1

Cashing in on Agile: The One Thing a PMO Can

Do to Really Add ValueAn IIL Whitepaper

By J. LeRoy Ward, Executive Vice President - Enterprise Solutions

There are two dynamic forces impacting Project Management Offi ces (PMOs) today: the percentage and types of people who question the PMO’s value, and the “rise” of agile. Let’s take the “value” issue fi rst. Almost every “State of the PMO” survey published shows that the PMO’s value has been questioned by executives, project and program managers, and business unit heads, among other key stakeholders.

While this may not be surprising (after all, executives are paid to question everything) what is surprising—and disturbing—is the percentage of executives who do. In some organizations, more than half the executives and business unit managers have questioned their PMO’s value in the past twelve months.

Actually, this makes sense when one compares those percentages to PMO mortality rates. Research by the Association for Project Management (APM) shows that fi fty percent of PMOs are terminated after only three years, and other research shows an even greater percentage.i

The second powerful dynamic is the accelerating and global adoption of agile. Although we can trace the offi cial beginnings of agile back to the publication of the Agile Manifestoii (granted, Agile was practiced for years before that), it has only been in the past fi ve years or so where agile has experienced such tremendous growth.

We see evidence of this in the increasing number of:

• Organizations adopting agile

• Agile certifi cations and certifi cation holders (e.g., Certifi ed Scrum Masters)

• Associations, conferences, books and webinars

It is very clear organizations in almost all industry sectors believe that agile, and in particular the Scrum framework, offers great promise in executing their toughest projects.

Yet, as Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber write in their Scrum Guideiii, “Scrum is simple to understand yet diffi cult to master.” And, VersionOne’s 10th Annual State of Agile™ Reportiv gives us an indication of how diffi cult it can be.

2

According to VersionOne the top fi ve barriers to agile adoption are:

1. Company culture is inconsistent with agile values

2. Lack of agile experience

3. Lack of management support

4. Lack of cultural transition support

5. Inconsistent agile practices and process

Organizations, perhaps yours, who are faced with these challenges, aren’t getting the “bang for the buck” they hoped for or expected from agile; and that’s where the opportunity lies for PMOs.

Look at it this way, if you’re PMO Head or work in a PMO whose organization is in the throes of implementing agile but is struggling, this is a situation that has OPPORTUNITY written all over it.

The question is, how do you “cash in on it”? Or more eruditely phrased, “How can you use this predicament to show your PMO’s value, and fast?”

We went in search of that answer.

First, we identifi ed a number of very experienced professionals who were responsible for implementing agile in their organizations and who had a record of success in doing so. These included:

• PMO & Former PMO Directors

• Global Head of Project and Program Management Practice

• Director of Program Management

• Director, Product Management Portfolio

• Leader, Digital Transformation

To round out this group we also identifi ed, and spoke to, a key industry consultant and a respected industry-thought leader.

These professionals worked in a wide range of industry sectors including:

• Financial Services

• Transportation

• Enterprise Software

• Food Processing

• Information Services

• Non-profi ts

• Telecommunications

While most of the professionals had experience with implementing agile in IT, there were two who were responsible for very large implementations of agile outside of IT, providing further evidence of agile’s growth in areas such as hardware, food processing, information services, and marketing.

We asked this group of experienced agile leaders the following question:

What was the one thing you did when implementing agile that really made the biggest impact?Following are their responses. As you read these, note which one(s), if any, would be the ONE THING you would do in your organization to accelerate agile adoption.

3

1. Use a common single agile method Working in a global investment bank who had gone on an acquisition binge, integrating the various IT departments was more challenging given that each group had its own way of employing agile. Accordingly, it was important for the bank to settle on a common approach to reduce confusion in the teams and with the internal client, make it easier for IT professionals to change teams and not have to relearn another approach, and facilitate a global training and development effort. Thus, getting everyone “on the same page” was an important, and critical way, of getting agile adopted quickly and effi ciently.

2. Engage the client and empower the Product OwnerSeveral of our respondents said that this was the most important element of their success. One of the fundamental tenets of agile is having the business involved on a daily basis. This was new to most business managers, and many resisted spending the time needed with the Scrum teams on their sprints claiming they were just “too busy” to get that involved. But doing agile well takes time and effort from both the agile developers and the Product Owner. Agile is not just a new IT process; it’s a new business process, so getting these business managers working effi ciently as Product Owners, and granting them the authority to do so, was paramount for an effective agile implementation.

3. Get the executives on boardWhile one would be surprised if this wasn’t a key to success, in this particular organization, agile didn’t even stand a chance unless and until the executives demonstrated their support for it from the get-go. Clearly, this is very much a “top down” organization where the “top brass” almost had to order that it be given a chance. Our respondent made sure that the execs not only agreed to support agile, they had to support it in a very visible way.

