Tag: Project Management

How to make your manager pay for your project management certification

Written by Alex Bennett on March 14, 2018. Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on How to make your manager pay for your project management certification

Achieving a globally-recognised project management certification will improve your ability to lead successful projects.

But it’s not always easy to get certified independently, especially when juggling your career, family and social life. Good training can be expensive too and financial restrictions may be stopping you from building the skills you need.

For most of us, a helping hand from your organisation could make all the difference in achieving a project management certification. Unfortunately, it can be tough to convince your manager to pay for your training.

There are some steps you can take to get the certification you need, without paying out of your pocket. Here’s how to make your manager pay for your project management certification.

1. Explain why it’s in your manager’s interest

It’s ultimately in your manager’s best interest for you to get qualified. Put simply, the better your project management skills, the more you can contribute to the business.

1 in 6 projects overspend by a massive 200%, according to a study by the Harvard Business Review. It’s clear: employees with expert project management knowledge will save money across every project.

For example, becoming a PRINCE2 Practitioner encourages continuous improvement across project management practices. Over time, your projects will become more successful, yielding cost-savings for your business.

Alternatively, achieving the PMP certification will teach you tried-and-tested project management techniques. For over 30 years the best project managers across the world have collaborated to create a body of knowledge which is then taught through the PMP certification.

2. You’ll bring clarity to your projects

Project management certifications bring clarify to your projects by providing tried-and-tested frameworks and methodologies in which to manage projects efficiently. Your projects will benefit from a common and consistent approach that your stakeholders will take confidence in.

For example, the PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner certification provides its students with a standardised system for project management, allowing you to provide accurate reports to your project’s stakeholders, without relying on bureaucracy.

Certification is one of the best ways of adopting a project management methodology in your business and the sooner you do, the better.

3. Clients value certification

If you’re working with external clients, or even delivering projects internally, managing successful projects will help preserve your key client relationships.

It’s well worth considering your organisations wider business goals. Are you bidding on large projects, or plan to in the future? If so, you can assume other organisations will be showing off the credentials of their project managers. Pointing out this disadvantage could help your manager see the bigger picture value of your training and certification.

4. Build your case for training

Once you’ve decided you need the training to improve your job performance, it’s time to build your case for training.

Show your manager that you’re committed to undertaking the training by doing thorough research. Avoid focusing on just one training provider, instead show evidence that you’ve researched numerous certifications and courses.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

5. Ask at the right time

Time can be a crucial factor when making the case for training. Your boss may want to discuss your proposition in detail, so making sure you have their complete attention is critical.

Consider raising the topic of certification at your performance review. You should already be discussing your professional development at your performance review, so it’s an ideal time to raise your request, while explaining why the training would improve your performance.

It’s also worth considering your team’s training budget, and when it is released. Raising your request early, before the budget is swallowed up later in the year will make it more likely to be accepted.

An alternative strategy is to make your request when you’re training budget is set to expire. Within enterprises or large organisations, departments will often leave money on the table by not utilising their full periodic training allotments. Timing your request towards when you’re training budget is set to expire could strengthen your position.

Another good time to achieve your project management certification is in-between projects. This is an opportunity to highlight tools and methods you may not have used in your last project, and how you’ll be in a better position to tackle your next project from the start.

If waiting is not an option, there’s no need to ambush your boss in person. Craft a compelling email that explains why you need certification first and then negotiate it in person afterwards. This way you have two chances to negotiate and more time to convince your boss.

6. Research different training providers

You get what you pay for when it comes to training and certification. Cheaper training may not utilise official curriculum or instructors and training days may be spread over weeks or months.

If your organisation requires you in the office, consider intensive or boot camp style training which aims to get students skilled and certified, with minimal time out of the office.

Krishna Williams, Senior Consultant at Firebrand Training, says: “I’ve found it essential to communicate the value of boot camp training upfront. The longer your staff are out of the office, the less time they’ll spend progressing critical projects. This will almost always cost the organisation more in the long term.”

You should also consider when the best time is to attend the training. If your manager can’t lose you for several days, consider training over the weekend.

Your boss might still flinch at you being out of the office for any amount of time, but with smart planning, training over the weekend will minimise this friction. By sacrificing your weekend you’ll also prove your commitment to improving your skills.

