Download PMW_0032_Competing_Projects.mp3 (20.2 MB)

Capital projects provide some of the best examples of some of the most complex stakeholder relationships and portfolios that project managers can face.   The sheer magnitude of capital projects pushes the envelope in adhering to the ultimate delivery goal of every project manager – on time, within budget and within specification.  At the core of these projects are the multitudes of stakeholders that need to be managed. Whether it be those who manage the purse strings funding the project or the policy makers that can change the course of the plan on  a moment's notice; stakeholder management requires that all involved parties are kept in the loop every step of the way.  Documenting progress and continuous communication of project status are key elements in facilitating that these projects move forward and obtain the necessary approvals to meet projected timelines.  Additionally, planning for change due to funding issues or a shift in priorities require project professionals to have the necessary tools and methodologies in place to quickly adapt and prevent the potential derailing of the project’s successful outcome.

For the Delaware Department of Transportation (DOT), it, like many state agencies, was facing a budget shortfall due to the economic downturn and was re-evaluating the priorities of capital projects in the state to determine which projects would be shelved and/or canceled. This planning was interrupted and complicated when the US federal government passed its economic stimulus plan for "shovel ready" projects. Unfortunately for the Delaware DOT and other state agencies, they simply could not allocate the federal dollars towards existing projects and narrow their budget gaps. The new federal funds came with a host of conditions, and the Delaware DOT had to sort them out before it could understand the true implications that the economic stimulus plan would have on its scheduling of capital projects.

In this episode, industry insiders, Bob Perrine and Connie Post of the Delaware DOT, will share their insights and experiences in overcoming the challenges and complexities of managing a portfolio of capital projects.

Bob Perrine is a civil engineer with 30 years of experience in the construction industry. He has worked in federal government, private industry, and state government. Currently, Bob is the Constructability Review Engineer / Master Scheduler for the Delaware DOT.   

Connie Post, my other distinguished guest, has over 28 years of experience in Information Technology, and 18 years of experience in Project Management. She is currently an independent consultant with the Delaware DOT and her responsibilities include project management, requirements analysis and implementation of new systems, systems integration, and business process review. 

Today, Bob and Connie will discuss the difficult task of managing and scheduling resources for large, complex projects in the face of limited funds and competing stakeholders.

For more information about capital projects at the Delaware Department of Transportation, please check out Episode 28, Delivering Capital Projects on Time: A Case Study on the "Road" to Success using Oracle Primavera.

Music Notes
1.    The opening of the episode – “Catwalk”
2.    Interview with industry insiders – “East Ender”
3.    The closing of the episode – “Two Seater"

Download PMW_0031_PM_on_demand.mp3 (16 MB)

Download PMW_0030_Rescuing_Part2.mp3 (16.5 MB)

Most project managers would agree that the downward spiral of a project can be attributed to poor stakeholder management and communication strategies.  Moreover, the negative momentum troubled projects take on are often due to the inability to identify who are the influencers of the project and what are their level of involvement and expectations.  In many cases, project managers have the most difficulty communicating the right objectives to all the stakeholders involved.  This is especially true when managing external stakeholders (e.g. implementers) in which project managers in many cases have a minimal understanding of their dynamics, leading to the ultimate reality of a troubled project.  Consequently, when faced with a troubled project, highly-skilled project managers excel in quickly assessing the root of a project’s problems and leveraging the best people, processes, and tools to rehabilitate a project that his heading for failure.

For August, we examine the human element that impacts troubled projects and how to ensure stakeholder buy-in to rescue a sinking project. Today, we bring you part two of a two part series on rescuing troubled projects.

To do this we're sitting down again with industry insider, Mark Hall who is an executive with 20+ years experience applying Project Management Best Practices to business operations in the Aviation and Semiconductor industries. He is President and co-founder of William George Associates and a leading speaker on the application of Project Management tools and techniques. Additionally, he sits on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts High Tech Council. Today Mark shares his experiences in managing stakeholders to get troubled projects back on track.

