Can online collaboration improve your project management maturity?

Can online collaboration improve your project management maturity?

12 March 2008Project Challenge, NEC Birmingham

Ian KendallConsultant, Kendall Services

Ian Kendall• Manufacturing engineering

– BAE Systems, IMI, Consulting• BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Engineering and

Management, Nottingham• 6yrs in procurement

– Strategic category management– Experiences in both direct and indirect– Spend management, e-auctions, web portal,

online collaboration– MCIPS ongoing

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Ian Kendall

• My applications of online collaboration– Group-wide, multi-national commodity management;

team collaboration– Request for information (RFI) management– Supplier relationship management– International INPD programme– Supplier development– Global file share

• Also for…– Mergers and acquisition activities

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Can online collaboration improve your project management maturity?

I’ll be talking about…• The workplace today• Teams and communication• Levels of maturity• My challenges• Off-line software vs. on-line service• Online collaboration• Benefits expected vs. benefits seen

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Today’s environment• What’s on the business agenda?

– Globalisation of markets– Core business focus– Partnership, collaboration– Cross organisational projects; global– Efficiencies measured– Effectiveness measured

• Project management is often secondary to the ‘day-job’

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What makes a team?

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One definition:A group of interacting individuals sharing a common goal and the responsibility for achieving it.

Global category management

New factory rollout

Level of dependency

Commonality of goals

Loose federation of widely dispersed individuals

Close-knit,co-located team

Collaborative working group

Low High

Low High

Degree of Interaction

Team Continuums

What makes a team?• Collocation / Co-location

– “Mission critical”– Real-time information learning, no filtering, no interpretation– Simplify and facilitate the job of the project manager – Effect of engineers’ location on communication

• 25% chance those with offices next to each other would communicate at least once a week

• below 10% when they were more than 30 feet apart• after 90 feet, the odds were the same whether they were 91 feet or

several miles apart.– A Bell Labs study

• people on the same corridor tend to collaborate five times as often as people merely located on the same floor;

• collaboration nose dives when people are located on separate floors.• Dispersed

– Next office, site, town, country– "virtual co-location“ or "rapid serial development."

7Product Development Best Practices Report; opinions from Farshad Rafii, Brad Goldense and Tom Allen

Communication

“The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)Playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature (1925)

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Communication Statistics• 70-80% of quality problems and costs are designed-in at

concept stage*– apply design review rigour; cross-functional input

• 70% of avoidable project delays are due to poor project definition** – strive for robust definition; avoid ‘over-the-wall’ culture

• 50% of avoidable project delays are due to lack of resources** – realistic project resource plan and timescales with management

• 50% of avoidable project delays are due to a lack of Senior management support**– ongoing communication with a good project sponsor

• Engineers spend 36% of their time looking for information** – directory structure for one version of the truth

10* Smallpiece** PA Consulting – note more than one cause is usually attributable to project delays

Project Communication• What to communicate across the team

– Methods, documentation, issues, plans, progress, contacts• Who to communicate to

– Stakeholders, customers, clients, internal, external, upstream, downstream, hierarchy-360°

– RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)• Effective methods of communicating

– Multi-site, global, time efficient– Ensuring the message is understood

• Level of formality• Frequency of communication• How well is your communication received and understood

– Languages, time zones• What changes are likely to influence the above

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Project management maturity

12Adapted from managementconcepts-ap.com

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55‘Maturity’ implies that capabilities must be grown over time in order to produce repeatable success in project management

Example:Example:Category Category

Management Management ProgrammeProgramme

INPD FrameworkINPD FrameworkOn-line collaborationOn-line collaborationSoftware-as-a-service (SaaS)Software-as-a-service (SaaS)

Achieving maturity• Level 1 - initial process

– Formalise the running of projects– Create a standard process or tracking system– Use intuitive and easily accessible tools that

are available for all– Create library concepts

13Ideas developed from OGC: Portfolio, Programme & Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3)

Achieving maturity• Level 2 - repeatable process

– Projects run within its own processes and procedures to a minimum specified standard

– These processes are reused; reiterative– Begin to develop consistency or co-

ordination between projects


Achieving maturity• Level 3 - defined process

– Controlled project processes; define and communicate through the organisation

– Project team adopt and flex within these processes to suit the particular project

– Support with relevant documentation


Achieving maturity• Level 4 - managed process

– Performance measures are obtained and retained– Use the knowledge and experience to better

predict future performance– Share the experience of others


Achieving maturity• Level 5 - optimised process

– continuous process improvement – proactive problem and technology management

for projects– Improve ability to show performance over time

and optimise processes


Summary of requirementsLevel Requirement Tools required

1 Formalise, standard processes, tracking system, intuitive and easily accessible tools, accessible to all, library concepts

