strategies and tactics for improved pmo ... - software value pmo... · program management office...

Strategies and Tactics for improved PMO performance

November 2011

We will be starting at 1:00 pm or a few minutes

thereafter as planned.

Tony Timbol

Vice President, David Consulting Group

1

Agenda

1. Promises, promises…

2. Future of IT and Role of the PMO: CEB research

3. Roadmap to the Future

4. Measures and Processes: Its not about words

5. Strategies and Tactics

6. PMO Self-Assessment: Ask your self these 5

questions

2

One this is certain….Complexity and Change

Business

Environment

Technical

Environment

Process

Environment People

Environment

3

PMO Survey: Maturity challenges remain

Recent PMO Survey Available (link at DCG website)

Organizationally - PMO’s are centralized 71%

Customer - Service provided to business 68%

Benefits - Increased value to organization 62%

PM Certification - not required 70%

Maturity - Level 1 - 2 75%

Improvement - better definition of roles (agile) 75%

5

Agenda



3. Roadmap to the Future: ?????????????

4. Change Management, Measures and Processes: Its

not about words


6. PMO Self-Assessment: Ask your self these 5 hard

questions

6

Competing Forces complicate IT delivery…

The IT function is

asked to do many

roles that are

difficult to do

simultaneously

and are often

more closely

related to being

central than to

being IT.

Effective

Project/Program

Management gets

lost in “complex”

environments

7

Future holds Five Radical Shifts…

8

Five Radical Shifts…One of peculiar interest…

9

Agenda



3. Roadmap to the Future: Serving the business

4. Measures and Processes: Its not about words



questions

10

POLL QUESTION #1

11

Roadmap to the future suggests a question…

What is a Project Manager?

• Do you manage or administer projects?

– Planning

– Organizing

– Leading

– Controlling / influencing / change agent

12



Dimensions Administrator Manager/Change Agent

Planning .mpp focused Outcome focused

Organizing

Passive in resource

allocation

Pro-active in team

formation & reformation

(Agile)

Leading

Asks permission Expects forgiveness

Controlling,

Influence, Change

Agent

Accepts authority structures Facilitates needed

changes in authority

structures

13


What role does the PMO have…

• How is your PMO viewed; as Cops or

Coaches or Priests?

– COP: Enforce rules, slap hands

– COACH: Provide inspiration, provide

practical/tactical advise, direction

– PRIEST: Provide cover when things go south,

provide high level strategic principles

14


What role does the PMO have…

Dimensions COP COACH PRIEST

Planning Sets rules and

boundaries

Provides goals and

objectives

Suggests

principles and

ideas

Organizing

Defines roles and

responsibilities

Evaluates talent, move

people around based on

skills

Encourages

positive group

dynamics

Leading

Leads by

authority

Leads by experience Leads by

example

Controlling,

Influence,

Change Agent

Slaps hands when

out of bounds

Practice, evaluate, change

goals, repeat cycle

Warns of dire

results

15

Agenda




4. Change Mangement, Measures and Processes: Its

not about words



questions

16

POLL QUESTION #2

17

Change Management, Measures and Processes: Its

not about the words

Poorly defined, non-monetized change initiatives inevitably fail…

• Why do the change? If your people cannot

answer in 30 seconds, its not defined…

• What’s the financial benefit? If your people

cannot answer with a range of dollar benefits,

then the change will not last

18

PMBOK, CMMI, ITIL, abc123…

• People are moving towards agile and minimalism because

they have to get things done not prove they have been

done.

• Agile and minimalism carries HIGH RISK for larger

projects and for small projects that mutate

• Technology outsourcing, cloud and commoditization shifts

PMs away from technocrat requirements

• PMO adaptation to a business partnership model with

PMs having political, social and change management

skills key to PMO resurgence

• PMO’s are crucial for risk management and risk reduction

in the now and the to be.

19

Change Management, Measures and Processes: Its

not about the words Ad Hoc or Over-artifact vs Process Driven Project Management

• Ad hoc methods, by definition, are not

documented and are dependent on the involved

parties.

• Over-artifact methods, by definition, are very

much documented and are dependent on parties

proving compliance over outcomes.

• Agile, Process driven approach is characterized

by a set of minimally documented processes,

with relevant outcome based measures, for all

activities.

20

Agile is not just for Software, its for Process too!

• Processes and agencies for carrying out the

activities

• Processes and agencies for ensuring quality

• Processes and agencies for defining

organizational processes

• Processes and agencies for measuring process

performance

21

Agile Process Model: Tight loop, close to customer

Acquisition

Initiation

Execution

Closure

Outcome based

software project

management is

about gaining

control and

influence through

the use of reliable

and meaningful

information.