Music Notes

1.    The opening of the episode – “Offroad”
2.    Interview with industry insiders – “Redondo Beach”
3.    The closing of the episode – “Greasy Wheels”

Download PMW_0029_Rescuing_Part1.mp3 (14.6 MB)

Project managers understand that the increasing level of complexity of the project environment, the more likey a project can become a troubled project.  For this very reason employing best practices in project management are critical in keeping all the checks and balances in place.  Expertise in implementing a solid governance framework guiding the processes and the roles each team member plays not only ensures a successful project delivery, but allows for a strategic project plan that can ultimately set an organization apart from its competitors.  When effectively employed, sound project management techniques improve collaboration among all stakeholders.  Experienced project managers are experts in leveraging their own communication talents with the appropriate tools in place to navigate and reduce the inevitable rise of some sort of trouble looming in most project settings.

For July and August, we examine why projects go off course and how to bring them back on track. Today, we bring you part one of a two part series on rescuing troubled projects.

To do this I’m sitting down with industry insider, Mark Hall who is an executive with 20+ years experience applying Project Management Best Practices to business operations in the Aviation and Semiconductor industries. He is President and co-founder of William George Associates  and a leading speaker on the application of Project Management tools and techniques. Additionally, he sits on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts High Tech Council. Today Mark will be sharing his experiences in rescuing troubled projects.

Music Notes

1.      The opening of the episode – “East Ender”
2.      Interview with industry insider – “Half Moon Bay”
3.      The closing of the episode – “Two Seater”

Download PMW_0028_Capital_Projects.mp3 (21.8 MB)

For the State of Delaware, managing the construction program of roads and bridges involves hundreds of projects with thousands of resources to be managed all across the state.  Throw in a mixture of large scale multi-year projects with multiple smaller projects and poor project scheduling, and you can end up literally stopping an entire city in its tracks.  With that in mind, it is critical that a capital program of this magnitude requires extensive workflows and project scheduling capabilities that move beyond the basic scheduling of project dates based on an existing resource pool.   In fact, project scheduling can in effect become both program managers and project managers doorway to obtaining the visibility they need with through the centralization of project information to achieve project success while keeping their constituents satisifed.  

In this episode we sit down with industry insiders, Bob Perrine and Connie Post of the Delaware Department of Transportation or DOT to discuss the challenges and complexities of managing a portfolio of capital projects.

Bob Perrine is a civil engineer with 30 years experience in the vertical and horizontal construction industries. He has worked in federal government, private industry, and state government. Currently, Bob is the Constructability Review Engineer / Master Scheduler for the Delaware DOT where he is responsible for managing the master schedule for the capital construction program, performing constructability reviews of all capital construction and many maintenance and operations projects within the DOT, as well as for determining the construction duration for each of the projects within the capital program.    

Connie Post, my other distinguished guest, has over 28 years of experience in Information Technology, and 18 years of experience in Project Management. She is a member of the PMI Delaware chapter and has also served as an instructor for WorWic Community College. Connie is currently an independent consultant with the Delaware DOT and her responsibilities include project management, requirements analysis and implementation of new systems, systems integration, and business process review. 

In this episode, Bob and Connie will share how the Delaware Department of Transportation improved visibility, communication, resource planning, and delivery of capital projects by moving from an ad hoc system of spreadsheets, usually not synched, to Oracle Primavera.

Music Notes

1. The opening of the episode – “Offroad”
2. Interview with industry insiders – “Collins Avenue”
3. The closing of the episode – “Greasy Wheel"

Download PMW0027_PPM_for_Svcs.mp3 (16.8 MB)

Project Management practitioners understand that running a Project Management Office (PMO) means different groups within a company will compete for their projects to take priority.  As in any group dynamic, individuals are continuously assessing how they can better position themselves for success.  It’s the PMO’s role to step in to accurately assess the business benefits of all projects and prioritize them in relation to the greater good of the company as a whole.  More importantly, strategic alignment to corporate objectives is key to understanding where sponsored projects fit within the company’s portfolio – the wrong priority can mean the difference between order and chaos.  It’s for this very reason PMOs exist to objectively define the business benefits of all the proposed projects at arms length from the business units in which they emerged.  In many cases, business units propose projects to eliminate subjective risk.  It’s the PMO’s role to assess the proposed risk and implement an objective risk management strategy that can in the end avoid unnecessary costs associated to projects “deemed” necessary.