4. Pilot a project to show it worksThere’s an old expression in business that goes something like this: When all is said and done, there’s a lot more said than done! Clearly, in this person’s organization, progress speaks for itself. If anyone wants to convince the executive team of agile’s value, it has to show them the value. Therefore, the professional we spoke to did just that, by using a pilot project to demonstrate how agile works and the benefi ts it could bring to the organization. By the way, in a recent Harvard Business Review article titled Embracing Changev, Sutherland, et al. recommend that organizations start with a small project.

5. Establish the right metricsData driven decision making is a hot topic today. We can see this in the fi eld of data analytics, in the Watson Initiative from IBM, and in the thousands of high-paying jobs in data analysis. Sure, we need the right metrics to prove agile’s value, but we shouldn’t go overboard. Our respondent told us that she collected metrics from traditional projects, established a handful of key agile metrics, and then compared results after a year or so. The results were clear: the agile approach, in almost all instances, yielded more projects coming in on time, on budget and to scope, three key metrics. Establishing those metrics made a difference in this organization because it clearly showed the difference between traditional project management and agile.

6. Train EVERYONE Let’s be honest, as a corporate training provider with a comprehensive offering in Agile and Scrum, this response resonated with us at IIL. But, it’s a point well taken. Agile is not just for IT departments. Certainly, business professionals need to know their role, and executives need to understand how they fi t in as well; how they can help or hurt agile implementation. And the developers, the people who actually get the job done, know how to work as a self-organizing team. You’re only doing one third of the job if you’re only training Scrum Masters and thinking that the product owners and developers can fi gure it out on their own. Well, they can fi gure it out, but it’ll take more time that way. Remember, you want to show value fast. In this organization, training everyone really made the difference because they had the knowledge they needed to get started.

7. Develop a Strategic RoadmapThis response was from our industry consultant who had worked with many companies and organizations. Her suggestion is quite simple: get a few of the organization’s key players around a conference table from anywhere to a half-day to two days to map out the agile strategy going forward. In other words, run the agile

4

implementation like a project, but an agile one. Once you have the roadmap, everyone knows where they’re headed. Sure, you can take some “side trips” but you know your ultimate destination.

The results…

Based on these responses it was clear that while each one of our experienced professionals had their “one thing” there was no “ONE THING” they all did……EXCEPT…….

When we asked people “Whose support do I need?” they said executive and business leader support is crucial because agile implementation doesn’t happen overnight. It can take 3-4 years for enterprise-wide adoption.

Moreover, during our conversations each person revealed that they all used agile coaches for support. In other words, they didn’t just train everyone and hoped for the best; they made sure their teams had access to coaches who not only knew the agile process, but could also provide advice on how to overcome the inevita-ble cultural barriers they were going to confront during their journey.

Here are the key takeaways: • You need to identify your ONE THING in your organization to implement agile quickly

• Build as much executive support as possible

• Use coaches to accelerate adoption

• Demonstrate that agile works early in the game

• Identify a few key metrics to prove it works

About the Author J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, CSM, GWCPM, SCPM is a highly respected consultant and adviser to Global Fortune 500 Corporations and government agencies in the areas of project, program and portfolio management. With more than 38 years of government and private sector experience, LeRoy specializes in working with senior executives to understand their role in project and program sponsorship, governance, portfolio management and the strategic execution of projects and programs.

About International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL)IIL’s commitment to improving organizational performance with Intelligence, Integrity, and Innovation has made us a trusted learning provider to global companies in more than 150 countries, for over 25 years. We specialize in training and certifi cation, coaching and mentoring, consulting, and customized course development.

Contact us today to request a free consultation.Website: www.iil.com/onsitePhone: +1-212-758-0177Email: learning@iil.com

_________________________________________

i Ian Needs, Why PMOs Fail: 5 Shocking PMO Statistics, KeyedIn Projects, January 1, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.keyedin.com/keyedinprojects/article/why-pmos-fail-5-shocking-pmo-statistics, February

7, 2017

ii Manifesto for Agile Software Development, 2001, Retrieved from http://agilemanifesto.org/, February 7, 2017

iii Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, The Scrum Guide™, The Defi nitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game, July 2013, Retrieved from http://www.scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v1/scrum-guide-us.

pdf, February 7, 2017

iv VersionOne, 10th Annual State of Agile Report, VersionOne.com

v Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland, and Hirotaka Takeuchi, Embracing Agile, Harvard Business Review, May 16, 2016

© 2017 International Institute for Learning, Inc.