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Our PMO Career Path: Three Underestimated Concepts

careers pmo project management ruffin veal iii Mar 14, 2022
Our PMO Career Path: Three Underestimated Concepts

Welcome to this edition of the ProjectTalk newsletter. 

Along our professional journey each of us who aspires advancement to higher levels of PM management must develop certain skillsets that become second-nature. Although there are many, this edition will focus on three that I believe to be primary and often underestimated topics of importance at different points in our careers. At those points in time it is essential that we have developed a solid understanding of the principles involved.

Enjoy.

How to Scope your Projects

Pretty elementary right? Not so fast.  It's often said that to define the scope of a project, you need to be a mind reader. The reason is that early on in the project, no one really knows what the scope is and everyone has a different opinion when asked. Projects are then started and the probability of success is greatly decreased from the beginning. This principle is one of the MOST important concepts that a PM must master. 

Its importance and management CANNOT be underestimated!

The "project scope" is all of the things that must be produced to complete a project. These 'things' are called deliverables and you need to describe them in depth as early in the project as possible, so everyone knows what needs to be produced. Take these 5 Steps to scope your projects:

Step 1: Set the Direction
Start off by setting the direction for the project. Do you have an agreed Project Vision, Objectives and Timeframes? Are they specified in depth and has your customer agreed to them? Does everyone in the project team truly understand them and why they are important? Only by fixing the project direction can you truly fix the project scope.

Step 2: Scope Workshops
The best way to get buy-in to your project scope is to get all of the relevant stakeholders to help you define it. So get your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders in a room and run a workshop to identify the scope. What you want from them is an agreed set of major deliverables to be produced by the project. You also want to know "what's out of scope".

Run the workshop by asking each stakeholder for a list of the deliverables they expect the project team to deliver. Take the full list of deliverables generated in the workshop and get them to agree on what's mandatory and what's optional. Then ask them to prioritize the list, so you know what has to be delivered first.

Step 3: Fleshing it out
You now have an agreed list of deliverables. But it's still not enough. You need to define each deliverable in depth. Work with the relevant people in your business to describe how each deliverable will look and feel, how it would operate and how it would be supported etc. Your goal here is to make it so specific that your customer cannot state later in the project that "when they said this, they really meant that".

Step 4: Assessing Feasibility
So, you now have a detailed list and description of every deliverable to be produced by your project, in priority order and separated as mandatory / optional. Great! But is it feasible to achieve within the project end date? Before you confirm the scope, you need to review every deliverable in the list and get a general indication from your team as to whether they can all be completed before your project end date. If they can't, then which deliverables can you remove from the list to make your end date more achievable?

Step 5: Get the thumbs up
Present the prioritized set of deliverables to your Project Sponsor and ask them to approve the list as your project scope. Ask them to agree to the priorities, the deliverable descriptions and the items out of scope.

By getting formal sign-off, you're in a great position to be able to manage the project scope down the track. So when your Sponsor says to you in a few weeks’ time "Can you please add these deliverables to the list?" you can respond by saying "Yes, but I'll either have to remove some items from the list to do it, or extend the project end date. Which is it to be?" You can easily manage your Sponsors expectations with a detailed scope document at your side.

The scope document is the Project Manager's armor. It protects them from changes and makes them feel invincible! 

TIP: Be sure to periodically revisit your scope document to ensure that it remains relevant throughout the life cycle of the project. 

And there you have it - 5 steps to defining the scope for your project.

5 Steps to Hiring the Right Staff

A project management professional not having the “right staff with the right stuff” is like a chef preparing a meal without the right ingredients. You can follow the recipe (Agile, Waterfall, Scrum) but the meal (deliverable) will never turn out as expected (failed project). To ensure you hire the right staff for the right roles, take these steps:

  1. Define the Role

Sounds easy, but defining the role properly is the most important step to take when recruiting new staff. You need to create a Job Description document that describes the:

  • Purpose and responsibilities of the role;
  • Reporting and communication relationships;
  • Skills, experience and qualifications needed;
  • Team fit and performance criteria;

Salary/rate/commission and 

  •  benefits; and
  • Work environment and special conditions.
  1. Find Top Candidates

Next, advertise the role both internally and externally. Make your advert as specific as possible by listing the key responsibilities. Explain the challenges that they will face. List any special requirements. Make it sound enticing, but don't oversell it.

Then while the adverts are running identify your selection criteria for interviews, based on the characteristics in the Job Description.

When the adverts close, review your list of applicants against the selection criteria and choose between 3 and 5 applicants to interview.

  1. Interview Candidates

Next, interview the selected candidates. Make sure you prepare fully for each interview, so don't just "wing it". For every interview, you should:

  • Prepare a list of questions before you start.
  • Cover all areas of the Job Description during the interview.
  • Address any strengths and weaknesses from their CV.
  • Consider the quality of the questions they've posed to you.
  • Be specific, direct and to the point at all times.

