success of the new approach to the launch of the 5 new countries in 2004 was ratified two months after the final launch when measurements indicated a 13% increase in overall Customer Numbers. Considering that we were billing a customer base in excess of one (1) million customers at that time this was not an insignificant achievement. The overall Customer numbers have continued to grow as we continue to launch new and updated products into these markets.
I took on the role of European Program Manager fully in 2005 a year that again saw a number of firsts in terms of approach to projects, we began a full outsourced approach to the launch of products and in particular with the launch of Mobile Services which called for the Project Team to be fully offsite for the duration of the project itself, a period in excess of 4 Months
This was followed in Q4 2005 by the launch of a set of five (5) New Initiatives including Mobile Services, Subscription Services and DSL (Broadband). It became apparent that a new approach to Project Management incorporating more Agile Methodologies was going to be required, for example in one Country the initial choice of outsourced supplier was changed, a new partner was sourced while the delivery date for the project remained the same which made for an extremely aggressive timeline. All 5 New Initiatives were delivered and early measurements are again showing them to be a commercial success.
Since 2004 the Project Management Office within our Organisation has been the catalyst in a change that took the Organisation from a functional approach to Projects where each department head was told what would be launched, given the deadline and effectively told to make it happen to a more Projectised approach where the PMO assigns a dedicated Project Manager, a team is sourced, removed from Operational responsibilities, co-located in a project room and allowed to get on with it. On a weekly basis I get to speak directly to the European CEO, the European Management Team and more recently the Global CEO to discuss the issues we are facing, as you can imagine with this level of access decisions are made on the spot and progress is maintained.
It was towards the end of Q4 2005 that I found and read Doug's book on 'eXtreme Project Management', reading this book was like coming home as it basically outlined everything that we had been dealing with on a daily basis for the last number of years and it helped me to rollout a new Flexible Project Methodology that is making great strides in Europe and is set for a Global rollout in the near future.
The main lesson learned is the importance of perseverence, if you believe there is a better approach to the Projects you lead based more on the reality of the situation you are in then make it happen, hidden behind the above is the hard work, perseverence and dedication from a few good people in the Project Management Office within my Organisation, the transition can be difficult but the rewards are great.
