During a discussion with a client it suddenly hit me. Here we were talking about improving project management in the company but what was staring us in the face was the need to have a driver; the vehicle had no one steering it!
The driver was senior management. They were too busy; they failed to engage with the new project management processes. They wanted and expected delivery of the agreed agenda but took little part in ensuring projects were well sponsored – in some cases there was a complete absence of sponsorship leaving project managers floundering. In addition:
• project monitoring was not seen as essential to project success
• project boards got bogged down with low level detail
• expected delivery dates were far too optimistic with resources available
Do not get the impression that the company was not delivering against projects. It was. However, it could have delivered a lot quicker and easier if senior managers only played their part.
Senior managers failed their driving test!
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Interested in hearing what you suggested to the client. Do they have a PMO initiative?
Veronica
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Great question Veronica.
My contact runs the project office and we are looking at different ways of linking in with senior managers including a learning workshop with key project managers to feedback to senior managers. We are also running a workshop for another new group of managers so that should be interesting and contribute to the debate!
Ron, the majority of PMOs are not used as a strategic resource. I think this has much to do with whether it is reporting to the right executive, centralised and valued.
I blogged and linked to a survey examining the value of the PMO at: http://community.ca.com/blogs/ppm/archive/2009/03/25/pmo-value-survey-results.aspx
Thanks Pradeep…but to mention a survey based on your own company….
Regards
Ron
I have worked a contract Project manager for several companies. It is spot on that senior management have little to no time to invest in Project management. What I found amazing was proposed projects were often very poorly communicated prior to development only to find later that major stakeholders torpedoed the plans several months into development – literally costing companies tens of thousands in fees. Billy Gee