Don't be afraid to take notes during the interview. You will find that if you're interviewing more than 3 candidates, you will need to rely on the interview notes heavily when progressing to the next stage.

  1. Test Candidates

Depending on the type of role you're recruiting for, you may also want to formally test your candidates. Here are 10 ways that you can test candidates to determine their suitability against the Job Description:

  1. Perform personality, competency and numerical testing.
  2. Get them to send samples of work completed in the past.
  3. Ask them to perform specific project tasks. For instance, if hiring a software developer, get them to write you an example program.
  4. Perform a second interview with management.
  5. Get them to meet the team and allow the team to ask questions.
  6. Take them for lunch with your team and see how they socialize.
  7. Get them to do a formal presentation to your team.
  8. Seek 3 professional references, all from past employers.
  9. Ask them for 2 personal references, for character checking.
  10. Speak to their prior customers to confirm their competency.
  11. Select Candidate

Based on the interview and test results, the next step is to select the right person for the job. If you have a number of people that you can't decide between, then here are your options:

  • Hire neither and start again. It's difficult to do this as you've put in a lot of work to get to this point. But it may be better to start again than hire a candidate who will not meet your needs fully.
  • Hire both and deliver earlier. In some cases you can split a Job Description in two and allocate the responsibilities to more than one person. It's challenging and risky doing this, but in some cases you can deliver the project earlier and at the same cost by hiring 2 gifted candidates at the same time.
  • Select the best candidate. In most cases you're landed with this option. If both candidates are "on an even par", then don't pass the decision on to someone else, go with your gut feel. We could give you numerous statistical testing methods to choose the right person, but at the end of the day they have to be able to do the job and fit in with your team—and only you will know which candidate is best to do this.

Your ability to hire the right people will determine your success as a Project Manager. So take your time and use this recruitment process to choose wisely.

Setting up a Project Office

Building the pyramids required a vision and a plan. Your PMO organization will require the same.

At some point in your project career, you might need to set up a Project Office. Here are some things to consider.

  1. What is a Project Office?

A Project Office is a department responsible for improving project management within an organization. It's a permanent department within an organization, not a temporary function. It's there to coordinate projects and ensure they have the right tools, standards, methodologies and templates needed to boost their chances of success.

  1. Are there different types?

There are 3 types of Project Offices:

  • The Supportive Project Office. This is the most common type of Project Office. Its purpose is to empower Project Managers and teams to deliver projects. It doesn't control or direct projects. Instead it supports projects by offering training, mentoring, administration and reporting.
  • The Controlling Project Office. Supportive services may not be enough to put projects back on track. By offering controlling services (such as project reviews, audits and assessments), the Project Office can influence project delivery. It may also enforce project standards and processes to minimize project risk.
  • The Directive Project Office. The least common, but sometimes most effective type of Project Office, is one that directs projects. Here, the Project Managers report to the Project Office, which is directly responsible for the success of each project. This helps to group the project work within an organization to being under one department-the Project Office.
  1. Which type is suitable?

Read these tips to decide which type of Project Office is best for you:

  • If you're implementing a Project Office for the first time, then the "Supportive" model is best. It helps you add value to projects by offering reporting, training and monitoring services, without taking on the responsibility for the projects themselves.
  • If you have an established Project Office and you want to ensure that projects are independently assessed, then the "Controlling" model is best. You can directly influence the success of projects, as well as implement best practices, standards and tools.
  • If your organization has a small set of high risk projects at any one time, then usually the "Directive" model is best.
  1. What are the responsibilities?

The Project Office is responsible for:

  • Resolving common project problems;
  • Implementing the right project tools;
  • Monitoring and reporting on status; and
  • Improving project success rates.
  1. How do you set one up?

 

Take these 4 steps:

Project Office Initiation: Define the role of the Project Office, obtain clear sponsorship and document the Project Office Charter. Seek funding and appoint a Steering Committee to oversee the operation. Appoint staff, obtain a premise and install the office furniture, computer equipment and communications. Whew!

Project Office Planning: Then select the project software you need to run it. Procure and implement the tools in your Organization. Then create a detailed plan outlining the Project Office services you're going to perform (such as project reporting and auditing).

Project Office Execution: You're now ready to offer your supportive, controlling or directive services to project teams. This will include offering training, mentoring and support. It may also include reviews and assessments or the management of special projects directly.

Project Office Improvement: As it's an on-going operation, you need to constantly improve the level of service offered by your Project Office.

It's a lot of work, but if you take these steps to set up your Project Office then you will deliver more projects on time and under budget.