Information

(measures)

becomes the

equalizer in

conversations.

22

Agile Process Model: Simple measurements with

meaning

Acquisition

Initiation

Execution

Closure

Information (measures) becomes the

equalizer in conversations.

23

Acquisition

Initiation

Execution

Closure

Information (measures) becomes the

equalizer in conversations.

Agile Process Model: Simple measurements with

meaning

24

Agenda





not about words



questions

25

POLL QUESTION #3

26

© 2010 David Consulting Group


Source: Adapted from New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)

Project management

• Initiation • Deliverables

• Budget • Scope

• Schedule • Risks

• Resources • Metrics

.

Program management

• Comprehensive program planning

• Change and risk management

• Coordination of project delivery

• Measurement of results

• Business-IT collaboration

.

Scope of Initiatives

S

c

o

p

e

of

W

o

r

k

IT Business-IT Enterprise

Tactical

Strategic

Strategies and Tactics for improved performance

27



Source: Adapted from New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)

IT Business-IT Enterprise

Project management

• Initiation • Deliverables

• Budget • Scope

• Schedule • Risks

• Resources • Metrics

.

Program management

• Comprehensive program planning

• Change and risk management

• Coordination of project delivery

• Measurement of results

• Business-IT collaboration

.

Scope of Initiatives

S

c

o

p

e

o

f

W

o

r

k

Tactical

Strategic

Strategies and Tactics for improved performance


What is the Role of the

PMO?

28



• No ‘one size fits all’ solution

• Understand the culture

• Centralized vs. decentralized

• Expectations need to match maturity

• Prominent position in the organization

• Address risk

Evaluate your Organization’s Structural fitness..

29



Establish a PMO Roadmap…risk is a good place to

start…

A

Define PMO

Goals and

Objectives

B

Risk interviews

PMO Project

personnel

DRisk Map

GOALS Linkage

Risk Heat Map

by GOAL

E

Identify

Governance

Measures and

Metrics

Accepted

Governance

Measure &

Metrics

IMap Data

Needs to Data

Organizational

Data Model

(automated data)

Data Map w/

Needs Flagged

Analytics Data

Model

Other

Data

Sources

GDevelop Risk to

Process Profile

Risk Heat Map

by PROCESSF

Validate Metrics

to Need, Goals

and Values

HDefine

Dashboard

Populate

Dashboard

Implementaton

Dashboard

Defintion

10/21/2010Copyright © 2010All Rights

Reserved

DCG PMO Risk Assessment Roadmap

C

Risk interviews

Stakeholder

personnel

Methods

(PMBOK,

ITIL,

CMMI,

OPM, etc)

30



• Process Mentor

– Promotes best practices

– Provides mentoring and training

– Spot checks and reviews deliverables

– Manages overall infrastructure

• Business Relationship Manager

– Brokering communication between IT and

the business

Change to improve…

31



Best Practices - Improving PMO Effectiveness

Reduce business risk with a

project management office

Optimize resource use with a program management office

Contribute to business growth through a portfolio management office

1. Establish a flexible, end-to-end project management process that balances rigor with overhead

1. Expand PMO oversight to include business and IT projects, and projects sourced externally

1. Position the PMO organizationally outside IS to give it independence and senior management sponsorship

2. Support the process with simple-to-use tools to plan, manage, track and report all project activities

2. Institutionalize project management discipline into the culture to free up resources to focus on program management

2. Enlarge the breadth of PMO influence to extend from strategy formulation through benefits realization

3. Make the tools available over your intranet along with examples and instructional support

3. Use program-level visibility to identify and alleviate resource contention issues

3. Design governance to focus senior management on strategic issues

4. Provide formal training, coaching and mentoring to both IS and the business to develop competent project managers

4. Educate the business, IS and external stakeholders about their shared responsibilities for ensuring program success

4. Integrate benefits realization into the entire life cycle starting with planning, and report on it regularly

5. Be flexible in sourcing and providing project management resources

5. Expand governance body membership to represent the expanded stakeholder set of programs

5. Implement portfolio management tools that provide high-level visibility and analysis that inform decision makers

6. Provide project management assistance, e.g., consulting, problem solving, audits and expertise

6. Establish communications programs to keep all stakeholders informed and committed to program success

6. Broaden PMO staff competencies to include strategic planning and investment analysis

32



Closing the Gap Towards Higher Performance

Planning and Control --

Effective project estimating

following best practices

Governance –

A well defined

decision making process

Measurement & Reporting –

Project, program and portfolio data

collected, analyzed and reported

Coaching / Mentoring –

A partnership of

collaboration and guidance

33







Governance –

A well defined






A partnership of


34



• A Governance process requires defined roles,

documented oversight functions, policies and

management principles

• Provides the means to identify, assess and

respond to change.

