What elements of project delivery would your organization see the most benefit from?
As the world is changing and evolving, organizations are always looking for ways to get more value out of their strategic and tactical initiatives. This aligns with the way TSI views delivery teams: not just as cost centers, but as value centers that benefit the organization. For organizations looking to leverage the value of their delivery teams, TSI suggests the following three efforts. Let’s take a look at each element and the key things to consider in each.
- Building Project Management Offices
- Designing and Implementing Portfolio Management Frameworks and Processes
- Improving Business Analysis Capabilities
Building Project Management Organizations
Project management organizations come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and different functional responsibilities. Some are internal groups that create practices, policies, and standards for managing the projects of the organization. Standards include creating project artifacts, tools, or tool kits, evaluating and prioritizing initiatives and projects, managing project resources and activities, managing project budgets, and aligning the organizational view of projects. This does not mean that all of those involved in the PMO are experts on all areas of the organization, but they are likely the best delivery experts in the organization.
A PMO can improve delivery effectiveness by managing the delivery from start to finish in a consistent manner. Projects are selected based on a defined rubric that aligns with the vision of the organization, rather than on favoritism or a first come first serve. The result is the completion of projects in a way that provides the greatest positive impact for the organization.
Designing and Implementing Portfolio Management Frameworks and Processes
As with a PMO, portfolio management helps organizations select projects objectively. While this may sound easy, I’m sure every reader has an example of an organizational initiative that was heavily influenced by personal or political feelings. Furthermore, it may be hard to decide which initiative is more important if the initiative impacts two different areas, such as HR and order fulfillment.
Portfolio management also includes elements of ongoing project evaluation and decision-making for projects that are not progressing as expected. The focus of portfolio management is on objective decision-making for difficult decisions. Portfolio management creates standards that delivery teams can use as guidelines to ensure projects remain on budget and deliver the expected objectives accurately.
Improving Business Analysis Capabilities
Business Analysis provides an element of effective delivery that may be often overlooked. Every project has a desired outcome. The outcome is driven by the collective requirements that dictate the elements of the project. The requirements may range from building footage to technology to functional requirements, all depending on the focus and type of project.
Having strong business analysis capabilities on a delivery team improves delivery effectiveness by ensuring that the desired needs are captured before beginning the project. The result of ‘getting ahead’ can be reduced iterations and limited delays during implementation or build. While subject matter experts may provide strong support for and recognition of the need for change, they are often not trained for how to elicit, gather, document, and manage the most effective requirements. A strong business analyst will be able to capture and synthesize inputs and create a set of formalized requirements that accurately represent the need and can be translated into development.
Bonus Element for Strong Delivery
There is another key part of delivery effectiveness not addressed above. At TSI we feel this element is key to all of our successful engagements and one we weave throughout our engagements. That element is organizational change management. Without it, even the most well-equipped delivery team may struggle.
Organizations may have completed an objective project evaluation, have a clear plan for managing and controlling a project, and have based their project on a strong set of requirements. However, if they have neglected to evaluate their organization’s capacity for change, their project is destined to fail. Organizational change management ensures that the organization understands the vision and the value of the project, the impact it will have, and the process that will be utilized to ensure that it is successful. If there are elements that will pose a risk to the success of the project, organizational change management helps identify those issues early so they can be resolved and overcome with ease.
Why does strong delivery matter?
Organizations engage in project management efforts every day. Some are very successful. Some struggle. The elements of strong delivery outlined above will help any organization move to the next level of delivery effectiveness. If you are interested in talking more about how TSI can partner with you to deliver projects more effectively, reach out and let’s chat!
