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Santa arrived at glorious North Steyne beach on a beautiful sunny day ~ in an RNC sponsored surf rescue boat…

(Even Santa knows the right company to use for his projects – When the project matters, it really does matter who’s delivering it.)

Merry Christmas!

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I see the decorations, hear the music and feel the summer air…  must be coming up to Christmas and summer. 

Hopefully you’ll have a chance for a bit of a break.  It’s been a busy year and it’s time for some relaxation – and fun. 

Don’t know why, but this year I’m drawn to the beach.  I love it.  Seeing the waves, hearing the surf and snatches of conversation, and walking on the sand is refreshing and rejuvenating.

As I write this, the sun’s shining and I can hear squeals of delight from people splashing about in the shallow surf.  I can feel the sun’s warmth, smell the sea air and catch the occasional aroma of sunscreen.   It’s a perfect day.

Two people go past with sand on their feet and boards under their arms – smiles as wide as Australia.

Whatever you do over Xmas and the summer, whatever sport you watch, music you listen to or whatever you do to relax, I hope the season brings you joy and rejuvenation.

My very best wishes for 2012.

Diane

Might see you at the beach!

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 A client changed our logo to say thanks for delivering.
Gotta love that!!

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Nothing!… if they are any good. The distinction came about because of frustration by business that project managers delivering projects with IT components were not willing, or able, to understand that the project was supposed to deliver a business benefit and deliver the project to achieve the business need.   But how do you tell?

Ask the PM what they are delivering.  If they say, for example, “getting commercial product to market sooner”, they can deliver a business project (even if the whole project is IT,  such as documentation management system).  If you ask the same question about the same project and the answer is ” implementing a document management system”, you can be pretty certain they aren’t focused on the business and would call themselves an IT PM.

There is ongoing debate about whether there is any such thing as an IT project and I am in the camp of thinking not.  I was told emphatically last week that the NBN is an IT project…… but in my view it’s providing better access to the community.  One person says it is rolling out the biggest infrastructure in Australia’s history and another says they are opening up the world for Australians – I know which one I’d want leading the project.

And that brings me to another point.  From my perspective, the PM is the person responsible for driving and delivering the outcome, rather than just keeping all the forms, reports and plans up to date. That responsibility, in my opinion, is a project admin role.

A couple of years ago I visited NASA and was amazed and delighted that no matter who I spoke to (and there were hundreds of PMs in attendance at an internal conference), every single response, in answer to the question, “what project are you working on?”,  referred to which overall outcome they were on. Truly, not a single person said, for example, that they were increasing the capacity of the ventilation system….. 
Clearly, they were heading for Mars!

Hope it helps,
Diane

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Recently, I had the pleasure of attending an excellent presentation at the Sydney Chapter of the Project Management Institute.  Michael Knapp, an IT professional and PM specialist, presented an inspiring paper discussing the difference between management and governance of projects.*

This crystallised my thinking about how we might excel at delivering projects for our customers.  To me, it’s all about focus rather than activity.  Knapp went into much empirical data, research backed and supported information that demonstrated how doing the “right project” will always deliver greater results than doing “projects right”.

As I listened, my mind began to process the impact of Knapp’s research and how we, as project professionals, could do better.  Resource agencies will usually provide project managers to broadly fill a manpower need;  project managers who can complete time sheets and “tick boxes” on project gantt charts.

For many organisations, this is a desired outcome that delivers a pay cheque, some accolades and possibly some expected results, but key benefits of a successful or important strategic imperative are often missed.

You’ve won the battle, but unfortunately lost the war.

Governance rather than management poses key questions that should be considered and answered when scoping project or program resources including:

• What does project success look like?
• Is the project outcome strategically aligned with the company’s vision? and
• Will the business case metrics that originally funded the project actually be met?

Knapp also explored an often ignored aspect of “company maturity”, an interesting take on an organisation’s capability to deal with an experienced, long range perspective on projects and programs.  He ventured that the more mature an organisation is, the better able they are to realise long term goals, aspirations and also display the flexibility and intelligence to deal with project adversity and unforeseen circumstances.

So, are we doing the right projects as well as doing projects right??  Let’s talk some more.

 Author:  Ray Trevisan, Client Services, RNC Global Projects

*  Acknowledgement to Michael Knapp, Presentation “Optimising Project Success: The Missing Piece” – 17 August 2011, PMI Sydney www.pmisydney.org

 Portfolios Programs Projects – simply making them happen

I’ve been reading a book that I simply must recommend to you. Written by Kimberly Wiefling, ’Scrappy Project Management’  is one of the top ten PM books in the US, and it’s quite honestly the best book on the subject of PM that I’ve read in ages – and I read heaps of them!  