• Governance addresses what decisions need to

be made, who makes those decisions and how

are those decisions made

Project and Program Governance

35



Project and Program Governance

A governance agreement is written and signed by all appropriate

parties. The project manager develops this document in

collaboration with the project sponsor and functional managers.

The governance agreement defines the following:

• Roles (sponsor, steering committee, project manager,

functional managers)

• Budget authority allocated to the project manager and

steering committee;

• Scope authority allocated to the project manager and steering

committee;

• Change management process (describes how change will be

accepted into the project);

• Resource allocation governance (describes how resources

will be allocated from functional areas).

36







Governance –

A well defined






A partnership of


37

Principles of Coaching

An ongoing partnership designed to help PMs produce desired

results

Improves the PM’s ability to focus on what is important and

communicate more effectively

Helps PMs learn to think better and make better decisions

Enhances PM’s existing skills, strengths, resources and creativity

Motivates individuals and teams to set goals and take action

towards reaching them

Helps PMs achieve better life balance which leads to greater

overall personal and job satisfaction

Creates a high level of personal accountability

.

38







Governance –

A well defined






A partnership of


39



Benchmark

Project X Project Y Project Z

. .

Process Management

Performance

Measures

Enterprise

Database

Historical

Measures

Project

Data

Process

Measures Impro

ve Contr

ol

Defin

e

Measure Execu

te

Proce

ss

Measurement

Repository

Executive Management

Dashboard Enterprise

Process

Project PAL

Project Defect Status

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Jan'08

Feb'08

Mar

'08

Apr'0

8

May

'08

Jun'08

Jul'0

8

Aug'08

Sep'08

Oct'08

# o

f D

efe

cts

Total Defects Discovered Total Closed Defects

Requirements Growth and Stability

-50

0

50

100

150

200

Jan'08

Feb'08

Mar

'08

Apr

'08

May

'08

Jun'08

Jul'0

8

Aug

'08

Sep

'08

Oct'08

Nov

'08

Dec

'08

# o

f Requir

em

ents

Added Changed Deleted Total Reqs

Project Resource and Effort Status

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

Jan'08

Feb'08

Mar

'08

Apr'0

8

May

'08

Jun'08

Jul'0

8

Aug'08

Sep'08

Oct'08

Nov

'08

Dec

'08

Pro

ject

Resourc

es/H

ours

Cum Planned Effort Allocated Cum Actual Effort Spent

"Earned Value" Baseline Total Hours

Milestone Baseline Plan Actual

%

Var

Checkpoint A – Charter & Kickoff 1/10/2008 1/10/2008 1/10/2008 0%

Requirements Complete 1/28/2008 1/28/2008 1/28/2008 0%

Vendor Selection Complete 2/4/2008 2/4/2008 2/15/2008 7%

PMP/Schedule Complete 2/12/2008 2/12/2008 2/28/2008 11%

Checkpoint B– Planning & Reqs 2/28/2008 3/15/2008 11%

Design Complete 3/15/2008 4/15/2008 20%

Development Complete 4/15/2008 4/30/2008 10%

Checkpoint C– Midpoint 4/30/2008 5/15/2008 10%

Testing Complete 4/30/2008 5/15/2008 10%

Training Complete 5/10/2008 5/30/2008 13%

Go Live 5/30/2008 6/15/2008 11%

Lessons Learned/Cust Sat Survey Complete 6/1/2008 6/30/2008 19%

Checkpoint D – Deploy & Close 6/1/2008 6/30/2008 19%

Project Score Mngmnt Req Des Build Test Environ

BI Product Releases | Q2 2007 56.2 68 62 68 58 41 35

EDW Phase IV: Applicant Tracking System 44.3 68 49 57 35 28 35

CRM Product Maintenance Releases | Q3 2007 60.2 73 74 68 65 41 27

Road to 90: In Bound 36.4 57 44 32 46 22 27

SAR PM 2.0 37.5 50 51 25 46 28 27

Meetings | Teleconf. vendor selection 46.6 68 62 57 38 25 27

CoBRA Application 53.6 77 64 50 46 50 31

Web 2.1 53.2 61 72 48 58 41 31

Web 2.0 Q1 Maintenance 43.7 61 54 20 58 44 31

Q3 2007 Web v2.1 Enhancements / Maintenance 47.3 61 54 20 58 41 31

Web v2.2 (EPN) 59.8 77 69 55 58 53 31

Web v2.2 Enhancements / Maintenance | Q4 2007 44.2 61 54 20 65 41 31

Measurement & Reporting – Layered visibility

40

40

Leverage Existing Tools and Techniques

Estimation

Tool

Project N

Pla

n

An

aly

ze

Tes

t

Inst

all

Design

Build

Track

Financial

System

Time

Reporting

System

Defects,

Rework

Time

Spent

$

Milestones, Tasks, Assignments

Status

Project

Management

System

Effort Actuals

Budget,

Expenditures Status

History,