In this episode, we will examine how project management offices can use project portfolio management tools to define benefits and build business cases to determine which projects to pursue.  To do this, we sit down with industry insider, Beth Partleton, who has more than 30 years of project and portfolio management experience in manufacturing and construction. During her illustrious project management career, she was the Director of Strategic Projects for Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; she was a founder, charter member, and president of the Milwaukee/Southeast Wisconsin PMI Chapter; she was Chair of the PMI Educational Foundation Board of Directors  and lastly she served on the Board of Directors for PMI’s Manufacturing specific interest group. Today she will be sharing her insights and war stories around setting project priorities by properly defining project benefits and building the business case justification.

Hope you enjoy the episode. Thanks again to our community for sharing their war stories.
 
Music Notes

1. The opening of the episode – “Catwalk”
2. Interview with Beth Partleton – “Kickflip”
3. The closing of the episode – “Yearbook”

Download PMW_0025_PMO_Success.mp3 (13.5 MB)

It is not very difficult to convince project managers of the value they bring to the table.  The reality is project managers are always a piece of a bigger picture within the organizations they represent. Although many understand the the value of project management, there are equally as many within the organization that still need convincing of the role project management plays in meeting corporate objectives.  In this regard, project management offices (PMOs) all face a similar predicament from their initial establishment defining their role within the organizations they serve to reaching full maturity by securing complete stakeholder buy-in and becoming true drivers of their company's success. 

At the end of the day, like any other department within an organization, the PMO will be judged on its performance.  For PMOs this means getting the job done in a timely fashion within budget and according to specifications, while optimizing the available resources at hand.  Consequently each project success linked to the PMO will lead to perceived value and stakeholder buy-in.  In other words, a PMOs maturity is based on its history of success.

In this episode, we will examine teammates, maturity, and success in the project office.

Our show is divided into 2 segments.

In Part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Alison Mills Long, who has over 18 years of experience in project management in the financial services industry. She is a founding member of the PMI Columbus, GA Chapter, and served as vice president of Communications & Publicity as well as Chapter President. She is also an instructor for Continuing Education and The Cunningham Center for Leadership Development at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA.

Alison is currently vice president and BankCard Services Project Office Manager for a leading financial services company.  In her current position, Alison's responsibilities include the overseeing new bankcard product launches, advancing soft skills, and managing compliance projects, as well as acquisition activities including portfolio conversions. Today she will share her insights and experiences in defining the role of the project management office, assessing organizational maturity and team skills, and measuring success.

In part 2, we go roaming with the Salty Dogg to examine March Madness  and its effect on decision making.

Music Notes

1. The opening of the episode – “Catwalk”
2. Interview with Alison Mills-Long – “Alliance”
3. Roaming with the Salty Dogg – “Collins Avenue”
4. The closing of the episode – “East Ender”

Download PMW_0024_PMOs_And_PPM.mp3 (16.2MB)

Creating a Project Management Office (PMO) requires a large commitment on the part of an organization in centralizing and streamlining its project activities.  Often the creation of the PMO overshadows the actual maintenance and success of its function.  In fact, 25% of PMOs typically fail in the third year of their existence.  Given this reality, its important for organizations to design a PMO that is built to last.  Meaning, PMOs require to have the right infrastructure and buy-in in order to succeed.   Implementing a Project Portfolio Management (PPM) methodology that accurately aligns an organizations corporate objectives with its active projects is what keeps the PMO machine going.  Without the fuel driven by sound PPM best practices a PMO's chances of success hang in the balance.  
 
In this episode, we will examine how to create a project management office and more importantly, how to successfully maintain it through an effective project portfolio management (PPM) strategy. To do this, we will look at PMOs in a service organization and a manufacturing company.

Our show is divided into 2 segments.