Wiefling specialises in breakthrough leadership and project management excellence on a global scale, and in ‘Scrappy Project Management’ we are taken on a fascinating journey through ‘the 12 predictable and avoidable pitfalls every project faces’. 

This book is for people who manage projects in the real world.  According to Wiefling, “Projects are messy, and if you want to succeed you need the tools to do it!”  Well, ‘Scrappy Project Management’  is filled with reminders of what we PMs do, why we do it and how it can all go wrong so easily.  There are literally hundreds of insightful gems and quotes that really challenge your thinking. 

Here are just a few of my favourite quotes to interest you to further reading…

“Running a project (or program) without first defining success is the equivalent of trying to steer a large boat by paddling with your hands; you’ll end up wherever the current takes you.”

“The major problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred” – George Bernard Shaw

“I’ve had it with PMs who think their entire job can be done from a keyboard.”

“You can con a sucker into committing to an impossible deadline; but you can’t con him into delivering it.”

“If you are absolutely dependent on your pay check to survive, then do yourself a favour and don’t be a project manager.”

“There is only one boss; the customer and he can fire everybody in the company form the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else” – Sam Walton

“When we see someone else fail, it’s easy to assume they are just stupid; but when we fail, it’s simply an honest mistake or sheer bad luck. They should have seen it coming, but we were understandably taken by surprise, an innocent victim of circumstance outside our control”.

I could go on and on, but I’d end up reproducing the entire book! My own copy is highlighted, underlined and totally dog eared!  It’s one of those books you can pick up again and again and each time you discover a completely new idea to ponder.

   Click here to get your copy. 

My favourite quote so far is, “No executive ever let their own rules stop them from doing what was in their own best interest.”

‘Scrappy Project Management is fun and worth the read… and I highly recommend it.

Happy reading!

Diane

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‘IT Project Success’ is a panel presentation and discussion forum to be held next month in Sydney. I’m delighted to be one of the presenters and invite you to register to attend this FREE event. Other speakers include Dr Alan Thorogood, Senior Visiting Fellow at the School of Strategy and Entrepreneurship; and Peter Grant from Intelligent Business Research Services.
The event is sponsored by Telstra and hosted by the University of South Australia’s Doctor of IT Management Program. It should be a lively evening, so don’t forget to register!

Please email moira.lawler@unisa.edu.auto register your attendance

Hope to see you there…

Diane

Change. Yes, it’s time to discuss this frequently used term that can cause grown PMs to run for cover.   I prepared a presentation for a client to use with their management team (and yes, I slipped a couple of slides in there about RNC) to help explain and support the need to do things differently.  Their challenge is that they continue with group training, team building exercises, culture surveys, etc, and yet projects and business, as usual, struggle…  and change is stymied.  

The presentation clarified why the old approach doesn’t work and that you can’t cause change unless the individual feels okay about it.  It was a resounding success and we are now all focussing on the key building block of the organisation – the individual.

  View my CHANGE presentation here.

To the question “How do we improve project and program outcomes”?, we answered, “Improve governance, dictate the procedure of methodology and increase the frequency, content and nature of reporting”. Clearly this was logical, but……

Have we succeeded?  Many people argue that in fact the ‘overhead’ hasn’t helped at all.  The PMO in many cases is seen as a reporting overhead staffed by ‘police’ who care more about the reports and the paperwork than outcomes.

Executives feel good about all the information, safe in the knowledge that there is sufficient overview of their projects and programs. PMOs have become a safety blanket…until it all goes wrong.

Why are projects and programs still failing? Have we in fact asked and answered the right question?  Have we lost sight of the real reason we are here and the real opportunity to add and realise value?

Unless we are perceived to add value we will become a passing fad – and we have too much to offer to let that happen.

It’s not too late. In fact, there is a simple question we can ask that will refocus our thinking and our approach and help PMOs be seen as really adding value.

PMOs can achieve relevance, respect and acknowledged contribution. Who wants to be consigned to history like the quality guys? And who remembers knowledge management?  Let’s fight for relevance through contribution – you don’t have to fail.

As PM’s focus, and are often driven to focus, on the paperwork and reports, someone still has to focus on delivery – and that now tends to be the sponsor. The way to give sponsors back their time is to ensure the PM is big enough, brave enough, capable enough and accountable enough to step up and actually drive the project.

The paperwork is not the purpose of the project!