Take note of where your training provider is based and what travel expenses you may incur. It’s not wise to surprise your manager with an extra bill, so have every cost itemised and ready before you make your case.

7. Consider your team

If you manage other people, this is a good time to consider whether they should also receive training. This will show you’re not just after the certification to progress your career, but also care about the business benefits.

Cost-savings can be gained by training multiple members of staff at once. If your team needs training, it may be cheaper and easier to organise private or on-site training which can offer savings over public courses.

8. You don’t need a week off work

Many project management certifications can be achieved quickly. For example, PRINCE2 certifications are quick to complete, ranging from 20-50 hours for the Foundation level.

And, if you’re looking to get qualified fast, there are a number of training providers that will bundle multiple certifications with the exams included.

What are you waiting for?

To secure funds for your project management certification you’ll first have to demonstrate the value of the certification. Following these simple steps will go a long way in ensuring that you receive this important training with the support of your business.

What PMO leaders and executives are doing to secure their seat at the strategy table

Written by Dalene Grobler on March 13, 2018. Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on What PMO leaders and executives are doing to secure their seat at the strategy table

I was privileged to lead the discussion at the recent Gauteng PMO forum (an invitation-only interest group under the umbrella of Project Management South Africa (PMSA))…

on what successful project management office (PMO) leaders and executives are doing to secure their seat at the strategy table. PMI’s Pulse of the Profession™ reports over the last couple of years consistently indicate that an organization’s success can be directly linked to its project success.

For this reason, more and more organizations realize that the PMO has so much more to offer. The PMO is no longer just the secretariat, executor or auditor, but also the strategist, analyst and trusted advisor with the required knowledge and experience to advance the organization’s strategic agenda. But what does it take to get there?

Critical skills for the Strategic Project Office

During lively group discussions, the session’s attendees made up of PMO professionals across various industries firstly considered what skills and capabilities the Strategic Project Office (SPO) should have and secondly, how they would go about building the required skills and capabilities. Some interesting themes emerged.

The ability to act and think strategically was highlighted by most of the groups as a critical skill for the SPO. The SPO should be the strategic facilitator, the corporate storyteller that not only understands the bigger picture but is also able to turn available data into meaningful pictures and stories that enable executives to make the right portfolio decisions. The SPO should be able to assist senior management in the translation of their vision and strategy into tangible programmes and projects. From the discussions it emerged that this step is often missed or neglected, leading to misalignment between what the executives expect and the work being done on the ground.

The SPO further needs a deep understanding of the business to unpack the real business need and whether it makes good business sense to invest in the initiative. The group felt that this would require an understanding of the current and possible future policies, practices, and trends affecting the business. There was a further consensus that an absolute focus on the customer is essential. The SPO should play a key role in ensuring that the planned changes will meet the expectations and requirements of both internal and external customers. Additionally, the group recognized that experience could not be forced or dictated and that the SPO would only be able to effectively question and challenge if it has the required experience.

In thinking about the SPO’s broad range of stakeholders, there was mention of the importance of stakeholder management and interpersonal relationships skills. The SPO should have the ability to establish and build high performing delivery teams, while building and maintaining effective relationships with the other services areas in the organization, such as Human Resources, Information Technology, and Finance, that are critical role-players in effective change execution.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

With the increasing emphasis and focus on benefits realization management, attendees felt that the SPO should have more advanced financial skills and should excel at risk management. When taking on new initiatives, the SPO should have the ability to facilitate and support benefits identification, performing business case scrubbing where required, and ensuring benefits are aligned to the expected strategic outcomes. The SPO should also conduct a solid risk assessment to derive a complete picture of the potential risks and ensure that this is taking into consideration in investment decisions.

In today’s rapidly changing environment, agility and flexibility are top of mind. While the group agreed that an important role for the SPO remains the provision of standards, methods, frameworks, and tools, the SPO should allow for more flexibility to tailor and adjust approaches and have the agility to re-align at speed to meet changing organizational requirements.

There were also discussions about the need for the SPO to have deeper change management knowledge and skills, promoting change management as an essential leadership tool, ensuring that the compound impact on business is measured and understood, and that staff is appropriately equipped and enabled to execute and/or absorb the portfolio of change.

