Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Clarion Consulting Project Management Practices in Irish Organisations Dublin September 12 th, 2007
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Agenda Does Project Management Matter ? Clarion Position on Project Management Methodology for Survey Survey Results –Organisation –People –Processes –Tools Conclusions Recommendations Q & A
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Why PM matters ? Operations Projects Time Focus Changing Nature of Organisations
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Clarion Position Clarion position on Project Management –PM is a discipline in itself which requires a different mix of skills and capabilities than functional management –It is about building overall organisational capability which can provide competitive advantage –Successful organisations take a holistic approach –There is no one size fits all approach and no silver bullet –It is a journey – you are climbing a maturity ladder
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Methodology Survey carried out online in January Enterprise organisations and public sector bodies invited 52 responses completed
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Methodology – Response By Sector
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Methodology – Response By Size
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Four Elements of Survey 32 Questions covering the following elements –Organisation –People –Processes –Tools
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007
Organisation Sought to understand :- –Organisational Structure –Degree of Strategic Alignment –Pattern of Completion –Reasons for Failure
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Org – Rate Your Capability So : >90% feel they are satisfactory or better
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Org - Projects Completed in 12 months
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Org – Presence of a PMO
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Org – Alignment with Strategy Only 31% state that projects are always aligned with strategy 52% state that projects are usually aligned with strategy 17% state that projects are sometimes aligned with strategy
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Org – Completion Patterns 23% state that up to half their projects are delivered over budget 28% state that up to half of their projects are delivered late
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Org – Other Project Failure – Top 5 –Scope Creep –Unrealistic Timeframes –Inadequate Staffing –Unclear Objectives –Poor Communication Does anyone believe that these are different than 5 years ago ?
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Conclusions – Organisation Organisations are spending ever increasing amounts on projects but many of them do not appear to regard pm capability as strategic Not enough Executives see Project Management as a discipline Project Selection processes are suspect A significant number of projects finish over time, over budget or both Projects continue to fail for the same reasons
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People Sought to understand –Patterns of Employment –Skillbase –Sponsorship
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 People – Patterns of Employment 21% of organisations have no dedicated project managers 13% have more than 20 project managers 67% use a mix of in house and contracted 31% use exclusively in house 29% state that they use externals for capacity
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 People - Skills 65% state that people managing projects are certified/trained –sometimes 23% usually employ certified PMs 27% believe that PMs are only sometimes experienced enough – only 60% say PMs are usually experienced enough There are a lot of projects with inexperience/untrained Project Managers
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 People - Is there a Sponsor
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 People – Is the Sponsor Effective
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Conclusions – People The majority use a mix of in-house and external staff Organisations do not assess skills and capabilities sufficiently when assigning projects Sponsors are usually assigned but in a significant number of cases are not effective
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Processes Sought to Understand –Use of methodologies –Selection Process –Governance – Reporting/Issues/Risk –Change Management –Regular Review of PM processes
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – Defined Methodology
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – Consistency of Use
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – Selection of Projects Return on Investment –62% do not consistently document ROI as part of the business case process –Only 21% always include ROI Definition of Critical Success Factors –65% said that they usually define these up front –35% said they only sometimes do So : How do we hope to measure Project Outcomes ?
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – Reporting Slippages
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – Timely Reporting & Budget Control
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – Use of Change Management < 50% always or usually have effective change management
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Process – PM Process Review 21% of organisations do not engage in any form of on-going review of pm processes 35% do sometimes So : the loop is not being closed and lessons are not being learned
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Conclusions – Processes A significant number of organisations have no methodology in place Of those that do a large number cannot say it is being used consistently ROI and CSFs are not consistently included in business cases Change Management is not used widely enough Reporting, Issue and Risk management all have a lot of room for improvement PM processes are not subject to constant review – Organisations are missing learning opportunities
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Tools Sought to Understand –PM software being used –PPM software being used
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Tools – Use of Software 40% sometimes use PM software 13% never use it 62% believe that they are not using tools effectively and consistently 87% do not use any portfolio management software yet more than half have over 21 projects completed in the last 12 months
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Conclusions – Tools Majority of organisations believe that they are not using PM tools consistently and effectively PPM tools are at the early stage of adoption in Ireland Many organisations have enough projects to benefit from the use of a PPM tool
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Conclusions - Overall There is a significant PM deficit in Irish organisations –Organisation –People –Processes –Tools We can learn from the success of others –Take a holistic approach
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Holistic Approach Doing things rightDoing the right things
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007 Recommendations Learn from what successful organisations do :- –Recognise Project Management as a discipline –Assess your capabilities objectively –Commit to improving maturity level –Focus on strategic alignment –Assess your structure and consider the case for a PMO –Take a Holistic Approach –Remember this is a journey
Copyright Clarion Consulting 2007