Skills

Effort/

Schedule

Estimates

Cost Budget and Actuals

Sizing Estimate,

Actuals, Characteristics

Labor Costs

Defect

Reporting

System

CM

System

Module

and Change

Size

measurement

repository

Requirements

Management

System

Counts,

Effort

Customer

Reports on

Delivered

Product

Quality

41

Outcome: Measurement CAUTION!

Business Related Measurement

Delivery Cost

Time To Market

Customer Satisfaction

Process Related Measurement

Effectiveness

Integration

Compliance

Project Related Measurement

Project Tracking

Estimating

Change Management

KEEP IT SIMPLE…

THE FEWER THE

MEASURES THE

BETTER…

IF YOU REALLY

DON’T USE

MEASURES FOR

DECISIONS MAKING

KILL YOUR

MEASUREMENT

PROGRAM…

Measure the

impact of IT on

the business

Identify trends and

monitor progress

in delivery &

support

Effectively utilize

measurement in a

pro-active format

42

Data includes projects completed

May - June 2001

Customer Satisfaction with Completed Projects

by Portfolio(41 Surveys Sent - 11 Responses)

40

100

50

100 100

50

60

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

IT Corporate Systems

(5)

OSS Policy &

Performance Assurance

(2)

Customer Care & Billing

(2)

Special Projects Billing

(1)

Technology &

Architecture (1)

Percen

t A

ttain

ed

Very Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Data includes projects completed

May - June 2001

YTD Projects Completed Within Budget (+5%,-10%)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

% Within Budget - Month % Within Budget - YTD

YTD Projects Completed On Time(within 7 days of commitment)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

% On Time - Month % On Time - YTD

YTD Projects Completed On Time by Portfolio

(PM Workbook subline level)

39

1

23

367 106

10 4 1 15

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Artz Artz - eTRAK Bott Fremont Gupta Total

On Time (within 7 days of commitment) Late

17

%

88

%

12

%

22

%

60

%

Dashboards Add Value but lose impact over

time unless linked to control decision points

YTD Projects Completed Within Budget by Portfolio

(PM Workbook subline level)

9

9

1

221

29

14

23

73

114

12

27

1

6

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Artz Artz - eTRAK Bott Fremont Gupta Total

Within Budget Under Budget (-10%) Over Budget (+5%)

Customer Satisfaction with Completed Projects

by Line of Business(41 Surveys Sent - 11 Responses)

100 100 100

40

100 100

60

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Corporate

Finance (5)

Corporate HR

(1)

Telecom -

Enterprise

Solutions (1)

Telecom - IT

(2)

Telecom -

Retail (1)

Telecom -

Common (1)

Pe

rce

nt A

tta

ine

d

Very Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Satisfied

Very Satisfied

43







Governance –

A well defined






A partnership of


44

Estimation Maturity is a leading indicator for organizations that perform at a higher level

The highest performing organizations move from experience based estimation methods to statistically based, repeatable estimation processes. Size at some point is defined for statistical integrity. SME is leveraged to improving SDLC end to end performance (velocity).

45

Estimation Maturity Levels 1-3

Where are you?

Category Description Outcomes

1 –

Initial

Estimates are ad-hoc and done differently by different

groups/projects. Software size is not factored into the estimates.

No History is kept. Anecdotal reports of poor estimate

performance reach executive management.

Hit or miss with

wide variation of

success and failure

2 -

Managed

Estimate methods are documented and expected to be used at all

times. Some attempt at software sizing is made to improve

estimation accuracy. A repository of estimates may be

established. The process of consolidating, promulgated or

phasing out homegrown tools is initiated.

Estimates accuracy

begins marginal

improvements.

Wide variability

continues

3 –

Defined

Estimation methods are standardized and streamed into

corporate training and placed under quality assurance or

compliance processes. A software sizing method is selected for

use in all estimates such as function points, story points or other

methods. Statistically based estimation tools are evaluated for

enterprise level utilization. Estimate performance is reported at

the executive level.