In Part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Kris Reynolds, who has over 10 years of project management experience and has led numerous projects in healthcare and software application development. He is the Director of the Program Management Office at Macrovision, formerly TV Guide. His PMO was named one of the Top 20 Outstanding project management organizations in the October 2007 edition of PM Network magazine. Kris is a frequent author and lecturer on project portfolio management, PMOs, and project management, and currently serves as president of the Project Management Institute (PMI) PMO Local Interest Groupof Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tonight Kris discusses how his organization created a PMO to develop and indoctrinate a consistent project management methodology and project management discipline.

In part 2, I sit down with industry insider, Beth Partleton who has more than 30 years of project and portfolio management experience in manufacturing and construction. During her illustrious project management career, she was the Director of Strategic Projects for Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; she was a founder, charter member, and president of the Milwaukee/Southeast Wisconsin PMI Chapter; she was Chair of the PMI Educational FoundationBoard of Directors and lastly she served on the Board of Directors for PMI’s Manufacturing specific interest group. Today she will be sharing her insights and war stories around the importance of PPM to maintain a successfully operating PMO.

Music Notes

1. The opening of the episode – “Greasy Wheels”
2. Interview with Kris Reynolds – “Half Moon Bay”
3. Interview with Beth Partleton – “Glide”
4. The closing of the episode – “Electric Rodeo”

Download PMW_0023_Risk_Strategies.mp3 (25 MB) 

Probably the most difficult challenge project managers face when mitigating risks within their projects is anticipating their stakeholders impact on the outcome of their projects.  Risk Management has become a vital discipline in the planning of project uncertainty often the result of stakeholder activities.  Properly employing a defined set of metrics in a systematic manner provided by proven methodologies such as Earned Value Management (EVM), in conjunction with the "softer" techniques touted by Risk Management experts can save a project from being derailed by the unpredictable reality of human intervention .   As a result, project managers are constantly balancing stakeholder actions, or in some cases inactions, based on historical knowledge and anticipated future events to achieve the best results in mitigating project risk.

In this episode, we will examine how organizations can mitigate risk through effective risk and stakeholder management strategies.

Our show is divided into 2 segments.
 
In Part 1, we will be talking to industry insider, Rich Maltzman who has over 30 years of project management experience. He is a Senior Manager in a large telecom's Global Program Management Office, looking after the career path, certification, development, skills management, etc. for more than 2,000 project managers. His current projects include Scope Crepe, a delicious blog about project management and life, and Fiddler on the Project, a book to help project managers keep their balance atop the roof consisting of the traditional project constraints (time, budget, and so on) and the change brought about by the project – all while producing a tune to inspire the various stakeholders. Tonight he will be sharing his insights and experiences in the management of stakeholders and the mitigation of risks.

If you would like more information about coping with or mitigating project risks or developing an effective risk management strategy, then check out:
 
   Episode 5, Creating a PMO: Coping with Risks &Uncertainties of Project Management (Part One);
   Episode 6, Creating a PMO: Coping with Risks &Uncertainties of Project Management (Part Two);
   Episode 16, Mitigating Risks in Project Management; and 
   Episode 19, Risk Management: Why opponents to the project are your most important external stakeholders.
 
In Part 2, the Technology Corner, I sit down with Charlene Thompson, who has over 15 years of project management experience. She is the Vice President of Programs for the Kansas City chapter of PMI,  and is a member of the PMI College of Scheduling. Currently, Charlene works for the EG&G Division of URS as Project Engineer for Alliant Techsystems  (ATK) at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant. ATK has more than 17,000 employees in 21 states and is a leading supplier of aerospace and defense products, munitions, smart weapons, propulsion and composite structures. Today, Charlene discusses how ATK uses Primavera's earned value management system to mitigate risks and manage stakeholders while performing complex, long term maintenance projects at the munitions plant.

Thanks again to our community, please keep the war stories coming.
 
Music Notes
 
1. The opening of the episode – "Catwalk"
2. Interview with industry insider – "Collins Avenue"
3. Technology Corner – "Investigation"
4. The closing of the episode – "Electric Rodeo"