Web basedDocument archives

2 processes and procedures, reiteration, co-ordination between projects

+ Project planning and progress+ Shared schedules

3 Centrally control, adopt and flex + Project templates

4 Performance measures shared, knowledge and experiences shared

+ Portfolio management+ Project measures & reporting+ Publish learning

5 Continuous improvement, performance optimisation

+ Revision of templates+ Knowledge base+ Wider communication

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In context; wider issues• Limited IT infrastructure• Dispersed teams• Information shared with external parties• Delivering a defined best practice process• Cross-business task management; day-to-day PM• Knowledge and information sharing• Sharing project information with stakeholders• Delivery of project matrices and reports• Consolidation of activity; programme

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Online collaboration can deliver• Global reach with ‘unlimited’ access• Shared document repository• Discrete project areas with access by invitation• Project progress and time reporting

– Responsibility of the task owners and resources• Consolidation of personal tasks from all projects• Project ‘libraries’ or ‘knowledge bases’• In addition…

– Public web pages– Project meeting management– Defined procedure for dealing with issues– Online meetings

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Online service vs. offline application• Cost of licensing• Updating and access to the software• Task updating• Use of functionality• Manipulation of browser based tools can be

slow• Offline application files can still be shared in

online service tools• Online services become a professional ‘social

networking’ tools21

Software as a service (SaaS)• Customer doesn’t own the software; browser-based, pay-as-you-go

– rent a total solution that is delivered remotely– reduced IT infrastructure

• Advantages for the vendor– spends less time managing compatibility and upgrades across several

versions– spends less to support customers; one version, no customer

equipment issues• Minimal support costs for the customer

– no multiple platforms and versions• Faster implementation

– no on-site deployment, minimal/no integration• Current technology

– changes are made to the one code base and delivered seamlessly• One-size-fits-all; the tool is the enabler of your processes

– Customer controls the business processes– Not customisable or indeed has very limited bespoke options

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Dispersed teams

Team Member

1

Team Leader

Team Member

5

Team Member

4

Team Member

3

Team Member

2

Stake-holder

Stake-holder

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Collaborating members

Team Member

1

Team Leader

Team Member

5

Team Member

4

Team Member

3

Team Member

2

Stake-holder

Stake-holder

Virtual co-location

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Activity consolidationPersonal storage

Account Admin

Account Admin

Project Owner/AdministratorAdministrator

Member

MembersAccess rights decided

by administrator

Document file archive

Tasks

Project resources & costs

Progress reports live to project

Task owners Report Time & Progress

Email prompts

Issue Management

Email issue progress

Email the workspace

Publishing

Workspace Admin Auto-generated project website

to selected parties

Stage-gate timeline, news, team, documents……

Email prompts when updated

Workspace Template

Account Admin

Account Admin

Knowledge Base

WorkspaceWorkspace

Workspace

Portfolio

Access by invitation

Weekly project manager update

Email prompts

Bespoke reportStandard report

Summary of project metrics

Workspace

Progress and reporting

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Defining a process; example

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Benefits expected vs. benefits seen • File share and document management• Global information access• Framework for robust processes…• … and focus on improving PM maturity• Dynamic communication; single point of access;

wide audience; virtual co-location• Both internal and external to the organisation• Effective and efficient• Cautions:

– No substitute for benefits of social interaction– Email generator… but useful, consistent emails

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Project management maturity

29Adapted from managementconcepts-ap.com

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Communication andCommunication and(virtual) co-location(virtual) co-location

Selling to a global business• Cost• IT tool vs. ‘off-the-shelf’ vs. useable• Understanding your user; adoption and take-

up• Easily scaleable• Security and accessibility• If your solution matches your needs well then

selling to the organisation is easier

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Daily Use• Access is ‘guaranteed’; globally• Self perpetuating• Brings peoplepeople together; co-location• Begins to drive a processprocess• Easy to use, even to the less ITIT-savvy

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• Progressive updates• Challenges…

– Your connectivity to the internet; global internet issues– Email culture, but more organised and purposeful

• It won’t deliver projects for you!– Enabler, conduit, tool,…– May raise practices that need addressing e.g. file

discipline, task ownership

Thank you for listening!

Questions?

Find out more atexhibitor Stand: 100/106

Can online collaboration improve your project management maturity?

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Transcript of Can online collaboration improve your project management maturity?