Estimates become

“worse” as “fudge

factors” are

identified/

eliminated and

actual performance

measured.

46

Category Description Outcomes

4-

Quantitative

Management

Estimate performance and the Estimation process becomes

statistically managed. Results from estimates that hit or miss

targets are formally reviewed , root cause analysis and corrective

actions taken to improve performance. Corporate processes are

updated to reflect this continuous improvement cycle.

Estimation best practices spread through the organization. Out of

control projects are shutdown on a regular basis based on the

data. Estimation performance becomes part of standard

executive dashboard or balanced scorecard.

Estimation

precision and

accuracy gains

significant

improvements.

Customer

satisfaction

increases.

5-

Optimized

Estimation are continually improved based on a quantitative

understanding of the common causes of variation inherent in

different estimate outcomes. Level 5 focuses on continually

improving process performance through both incremental and

innovative technological improvements. Better estimation

process-improvement objectives for the organization are

established, continually revised to reflect changing business

objectives, and used as criteria in managing estimation process

improvement.

An estimation

continuous

improvement

culture is

established using

data to drive

decisions

making

Estimation Maturity Levels 4-5

Where are you?

47







Governance –

A well defined






A partnership of


48

Agenda





not about words



questions

49

PMO Self Assessment: 5 Rhetorical Questions

1. If the PMO was eliminated tomorrow, would the

organization cheer or cry?

2. If you could only keep 10% of the current forms to be

filled out, what would they be?

3. If you could only keep 10% of all the current metrics,

what would they be?

4. If you cut down the number of project meetings to ½,

which ones would you keep?

5. If you could choose who the PMO reports to, would you

choose, the CIO, CFO or CEO?

50

Questions?

Is there really a problem? -Not always

-Are your challenges monetized?

-Is your leadership engaged?

-Nibble at the margins or start fundamental

change?

Your questions?

51

Thank you

Tony Timbol

[email protected]

www.davidconsultinggroup.com

904-287-0294

• Resources

– Corporate Executive Board Research – http://www.executiveboard.com/it/index.html

– http://www.executiveboard.com/elqNow/elqRedir.htm?ref=http://www.executiveboard.com/IT/

pdf/CIO_october_01.pdf

– DCG PMO Survey

– PMO Risk Assessment Roadmap (web)

– DCG Measurement Roadmap (web)

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.davidconsultinggroup.com/

http://www.executiveboard.com/it/index.html

http://www.executiveboard.com/elqNow/elqRedir.htm?ref=http://www.executiveboard.com/IT/pdf/CIO_october_01.pdf

http://www.executiveboard.com/elqNow/elqRedir.htm?ref=http://www.executiveboard.com/IT/pdf/CIO_october_01.pdf

52

• Software project

execution has two

components: – Software engineering consists

of all technical activities

– Management is facilitating the

software engineering part so

that the project deliverable is

completed on time, without

defects, efficiently and

effectively.

Agile Process Approach discussed in length…

53

Recommended. . .

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Software-Project-

Management-Techniques

54



• Measure

• Improve

• Deliver

DCG can make your software development better.

55


Commercial Clients…

56

Federal Clients, State Clients and Partners…

57



DCG Past Performance with Federal Clients

The US Navy Logistics Command required a Software Engineering review of major .net custom programming platform before

authorizing continued application development. DCG Software Engineering Review of large .NET code set produced a performance

and quality profile confirming both capabilities and challenges in the platform. Concrete and specific recommendations were then

provided for remediation.

Software development performance of the International Information Programs-Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (IIP-

ECA/IT) in the Department of State required significant improvement to meet internal customer needs. CMMI advancement towards

Level 2 and 3 was established as a strategic objective. Successful Level 2 and Level 3 SCAMPI B assessments provided gap analysis

information to guide continuous process improvement efforts. Performance gaps were closed in multiple process areas based on these

results.

The NAVAIR software development group required education and training to advance software sizing skills to support

their mission. DCG provided on-site training and coaching in advanced software sizing and estimation practices. Project

manager, Project leaders, developers and business analysts improved their software sizing and estimation skills to better

perform their NAVAIR mission.

Standard CMMI process improvement appraisal methods were inadequate for the SSA environment. DCG led the creation

of an internally compatible CMMI appraisal method and techniques that could be used by internal SSA appraisers enterprise

wide. The SSA was able to develop in-house, cost-effective appraisal processes diagnostically more accurate than standard

appraisals. This accelerated process improvement momentum with each performed appraisal.

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