Challenges in Project Managing ICT Projects in Today’s ClimatePresented by Linda Zeelie28 February 2011

Attempting to meet impossible deadlines and unrealistically high expectations by delivering the undefined with insufficient budget, schedule, time and resources

…. And today’s environment?

….tougher general environment for ICT than ever before¨ Global Financial Crisis¨ Commoditisation of ICT, pre-requirements fixed pricing¨ Competition of off-shoring, pressure of downsizing¨ Wall Street demanding increase quarter on quarter – governments

under pressure to reduce spending

….tougher technical environment for ICT than ever before¨ 24 X 7 X 365 = relentless¨ Integration and complexity¨ Delivery channels and functionality¨ User expectations of availability, performance, functionality.....

…. Couple more gotcha’s

….tougher talent environment for ICT than ever before

¨ Less people going into ICT (global)¨ Greatly reduced graduate intake (no growing the gene pool)¨ Baby boomers about to retire¨ Leakage (talent left industry or gone overseas)¨ Ongoing training – what’s that? ¨ Talent requirements specialised¨ Good practices scarce/ hard to afford in areas in process,

governance, etc.¨ Teams offshore¨ Teams with diverse language, culture, geographic locations etc.

Alternate view..... Never in the field of ICT was so much attempted by so many with so few (resources etc.)……

1. User inputs were inadequate/lacking. 2. Project specifications were incomplete. 3. Specifications kept on changing4. Exec management showed little or no interest in

putting out any fires5. Project team technically less than competent

So what goes wrong on projects?

1. Lack of User Involvement2. Long or Unrealistic Time Scales3. Poor or No Requirements4. Scope Creep5. No Change Control System6. Poor Testing

1. Poor planning 2. Unclear goals and objectives 3. Objectives changing during the project 4. Unrealistic time or resource estimates 5. Lack of exec support and user involvement 6. Failure to communicate &act as a team 7. Inappropriate skills

Poorly managedUndefined objectives and goals

Lack of management commitment

Lack of a solid project plan

Lack of user input

Lack of organisational support

Proactive risk management

Management of budget resources

Templates and documentation

Poorly defined roles and responsibilities

Inadequate or vague requirements

Stakeholder conflict

Team weaknesses

Unrealistic timeframes and tasks

Competing priorities

Poor communication

Insufficient resources Business politics

Overruns of schedule and cost

Cost /schedule estimates erroneous

Lack of prioritisation and project portfolio management

Scope creep No change control process

Meeting end user expectations

Ignoring project warning signs

Inadequate testing processes

Bad decisions

….the REALITY

People don’t ¨ Set out to do a bad job¨ Aim to be incompetent¨ Want to be late or over budget

Alternative view... “If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.” Anthony Robbins …

Companies, Government agencies etc. don’t ¨ Set out sell business at negative margins, overrun budgets¨ Want to ruin client relationships and let users and

communities downCommunities, agencies, clients, users don’t generally¨ Want IT to fall ¨ Want to ruin relationships

So who are we in the boat with?

A project manager isn’t alone on a project. The boat also contains

¨ Architects¨ Analysts, Technicians, Developers¨ Testers¨ Suppliers¨ Sales !?!¨ Managers¨ Clients, users¨ …..

It’s going to take a team effort! But the team has changed!!

Real new challenges – Virtual everything

The Virtual World we now live in¨ New virtual economy¨ Global clients virtually anywhere¨ Virtual teams¨ Virtual offices / locations¨ Dispersed assets /capabilities¨ Massive integration with multiple 3rd parties – often small,

immature and high risk¨ Limited project support functions, QA, Administration, configuration

management etc.

Real new challenges – Innovate or die!

GFC Impact - Project Management Institute president and chief executive officer, Gregory Balestrero. (2010)

¨ “A project manager operates with the constraints of budget, time and scope – we call it the iron triangle,” Mr Balestrero told Government News.

¨ …. innovation and creativity was critical for delivering government projects on budget and on time.“In order to achieve those things invariably requires an innovative approach to managing the project.”

¨ Mr Balestrero said the global financial crisis had provided the enabling environment for innovation and experimentation in policy deployment.

¨ “Project managers are actually being asked to do more with less,”

¨ “There was a period of lay-offs, a period of corporate contraction. Now they’re beginning to refocus. They have to get new services out and have fewer resources internally to do it, so the project manager again has to innovate.”

¨ “The government needs to embrace project and program management as both art and science and invest in career paths and in education and in advancing the discipline before it can decide that it needs to innovate and be creative,” he said.

¨ He said project managers needed to be “grounded in the right skills” before they could deploy policy in innovative ways.

¨ “The investment in project and program management is an investment in improving public trust.”

Standish Group View

Published the factors that contribute to successful project management:¨ User Involvement¨ Executive Support¨ Clear Business Objectives¨ Emotional Maturity (managing over-ambition)¨ Optimisation (managing over and under building)¨ Agile Process¨ Project Management Expertise¨ Skilled Resources¨ Execution¨ Tools and Infrastructure

Get smart OR keep taking a hiding

Get Smart 1 – Be prepared for “red” and challenging projects and not surprised!!!

¨ Project are regularly initiated without sufficient resources, time, money (fixed priced), firm requirements, technical capability, incompatible tools/technologies, any idea of solution, virtual client, virtual team etc…. This is now the norm.

