Best practice around Project Management is a current hot topic.
As Ricardo Vargas, Chair of the Project Management Institute (PMI), said earlier this year at the PMI Global Congress EMEA in Amsterdam, "the time is now for Project management".
ESI International, who earlier this year revealed their Top 10 Project Management Trends set to impact private and public sector organisations in 2009, identified Navigating Virtual teams Through Change as a key project management trend for these recessionary times. As they say here, "as budgets tighten, the role of virtual teams will grow along with the demand for the skill sets to manage them, especially through change. Powerful communication, key management strategies and new rules of engagement will be required to manage virtual teams as organizations seek to effectively shift with the turbulent global economy.".
Organizations are now more than ever beginning to see the value of formalising their project management practices, developing a best practice mindset and putting in place formalized methodologies as well as career and training paths for project managers.
Recently, I have been speaking to Gina Abudi about Project Management Best Practice. She is highly influential and experienced in the world of project management consulting, and can frequently be spotted on the speaker circuit presenting on topical project management issues. The PMI has rated Gina one of its Power 50 which effectively means they see her as one of the 50 most influential executives in project management and at the forefront of the profession's drive to raise its game to ever increasing levels of excellence.
Just under a fortnight ago on Tuesday 13th October, Gina presented at the 2009 PMI Global Congress Proceedings in Orlando, USA on the topic of 'Developing a Project Management Best Practice'. In essence, this means developing a project management mindset within an organization (effectively a best practice approach) supported by a number of key steps to achieve that goal. Here's a quick glimpse of some of the highlights of that talk.
Firstly, here's the Abstract of Gina's paper.
Executives today are interested in developing a best practice around project management within their organizations. Some of this interest stems from the economy and the need to do more with less - reduced timelines to get a product/service to market to increase revenue, smaller budgets to get projects completed, and reduced project management staff due to layoffs and/or restructuring. However, exactly what a "best practice" means is different from organization to organization and in many situations, within the organization the definition of a "best practice" differs from department to department or business unit to business unit. Many organizations are unsure how to go about defining what a "best practice" means for their organization as a whole and how to effectively go about developing a best practice that works for their organization. This paper will focus on the importance of developing a project management mindset - and therefore a best practice - within an organization; including the steps necessary to take to reach the end goal and how to get buy-in from key players within the organization to ensure success.
And here is how Gina defines what organizations are generally thinking about when they look to develop a best practice around a project management function ...
- Standardized processes
- Standardized tools and templates
- Standardized software
- Development of competencies
- Assessment of skills
- Development of a process for resource planning/allocation
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- Development of career paths
- Development of strategic training/education programs
- Formalized mentoring and coaching plans
- Requirement and support for industry certification (CAPM®, PMP®, PgMP®)
- Development and roll out of a PMO function
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A large part of Gina's paper explores the Five-Step Approach that is needed to ensure an organization can make strong headway in the development of its project management best practice. These are :
- Ø Develop PM roles and competencies
- Ø Assess staff against those competencies
- Ø Develop strategic training & mentoring plans
- Ø Develop a knowledge base & support portal
- Ø Continue to monitor, assess and improve
Before any of this can happen though, you need to "get the organization in the loop" advises Gina. This is what she says ....
Prior to getting started, the organization needs to be prepared for the change that is about to occur. Most important is to communicate the value to the organization of establishing a project management best practice. The organization's staff needs to understand the direction the organization is heading in and why. Why do standards need to be put in place? What are the benefits to the organization? What are the benefits to the project management function? Many individuals may believe that things are going just fine as is; nothing needs to change. Remember also that people are resistant to change. You need to develop a team of champions to help you roll out such an initiative. Buy-in is required from all levels of the organization, not just from the top. Get those individuals who are using standardized processes to help in promoting the benefits and value to the organization and individuals in establishing standards around the project management function.
There are multiple ways for educating the organization including: executive overviews (for the senior members of the organization); "lunch and learn" sessions, informal water cooler conversations to create a "buzz" in the office, individual and small group discussions, and through an internal newsletter or via an intranet site.
And finally, here's Gina's summary ...
It is important to remember that it is highly likely that the organization has some standardized processes and best practices in place. Even if they are informal and not known widely throughout the organization you want to understand what processes exist, who "owns" them, do they truly represent a best practice and, if so, how they might be incorporated organization-wide. Communication and getting buy-in is essential for success in developing a project management best practice. Start slowly - testing the waters as you go. Expect that you will have to make adjustments in your plans for developing an organization-wide best practice. Use as much of the current informal processes in place as possible; especially if they are already working effectively and the project management staff is comfortable with them. And again, it can't be emphasized enough - Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!
To see the full version of Gina's White Paper, simply click here. Or, to check out more of Gina's article and discussions around the topic of Project Management, just check out her blog at www.ginaabudi.com.
Gina Abudi has a broad range of consulting experience in strategic planning, business impact and ROI, project management, general management/leadership and needs assessments. She works with clients to develop strategic learning and development programs for all levels of employees, including high potentials and executives.
Gina has been honored as one of the Power 50 from PMI® - one of the 50 most influential executives in project management, working to move the profession forward. She serves on the PM Summit/BA World Advisory Board and is Chair of the Leadership Committee for PMI®'s Global Corporate Council.
Gina has presented at various conferences on Business Impact and ROI Analysis of Project Management Training Programs, Developing a Project Management Best Practice, and Assessing Project Management Skills.
Gina received her MBA from Simmons Graduate School of Management. She blogs at: http://www.ginaabudi.com.
