Simon KhiabaniConstruction Industry: Development / Project/ Portfolio PMO Manager| Private Consultant, contract to hireSterling, Va, United States
I am will soon be working for a fortune 500 financial company which is bringing me on as their PMO to manage 4 in house project managers and revamp their entire commercial portfolio of about 1,000,000 Rsq. All the projects we will undergo will be rehab/renovation projects.
Currently they have 4 project managers working in house but outsource their Project Management and Cost Control Management to a third party consultancy company. They expect me to eliminate this cost by hiring more in house team members and bringing on some sort of Project Management Software.
I just recently received a CSM but cant see this Division transforming into 100% agile within my 3-6 months contract to hire agreement.
I NEED HELP, Where should I start? How can lead this team of 4 PM's to be productive? What is the best Agile related Project Management Software in the market I can put in for a requisite for that will help us eliminate the cost of having this third party consultant managing our schedules, budgets, risks, milestones, change orders, RFI's, Flowcharts, Burn down/up charts, Stakeholder Reporting etc etc etc etc?
Any support from any Agile, PMO or PM industry leaders would be greatly appreciated! Saving Changes...
Simon KhiabaniConstruction Industry: Development / Project/ Portfolio PMO Manager| Private Consultant, contract to hireSterling, Va, United States
Can anyone else in the Construction/PMO with Agile ("Hybrid") practices or with prior experience in such industry make any additional suggestions to the already great input from the above members?
Thanks Saving Changes...
Lenka PincotChief of Staff to the CEO| Project Management InstituteParis, France
Apr 10, 2018 8:06 PM
Replying to Simon Khiabani
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Thanks for your feedback on the software, i’ll Look into Jiri as excel is already being used for everything.
Regarding agile; The VP wants to move towards agile methodologies as a “best practice “ within the PMO Divison. I know this could take up to 1 year but I need further recommendations/advise on a starting point of where and how to begin this transformation.
Hi Simon, when your VP wants agile, do you know if he has any methodology in mind more that others? Do you know what is his motivation to go with agile? There are so many great advice here, definitely worth doing. I think on top of that you should spend a bit of time to understand better what is your sin for the required change. It may help you to prepare the plan for the transformation if you know the priorities where the improvement is needed. I think couple of month is too short to achieve complete transformation especially if you need to replace out of the house knowledge and experience with internal resources. But if you know what is the VPs concern you may set the right priorities. Does he want agile because he believes that the projects will be delivered faster with less costs? Is he really ready for agile way of planning and estimating? Is the VP agile in his way of thinking or if he’s more looking for more success on the projects in terms of better management and cost saving? What about LEAN, is this what he’s looking for? Saving Changes...
Simon KhiabaniConstruction Industry: Development / Project/ Portfolio PMO Manager| Private Consultant, contract to hireSterling, Va, United States
Hi Lenka, thank you very much for your post.
The VP does not have a preference to which agile process to implement, from my CSM, 17+ year of experience and by doing a months worth of research I’ve found that i will definitely be implementing a “hybrid” method.
The VP wants agile methods for all the right reasons, staying on schedule, managing risk before risk comes up, cut costs and better utilize the entire Divisons time (cut waste).
I start this contract on May 7, and will have much more insight to the VPs wants and needs and then prioritize them, I agree with everyone which has been so helpful by posting here, 3-6 months is definitely not enough time to transform an entire Divison, which is why they are starting me on a contract to hire basis, (try before you buy)
I will reconnnect with everyone after my first week or two and have a better idea of where and what I should implement first and start with. If you can please mark “notify me when someone posts” on this discussion I would be very appreciative.
Regards
Simon K
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1 reply by Lenka Pincot
Apr 19, 2018 9:40 AM
Lenka Pincot
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Based on what you say I would start with LEAN approach. To review how the projects are managed, why do they have failures according to metrics currently adopted in the organization. Also working with external project managers can be very challenging and I would understand why he wants to switch to insourcing rather than outsourcing. There is different ownership and motivation factors.
Good luck! Sounds like very interesting task you have:)
Saving Changes...
Lenka PincotChief of Staff to the CEO| Project Management InstituteParis, France
Apr 19, 2018 9:24 AM
Replying to Simon Khiabani
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Hi Lenka, thank you very much for your post.
The VP does not have a preference to which agile process to implement, from my CSM, 17+ year of experience and by doing a months worth of research I’ve found that i will definitely be implementing a “hybrid” method.
The VP wants agile methods for all the right reasons, staying on schedule, managing risk before risk comes up, cut costs and better utilize the entire Divisons time (cut waste).
I start this contract on May 7, and will have much more insight to the VPs wants and needs and then prioritize them, I agree with everyone which has been so helpful by posting here, 3-6 months is definitely not enough time to transform an entire Divison, which is why they are starting me on a contract to hire basis, (try before you buy)
I will reconnnect with everyone after my first week or two and have a better idea of where and what I should implement first and start with. If you can please mark “notify me when someone posts” on this discussion I would be very appreciative.
Regards
Simon K
Based on what you say I would start with LEAN approach. To review how the projects are managed, why do they have failures according to metrics currently adopted in the organization. Also working with external project managers can be very challenging and I would understand why he wants to switch to insourcing rather than outsourcing. There is different ownership and motivation factors.
Good luck! Sounds like very interesting task you have:) Saving Changes...
Simon KhiabaniConstruction Industry: Development / Project/ Portfolio PMO Manager| Private Consultant, contract to hireSterling, Va, United States
Thanks again Lenka!
I will take your advise and analyze once I have a sound assessment of their current challenges and full objectives. Will keep everyone posted! Saving Changes...
