Leveraging Your PMO to Start the Right Projects Right PMI-SVC PMO Forum May 26, 2010 Scott Hamilton Sacramento Superior Court Personal Introduction Background – Sacramento Superior Court 2 years, Intel prior to that Result of experiences is this presentation – area of focus Fundamental problems are occurring earlier in the process Page 1.1 in handout print 35 copies in the room ready the PRF & charter

Presentation Objective Stress the importance of starting the right projects right Provide practical suggestions for leveraging your PMO to select the right projects and start them right SURVEY . solid project delivery process? . solid project evaluation process? abundance of guidance on running a solid project how do we confirm early we have the right project how do we take the right steps early, as change gets more expensive with time how do we leverage our PMO to provide this influence practical suggestions and templates Page 1.2 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Starting the wrong project wrong? The project manager walks into his boss' office and says, "Here is the bottom line budget needed for the success of the project.“ The boss says, "What can you do for half the money?“ The project manager says, "Fail.“ The boss says, "When can you get started?“ The project manager says, "I think I just did.“ -- from Jokester.com SURVEY . how many have experienced this? How do we fix it? How do we establish standard processes and improve them over time to avoid this type of ad hoc situation? Why? More consistent, quality, measurable outcomes from our project factory Page 1.3 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Leveraging your PMO to Start the right projects right Finances are tight, business has to run lean Need repeatable, high quality results from project factory PMO, PMs, Executive Decision Makers to feed the factory with the right product mix Page 2.1 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Sorting out the Projects Work Project Rules “… temporary endeavor …” Size of Effort Complexity Organizational Impact Business Criticality Adjust the rules as you go ? Work Work PM Overhead One of the first hurdles we have to clear is projects vs. non-projects Projects have overhead, but it’s required for quality outcomes Avoid and learn from miscategorizations Why? To ensure that project overhead is well suited to the work payload Consistently applied to product consistent, quality results Goal is to reduce, not eliminate unknowns Page 2.2 in handout Projects Creating Processes Series of Tasks Collection of Changes Project Management “Non-” Projects Operational Processes Tasks Request For Change Operations Management 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Project Request A Project Request is a formal request documenting a business need to be addressed by a project. It includes: Who represents the business need (name, department) What they want to accomplish (problem, objective, scope) Why they want to accomplish it (measurable benefits) When they want to accomplish it (expected date) Funding / Resources Key Points Customer’s language (commitment, business benefit) Level of authority for submission & approval (Executive Sponsor) Criteria for “valid” requests (less than 80 hours, clear scope) 12:15 PRF is our template, being refined and distributed, Word template in back of packet Why? Key to quantify benefit early in customer’s terms – start the dialog and secure their commitment Comment on tangible vs. intangible benefit – for comparison not precision Page 2.3 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Project Analysis Project Analysis consists of assessing the project size (resources, funding), comparing to existing portfolio & priorities, and final disposition of the project (status, start date, Project Manager) Key Points Project Assessment (100K ft view) Project Portfolio & Priorities Resource Planning Calendar Financial Cycle Review Key is to get a high-level resource estimate for all impacted divisions to enable further planning Needs to be good enough for relative comparison of cost/benefit Also sets a baseline for future work Page 3.1 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Project Portfolio A Project Portfolio is the collection of projects being considered and managed at any point in time The portfolio is managed like a financial portfolio: Where would you invest your limited resources ($, staff) for the biggest return? How does the project align with your organizational goals? Address changes over time (reprioritize, stop/start) SURVEY . how many actively manage the project portfolio? Page 3.2 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Resource Planning Calendar Reserve limited resources & funding to “slot” the project on the Master Project Schedule Avoid resource contention and realistically forecast and manage supply & demand for fiscal cycle Revisit previous planning decisions some do it with fiscal year, some quarterly organize around financial calendar in cycle vs. out of cycle requests resource gaps Page 3.3 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Leveraging your PMO to Start the right projects right You’ve identified a quality project, get it started on a quality path Before kick-off, before significant resources have been expended Why? No resources to waste, highest probability of success, changes are expensive later Page 4.1 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Project Initiation Request - Accept customer requests for new projects Initiated Project Business Need Stop Re-scope 12:30 Typical life cycle Initiation before planning Page 4.2 in handout Request - Accept customer requests for new projects Approval - Establish resources, funding, and project priority Initiation - Initiate the project (Kick-Off) under an agreed upon contract with the stakeholders (Project Charter) 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Project Charter & Kick-Off A Project Charter is a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project, and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.* Developing the Project Charter may require several meetings with the Sponsor and Stakeholders to refine what was provided in the Project Request. A Project Kick-Off is a meeting to signify the initiation of the project. It is a forum to: Introduce and level-set all key stakeholders on the purpose, scope, and goals of the project as defined in the Project Charter Ratify the team membership & approach to move to the next phases of the project (Planning, Execution, etc.) *A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Fourth Edition, ©2008 Project Management Institute We chose more of a two-way contract than is described by this definition Lots of up front meeting work This is your contract from PRF and analysis and meetings Not unchangeable but binding for both parties Limit scope vs. strict follow-through on future scope for customers Revisit Cost/Benefit Manage the triangle – set the boundaries now (Scope, Schedule, Budget, Quality) Page 4.3 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Leveraging your PMO to Start the right projects right What role can the PMO play in ensuring these key activities happen Page 5.1 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Program Management Office “Admin PMO” “Hands-On PMO” Project Management Support Direct Project Management “Influential PMO” Key decision-maker in early phases of Project Definition Active manager of Project Requests, Analysis, Portfolio, Resource Calendar Fill the gap from business objectives (Sponsor) to project outcomes (Project Manager) Independent 3rd party to ensure best practices compliance Assuming PMO is taking an active role in managing the project requests, analysis, portfolio, resource calendar Page 5.2 in handouts 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

PMO Action Items Enact and monitor Project Rules to guide when the project process is engaged Capture customer business needs in their language via quality Project Requests that specify the Business Impact / Benefit Perform data-based Project Analysis to evaluate candidate projects and place them in the Project Portfolio and on the Resource Calendar Initiate projects with a clear scope in mind (Project Charter) and the appropriate resources to plan against that scope (Project Kick-Off) Embrace the “unhappy” path and continuously improve via measured results Page 5.3 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

Conclusion Stress the importance of starting the right projects right Provide practical suggestions for leveraging your PMO to select the right projects and start them right 12:45 abundance of guidance but it’s important to begin with the end in mind Page 6.1 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO

… the end in mind Despite best intentions, there will be ambiguity and other pressures that impact our projects – the real work now begins One step at a time with continuous improvement PMO has a critical function to instill processes, concepts, terminology that allow us to communicate and deliver consistent, quality results Ensure the project goals are clearly documented, tracked, and communicated from high-level request all the way down to the detailed deliverables Give ourselves the best shot by starting the right projects right Page 6.2 in handout 05/26/2010 Leveraging Your PMO