Successful project management offices (PMOs) are too rare. Here are nine tips from senior managers who have built a flourishing PMO that delivers real value.
Category Archives: Projects
A New Way to Run Projects
Hybrid project management is a new way to manage projects. It is a mashup of predictive and adaptive approaches.
Pint-size Portfolio Management
This simple dashboard for a small portfolio it is a great way to communicate, monitor status, and encourage good discussions about what projects can or should be undertaken.
Tailoring management approach to project characteristics
One size does not fit all Not in clothing (I am tall so I feel this first hand), nor in managing projects. Tailoring is required, whether for a high level decision such as selecting which framework a project-based organization will use, or for details, such as how to apply a standard technique on a specific […]
Poor project portfolio management (PPM) criteria
Sorry for being silent this fall. I’ve been teaching my class in OHSU’s MBA in Healthcare Management program, and it took just about every minute I could find. During the class segment on project portfolio management, we read the article “Evaluation Methods for Hospital Projects” by Buelow, Zuckweiler, and Rosacker. This article looks at how […]
Persistence by CEO required
These real stories illustrate how a CEO successfully builds a project-based organization. The first story is about persistence. Executive Shuffle Projects at a high tech manufacturing company were missing schedules, blowing budgets, and not delivering expected benefits. Worse, management wasn’t finding out about project surprises until just before the projects were supposed to deliver. They […]
Engage leaders in projects: the CEO’s role
My previous post described the first two aspects of a CEO’s role in a project based organization. The remaining aspects are to engage leaders at the right points in projects and to use systems thinking for consistency and repeatability. Engage leaders Ensure that key projects have effective sponsors. I think of a sponsor as […]
Project culture: the CEO’s role
“What is the CEO’s role in a project-based organization?” Recently a group of CEO’s who run SMB businesses (from $5M to $400M USD in annual revenues) asked me to address that question. I thought through the list of organizations that I’ve helped enhance project capabilities. Five common threads emerged despite the wide variety of industries […]
Transformation projects need early victories
Creating early victories is essential in transformation projects. Recently the Transformation Center asked me to run a workshop and some coaching for the current cohort of Oregon’s Clinical Innovation Fellows. Sponsored by the Oregon Health Authority, these clinicians spend a year learning about transformational leadership and working on projects that have the potential to transform […]
Agile outside of software
Agile can apply outside of the software development environment, too. My final example to the group illustrates how the City of Portland uses it to manage a sewer system! Several years ago, my colleague Jean Richardson trained the civil engineering staff at the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services in Scrum. “Portland’s city sewer […]