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PMO Leadership – Educators, Mentors and Trainers

leadership project management ruffin veal iii Feb 07, 2022

As PMO management, our PMO organizations are only as strong and competent as those who report to us. 

In addition to our executive management responsibilities, we are now called upon to be mentors, educators and trainers as well.

We must define the expected standards of practice and performance for our organizations. We must “show how it’s done”.

Our journey to PMO Leadership positions has been a long and eventful one. Along the way we have learned both the art and science aspects of professional project management. Our success depends in part on our commitment to pass it on.

From this point forward the ProjectTalk newsletter will focus on items of interest to those who are now where we have been and aspire to be where we are.

-Ruffin Veal III, Principal

Starting New Projects

When you start a new project, you need to follow these 8 "golden rules" to ensure its success...

  1. Sponsorship: You need to have a highly motivated sponsor who understands the criticality of the project on the business and is motivated to making it a success. They need to have the resources available to support you, and the right level of "influence" in the business.
  2. Targets: Sit down with your sponsor and agree specific targets. Make sure they are realistic. Perform a feasibility study to ensure that what is discussed is feasible to achieve. Only agree to the targets if there is sufficient contingency. Add an extra 20% to the budget and timeline if you can.
  3. Scope: Keep your scope to a minimum. If you can't get the contingency you need, then try and negotiate to deliver less than you have to. And if that doesn't work, identify any deliverables that are not on the critical path and negotiate to produce these items after the project deadline has been reached.
  4. Resourcing: Find the best people you can afford. Then find extra people to assist, as further contingency. You will always need more people than you plan for, so you need to identify additional help as a "backup" should you need it. This could include people from other teams in your business, contractors or suppliers.
  5. Planning: Your success will be measured against your ability to deliver against the plan. So plan wisely. Only plan in detail the next few months. After that, plan at a summary level. Never "over-plan" by listing every tiny task for the entire length of the project, as people will hold you to it. Then, stick to the plan.
  6. Processes: Implement processes for managing time, cost, quality, change, risks and issues upfront. Communicate these processes to your entire team and make sure that everyone follows them rigorously.
  7. Tracking: With your plan complete, you need to start tracking progress against it. Track your progress against budget and schedule. Track your risks and issues. Track your work efficiency and your overall percent complete.
  8. Reporting: Report on your project status weekly. Keep your reports brief and 100% accurate. Report the summary level to your Sponsor and the detailed level to your team. Focus on the current issues to hand. Remember that your project report can be a great motivational tool to rally everyone behind the project and focus them on the outcome. With the whole team motivated to achieve the goals, you have the best chance of success.

These 8 golden rules apply to any size and type of project. One final golden rule is do anything you can to work smart and save time.

5 Tips on Project Reporting

  1. Project status: Create a weekly Project Status Report to show your actual vs. planned effort, percent complete and actual vs. forecast spend. Specify the number of open risks, changes and issues, and state whether action by your Sponsor is required to resolve them. Also show the forecast amount of time, effort and money required to finish the project. Always try and forecast as accurately as possible. Never forecast optimistically, always conservatively.
  2. Task completion: You need to regularly show your Sponsor your progress against the tasks listed on your schedule. Create a summarized view of your project plan and update it to reflect the percent complete for every task. Then append this summary view to your Project Status Report. This way, your Sponsor can drill down to see further information about each task, if they want to.

By offering your Project Sponsor both summary and detailed information weekly makes them feel like your project is an "open book”. They will have all of the information about your project at their finger-tips. This way, you will get more buy-in from your Sponsor and more support when it's needed.

  1. Milestones: You need to add Milestones to your project plan to show when the major project deliverables will be produced. You then need to report on the progress of each milestone to your Sponsor. Show the percent complete of each milestone, and again, forecast the completion dates.

Here's another tip: You will get more out of your team if you motivate them to complete milestones, as opposed to tasks. That's because people are usually proud of the things that they have achieved in life (i.e. milestones), as opposed to the things they have done to achieve them (i.e. the tasks).

  1. Getting help: Project Sponsors don't always want to hear "we're on track and under budget" in their project reports.

They just want to hear the truth. So if you're behind schedule and you need help to get back on track, then tell your sponsor about it in your project reports.

State exactly what you need from them. Show them that you're doing the best you can and that you're the best person for the job, but that you still need their help to deliver the project. If you need more time, money or resources, then ask for it. Don't be afraid. And remember, the best time to ask for help is before you really need it. This gives you contingency, because it always takes time for help to arrive.

  1. One version of the truth: Your project reports need to depict "one version of the truth" to your team. Keep them 100% accurate and be as open as possible about real issues that are affecting your team. Remember that if you communicate an issue to your Sponsor, then it becomes their issue to fix as well. Reporting issues is a great way to share the responsibility for fixing them.

Creating a Project Business Case

The purpose of a Business Case is to justify the project expenditure by identifying the business benefits you're going to deliver. Here's how to create a Business Case in 4 simple steps:

Step 1: Identify the Business Problem

Usually, projects are undertaken to solve a particular business problem or opportunity. So you need to investigate that business problem or opportunity and describe what it is, how it's come about and the timeframes in which it needs to be addressed.

Only with this knowledge, will you truly understand the purpose of the project and the timeframes for delivery. Without this knowledge, it's like building a house without a solid foundation.

Step 2: Identify the Alternative Solutions

Now that you understand the business problem/opportunity in depth, it's time to identify a solution to address it. To ensure that you choose the right solution, take these steps:

  • Identify the alternative solutions
  • Quantify the benefits of implementing each solution
  • Forecast the costs of implementing each solution
  • Assess the feasibility of implementing each solution
  • Identify the risks and issues associated with each solution
  • Document all of this, in your Business Case

Step 3: Recommend a Preferred Solution

Before you rank the solutions, set out the criteria for ranking them and choose a scoring mechanism as well. For instance, you may decide to:

  • score each solution from 1-10, based on their costs and benefits
  • weight each based on criteria which are important to you
  • use a more complicated scoring mechanism

Then go ahead and score your solutions to identify the best solution. Make sure you document the entire process in your Business Case.



Step 4: Describe the Implementation Approach

By now, you have selected a solution and you have confirmed its benefits and costs. The next step is to convince your Project Sponsors that you have thought through the approach for implementing it. So document the steps you're going to take to build the solution for your client. Remember, only with a clearly defined Business Case will you ensure you deliver the business benefits expected by your customer.

Documenting the Business Case is one of the most critical steps in the Project Life Cycle.