¨ Most common reaction : She’ll be right, just do it, start quick!, we’ll use AGILE, put everything into parallel, we’ll think of something!, we have not choice but to make this work!, think up some efficiencies, we’ll use change control to fix it, we’ve done this before, we’ll change PMs if it’s going badly………

Alternative View...... Despite all your protestations the emperor really ISN’T wearing any clothes! It is what it is – no point hiding

Get smart OR keep taking a hiding

Get Smart 1 – Be prepared for “red” projects and not surprised!!!

¨ The right reaction : ¨ Take stock of what you have – people, time, resources, $s, information,

requirements, laterally thinking who can help - INNOVATE¨ Understand what can move and what can’t – scope/schedule/cost/

solution/people/perceptions/risk……..¨ Rationally assess risks based on first 2 actions¨ Identify mitigation actions¨ Quantify remaining risk, re-plan - quickly¨ Deliver the news! ¨ COMMUNICATE – go back to step 1

Alternative View...... Bad news never gets better with age....

Get smart OR keep taking a hiding

Get Smart 2 – Do everything to HELP (not hinder) ¨ Bad project situations can be made worse – inverse of list below ¨ Things TO DO ASAP:

¨ Get clients/users on board – Baseline requirements (simplify/de-scope if possible)¨ Get architects on board and understanding constraints – Baseline architectural

solution. Make sure the solution works and fits – with no extra bells…¨ Mitigate remaining exposure in project charters / contracts / plans (Critical!!)¨ Sign back-to-back agreements with 3rd parties and internal partners (# 1 reason

for issues from last couple of years experience)¨ Get the BEST team with required capability you can possible beg, borrow or steal

(I mean assemble) – there is not substitute for the right competence¨ If you’ve started doing the wrong thing – STOP!!!

Alternative View...... If wishes were horses, beggars would ride John Ray It’s just not going to change unless you make it happen

Get smart OR keep taking a hiding

Get Smart 3 – They’re your team – manage them¨ Project are regularly initiated without the “perfect” team or an

incomplete team … sometimes even less than competent team. ¨ Most common reaction : It project managers versus the client,

architects versus delivery teams, sales versus the project managers, the client versus the analysts – everyone is right and everyone else is wrong. Fire the PM. It’s not our fault – it’s theirs.

¨ Hard decisions: The hole is in the bottom of the boat – not matter what side!¨ Impossible projects even more impossible to deliver without a cohesive team¨ Less of the right/ committed people FAR BETTER than more bodies¨ The client/users are part of the team – the same goes for them!

Alternative View...... Teams work better - when they work together.….. The client/users is also on the team

Get smart OR keep taking a hiding

Get Smart 3 – They’re your team – manage them ¨ Once you have a team you need a common goal.

¨ The outcome needs to be clear and concise¨ Each sub-team and individual’s role needs to be clear – no passengers¨ What can NOT be achieved needs to be clear (no point designing something you

can’t afford build)¨ Personal views valued and input essential – but once a decision made the team

need to accept the direction¨ Key stakeholders – sponsor, architect, user representative, delivery organisation

leadership …. project managers last!¨ The solution MUST HANG TOGETHER before proceeding – what is being done,

the approach, how it is designed, the technology etc.

Alternative View..... "The greater the loyalty of a group toward the group, the greater is the motivation among the members to achieve the goals of the group, and the greater the probability that the group will achieve its goals." Rensis Likert

Get smart OR keep taking a hiding

Get Smart 4 – Grow as a PM – never stop…¨ Learn new technologies: Know the concepts behind cloud computing,

virtualization, web 2.0……………..

¨ Learn Quality Management principles: You’re “it” in this space…. Basics, process improvement techniques, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction….

¨ Improve your workforce management skills: Competition for good resources is fierce. Many project teams have geographically dispersed members… culture, geography, skills capability, language. Provide enough information to enough people, using appropriate means, in cultural context and check it is UNDERSTOOD. Team needs to feel valued, needed, appreciated.

¨ Plan for attrition: Attrition is a major issue if you run projects in areas like Asia as demands for more man power are rising. Developing backup plans and proper Knowledge transfer plans …. Especially for small 3rd parties.

¨ Become a risk manager: All things within scope, budget and schedule are NOT possible. Manage risk or it will manage you. Help your stakeholders make good decisions based on risk.

Get Smart 5¨ Complexity and Diversity – Whole new type of project – whole new type

of world – Old methodology and practices don’t always seem a good fit¨ Risk management – At a new level with complexity, integration, impact

criticality, virtual world, scope/cost/schedule/resource constraints¨ Aus National Audit Office, Department of Parliamentary Services, EFFECTIVE RISK

MANAGEMENT 17 February 2011 “When it comes to risk management, it should be applied to 3 levels, as a minimum: at the enterprise level, the divisional level, and the project level.

- it is no longer discretionary

- it is an integral part of good management – like strategic planning, project management, supervision, and so on.

¨ Governance – Increased governance and regulatory compliance clashes with reduced support and scope/cost/schedule/resource constraints

¨ Ethical conduct – The whole world is not equal – there are no valid excuses

Ignore these at your peril

QuestionsLinda.Zeelie@hp.com

¨ You win some – you lose some! It’s how you play the game for which you will be remembered.

¨ Don’t worry if you don’t get it perfect “If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow." Philip Crosby (1926)

¨ It’s not all bad "Change in all things is sweet." Aristotle (384-322 BC)

¨ Try more than one thing and don’t worry if some fail "It is a secret both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things than one." Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

¨ Keep trying, keep innovating, keep changing “We must change in order to survive." Pearl Bailey (1918-90)

Some encouragement……….

Linda Zeelie “If you don’t sell it’s broken – I don’t have to fix it – and I stand a chance of delivery it”