The Invisible Projects
Keeping track of multiple ongoing projects can be difficult for busy organizations. It can be challenging to stay updated on the progress of each project. One way to solve this problem is by implementing an Enterprise Project Management System (EPMS). I have had the opportunity to introduce an EPMS to a medium-sized company with success. Below I've shared the lessons learned and the benefits gained from this initiative.
‘Get me a list of all our projects.’
An organisation spent hundreds of millions of dollars annually on a large number of unique and varied projects, without a system to keep track of these projects. Some years, the organisation had up to 400 projects on the go at any one time. The company did have a custom-built solution for managing document workflows for some of the larger, more expensive projects that needed formal business cases to be approved, but it was almost impossible to keep track of the smaller - but often just as important - projects.
The CEO made a seemingly simple request - ‘get me a list of all the projects currently in progress’. This resulted in staff running around the organisation, trying to compile such a list and ultimately failing to fulfil this simple request. The task proved to be a nightmare, and the assembled list was neither accurate nor reliable for many of the projects. And by the time the list was compiled, some of the more seemingly reliable information was outdated.
Why was it so difficult for this company to keep track of the projects it was spending its money on?
Poor visibility with unclear ownership
Firstly, no one knew which projects were underway and who was running them. The problem was that it was unclear who the owners (those who were ultimately responsible for the projects) were. Incredibly, there were project ‘managers’ named on the compiled list who had no idea they were ultimately responsible for project outcomes!
The titles of the projects provided little information about what the projects were trying to achieve.
Management knew that the business was spending hundreds of millions of dollars on projects each year, but they didn’t know who was accountable for these projects or what these projects were actually achieving. This made it impossible to manage budgets and staff effectively or to ascertain if the busy project work that was keeping its staff occupied was contributing to the realisation of the company strategy.
The unclear ownership surrounding projects contributed to a culture that lacked accountability and efficiency.
Working in silos
Each department worked on projects without considering how their work impacted other departments or the business.
When a department runs a project, it generally depends on other departments for resources and commitments. However, in this scenario, the departments running the projects would frustrate other departments with their ‘surprise’ requests (or demands) for resources. In turn, the staff delivering the project would feel demoralised as work was stalled while department heads butted heads over resource allocation.
Unmanaged demand and too much work in progress
As I mentioned earlier, at any one time, there could be up to 400 projects on the go! This was a lot of project work for a medium-sized company.
Due to the large volume of ongoing project work, delivery times were significantly slower. It was like being on a freeway with no onramp signals - projects were stalled in a gridlock.
This situation made it challenging for the business to prioritise project work across the company and manage any project dependencies.
So much busy project work put a significant strain on resources and on individual departments. This strained environment made it difficult for projects to run on time or meet budget expectations - putting further strain on resources.
Getting out of the traffic jam and improving visibility
The disastrous attempt at compiling a list of projects proved to be a gift to the company. The lack of an effective and well-implemented enterprise project management system could now be addressed, and the situation dramatically improved.
The organization made the decision to adopt an Enterprise Project Management System that would provide standardized processes, accurate information, clear ownership, and ongoing support. This would assist with regular decision-making.
Trialling possible solutions on a small scale was a great way to learn quickly.
One part of the business was already trialling a configured, fit-for-purpose and off-the-shelf project management system with success. The management system helped this part of the business to deliver their project KPIs on time, and within budget, with all project outcomes met.
The business adopted and adapted the system trailed by this department and applied it to the rest of the organisation by scaling this system and configuring it to provide a standard project process and a flexible tool for all projects.
Creating common ways of working across the entire organisation drove success.
A common and generic project management method was developed that, in most cases, suited the needs of all departments in the business. This included standardised processes and templates for project stages, status reports, information, and reporting requirements.
Establishing clear project owners with clear accountabilities cleared up any confusion.
It was mandated that a project could not start without a nominated project owner, who was held accountable for the project’s delivery and was tasked with providing updates according to a specific time frame.
Keeping the project information up to date was critical, and owners were expected to have the minimum set of information against projects and provide updates, as a minimum, every month.
The company embarked on a slow but steady journey.
The journey toward adoption was slow but steady. It was this steadiness that ultimately ensured success. Those who were tasked with implementing the business-wide system worked patiently with departments.
The implementation was accompanied by training, support, excellent reference materials, a ‘champion’ to help users with the system, and basic project management techniques.
Over time, individuals and departments gained confidence in the new system – particularly once leaders began to review the information and use it to inform their decision-making.
Departmental leaders increasingly saw the value that the system provided. It was now easy to get reports of where projects were up to and predict conflicts and bottlenecks before they occurred.
The organisation improved efficiency and increased savings.
Projects could now be prioritised and delivered more efficiently – for example, where there was duplication of effort across different departments related to project work.
The organisation also used this management tool to achieve its targeted 10% savings across the entire business.
The lessons:
Here is a summation of the lessons learned by the organisation while implementing the Enterprise Project Management System:
1. You can’t manage something you can’t see
2. Standardise ways of working across an organisation
3. Projects must have clear ownership
4. The best solutions are easy to use, adaptable and fit-for-purpose
5. Trial solutions before trying to scale it to the rest of the business
6. Adoption will improve over time with patience and support as capability improves
The main lesson I learned while working to implement the system outlined above is simple but crucial: ‘You can’t manage something you can’t visualise’.