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 Why
corporate leaders should make project portfolio management a priority? |
A white paper by Jim Pennypacker,
Director of the Center for Business Practices, PM Solutions
Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin, Editor-in-Chief, Center of Business Practices |
| No one would
think of building an office complex by turning 100 different construction teams loose
to build 100 different rooms, with no single blueprint or agreed-upon vision of the completed
structure to go by. Yet this is precisely the situation in which many large companies
find themselves when managing projects. Companies routinely over-schedule their resources
(human and otherwise), develop redundant projects and damage profitability by investing
in non-strategic efforts that won't contribute to organizational health. |
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| How
to Start up and Roll out a Project Office? |
by Dianne Bridges, PMP
and Kent Crawford, PMP |
| As ad hoc
and informal approaches to managing projects continue to be less than effective in meeting
time-to-market goals, the need for a Project Office becomes more compelling. This article
provides an approach that addresses the immediate needs of an organization yet, at the
same time, considers longer-term solutions to improve project management. You will see
how to achieve immediate value while positioning yourself for the long run. The approach
is based on the results of successfully implemented Project Offices within organizations
and has been refined through consulting experiences and industry research. |
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| Improving
Organizational Productivity with a Project Office |
| by Kent Crawford, PMP |
| PROJECT MANAGEMENT
HAS BEEN AROUND FOR DECADES–some may argue for centuries–but there’s been a tremendous
resurgence in interest in the discipline in the last three to five years. The reason:
Information technology, information services, and new product development organizations
have “discovered” project management. A traditional part of the toolkit for construction
and large government projects, project management now sparks interest wherever compressing
time-to-market cycles is an issue–in other words, throughout the modern marketplace.
As industries work hard to compress product lifecycles, to reduce costs, and to improve
the quality of their deliverables, they are increasingly turning to project management. |
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| Selecting
a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Methodology |
| by Dr. Alan E. Dillman, PM
Solutions |
| One of the
greatest challenges facing IT project managers today is the seamless integration of project
management methodology and SDLC methodolgy. The D3 Cube is a practical bridge for project
managers seeking to select the appropriate SDLC methodology for their project. |
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| The
Project Office Staff: Focus on Talent, First |
| by Dr. Jimmie West, PMP |
| Rather than
rely on the traditional manner of finding the right people to staff the project office,
I realized, we should be focusing on finding people with the talent to work in the environment
of a functioning project office. Let me try to relate Marcus Buckingham's views to the
task of hiring the right talent. |
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| The
Strategic Project Office |
| by J. Kent Crawford, PMP,
CEO, PM Solutions |
| A traditional
part of the toolkit for construction and large government projects, project management
now sparks interest wherever compressing time-to-market cycles is an issue—in other words,
throughout the modern marketplace. The extensively practiced and index.html discipline
of project management practices have found a home in high-tech industries. |
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| Harnessing
the power of shared knowledge and resources for project inspiration |
| by Robert P. Wourms, director
of PM Solutions’ IT practice area |
| In 2000,
The Standish Group CHAOS study [1] reported some startling statistics: 49% of all IT
projects were “challenged” by being over budget and behind schedule; and 23% of all IT
projects failed outright. Although these figures were a slight improvement over earlier
CHAOS studies, they still portray a bleak picture of inefficiency and poor planning and
execution. Other studies underscore the CHAOS findings. According to a Gartner, Inc.
study in 2001 [2], 40% of IT projects failed to meet business requirements. According
to The Wall Street Journal [3], 42% of all technology projects launched in the U.S. are
abandoned before completion. |
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| Describing
Project Management Maturity |
| by JKaren R. J. White, David
Yosua, PMP, PM Solutions |
| UNTIL JUST
A FEW YEARS AGO, the concept of “maturity” was seldom used to describe the state of an
organization’s effectiveness at performing certain tasks. Today, we find this maturity
concept being used increasingly to map out logical ways to improve an organization’s
services—particularly across the software industry. Why has this evolved in this industry—
why not in other areas? And why is this of interest to the project management profession?
The answer to both of these questions rests in the underlying complexities that go into
the successful completion of a project—software development or otherwise. |
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| Show
Me The Value |
| by Jimmie West, Dean of
Project Management College |
| In today’s
harsh business economy, executives want to know one thing about any project management
initiative: “What’s the value?” More than ever, every dollar invested must be justified,
and every initiative must deliver tangible results. Training professionals now must work
even harder to prove the merit of their initiatives to senior management. The good news
is that training professionals can establish tangible metrics on the value of project
management training simply by asking the right questions and developing an appropriate
measurement system. |
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| The
Value of Project Management: Validating the positive impacts of project management on
organizations |
| by Dr. Alan E. Dillman, PM
Solutions |
| SENIOR EXECUTIVES
WANT TO KNOW ONE thing about any project management improvement initiative: "What's
the value?" Today more than ever, every dollar invested must be justified, and any
initiative must deliver positive and tangible results. The good news is that tangible
metrics on project management value can be established by asking the right questions
and developing an appropriate measurement system. Even better news is that the Center
for Business Practices (CBP), the research arm of PM Solutions, has conducted industry-wide
studies using a balanced family of measures that document the value of project management
to organizations. In those studies, 97% of the respondents say project management adds
value to their organizations. |
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| Portfolio
Management: Ideas and Practices |
| by Dianne N. Bridges, PMP,
Managing Consultant, PM Solutions |
| THE FORMAL
PRACTICE OF PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT is becoming more commonplace in today’s business environment.
Organizations find themselves juggling traditional research and new product development
projects with information technology enhancements and internal business improvements.
No doubt, there are different investment paths to take; and with so much at stake, businesses
are making every attempt to wisely select the best route. Even after selecting the route,
it is easy to get distracted along the way: things may not unfold as originally planned,
a competitor introduces a new product, the chief scientist makes a key breakthrough elsewhere,
legislation is enacted causing industry-wide upheaval, or technology advances and matures. |
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| Keys
to Success: Staffing an Enterprise-Level Project Office |
| by JKent Crawford, PMP |
| In establishing
and maintaining an effective enterprise-level project office what I call the Strategic
Project Office (SPO)—staffing remains a challenge for most organizations. Even when a
Project Office is merely a localized, single-project or single departmental area entity,
finding the right project managers and support staff can be difficult. Making an SPO
the central driving force behind the management of projects raises the stakes. If projects
are a significant source of revenue, innovation, or other value for your company, the
strategic or enterprise level project office offers significant benefits. But, at this
level as at the project level, people do projects. Assigning roles and responsibilities
is a critical first step. |
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| A
Manager's Guide to Developing a Project Management Training Program |
| by Jimmie West, Dean of
Project Management College |
| ONE MEASURE
OF an organization’s maturity is the effort and commitment placed on developing and maintaining
a cadre of qualified project personnel. This cadre includes any one who works on projects
in any capacity. Typical roles might include the project manager, project scheduler,
business analyst, coordinator, or expeditor. Each of these roles requires a set of specific
skills, as well as generic knowledge of project management practices and principles. |
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| Claiming
your software is capable of portfolio management won’t solve your organization’s problems. |
| by ProSight |
| There is
a growing acceptance of portfolio management software as a means of managing information
technology decisions and performance to drive business value. In a time of corporate
consolidation and rapidly implemented cost containment, portfolio management software
equips organizations with an application for communicating the strategic value of technology
and supporting governance throughout the enterprise. |
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