Building the required skills

In the next part of the session, attendees considered how they would go about building the required skills. Most attendees felt that conducting a formal gap assessment is a great starting point to identify gaps and derive steps to bridge. Suggested interventions included:

Developing a comprehensive on-boarding programme for project staff
Development of clear development and career paths taking care to develop and promote the ‘right’ people into the ‘right roles’ ensuring staff are not set-up for failure
Ensuring in-house Leadership Programmes include project management training at various levels, such as Sponsor Training for Executives
Creation of internal Communities of Practice and other appropriate Forums for business and project staff to share experiences and knowledge
Setting-up formal coaching and mentoring programmes
Having regular performance reviews with staff, giving timeous and honest feedback
Implementing job shadowing, where more junior level staff can observe and learn from more experienced project resources
Recruiting the ‘right’ people, with a broad range of skills, experience, and personalities
Establishing reward and recognition programmes that drive outcomes based delivery and the right behaviors
Creating a Learning Environment, where it is safe to make mistakes

Conclusion

Successful PMO leaders have a clear understanding of the skills required, the current gaps, and develops a clear roadmap for improving capability. They understand that the Strategic Project Office (whether a single office or multiple ‘connected’ offices) needs a different set of skills than the traditional PMO. The SPO must have the ability to see the bigger picture, facilitating and influencing strategic conversations from a skilled viewpoint and through deep analysis and understanding of the business.

The SPO should encourage and apply agility and flexibility in its approaches to adapt and change at speed. These skills may very well exist within the organization, maybe in other service functions. The last thing the SPO should do is duplicate skills or roles that are already embedded in the organization but rather focus on its role as the integrator and connector between change the business and run the business. It makes me think of a ‘connect the dots’ activity (for adults of course). Yes, some dots may be connected (functionally/divisionally/regionally) making parts of the picture visible, but it is only when all the dots are connected, and the whole picture reveals itself, that the real value is unlocked.

Have you tried any of these interventions in your PMO environment? Get in touch; I would love to hear your thoughts…

OUTSIDE THE BOX Forum: 12 Requirements of an Effective Hybrid Project Manager: The Project Support Office – Part 3

Written by Robert Wysocki on March 12, 2018. Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on OUTSIDE THE BOX Forum: 12 Requirements of an Effective Hybrid Project Manager: The Project Support Office – Part 3

Part 1 defined the Hybrid Project, Hybrid Project Management, the Hybrid Project Manager and listed the 12 requirements of an effective Hybrid Project Manager.

Part 2 discussed the 12 requirements in detail. This article is the final article in the series and discusses how the Project Support Office (PSO) can support Hybrid Project Managers.

WHAT IS A PROJECT SUPPORT OFFICE (PSO)?

Naming it the PSO instead of the PMO sends a significant message. The PMO is often characterized as a monitoring and standards compliance function. It may have support roles but they take a second seat to the monitoring and compliance roles. The PSO on the other hand sends the message that it is first a support unit. The organization may also have a PMO but include within it a PSO to support the needs of the Hybrid Project Manager (HPM).

A ROBUST HYBRID PMLC MODEL

Figure 1 is a robust and high-level depiction of the Hybrid Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC) Framework. These three phases apply regardless of the model or approach you might envision for managing your project. This framework is more useful than Agile or Extreme Models in those situations where very little is known about the solution or the specifics of the goal.

Figure 1: A Robust Hybrid Project Management Model

The framework will lead you through the uncharted waters of any unique project. There will be many situations where the commercially available models or those in use in your organization do not fit the project situation for any number of reasons. The Hybrid PMLC Framework has been designed for just those situations. Keep in mind that solution discovery is still the focus of these Hybrid Models. Each iteration in a Hybrid Model must address not only task completion for newly defined functions and features, but also further solution definition through function and feature discovery.

I want you to have these three phases in mind as I describe what the PSO needs to provide as support to the HPM as projects are defined, planned and executed.

The PSO has a significant role to play across all three Phases in response to the needs of the HPM community. An HPM wants to manage their projects using a “path unencumbered by fixed processes” and under their complete control. They avoid nonvalue-added work and by nature are “lean practitioners”” whether they know it or not. However, without some structured guidance their “lean practices” might unknowingly put them and their business unit in harm’s way. Their project management processes are not fixed but are adapted by them to the nature of the project at hand. Convention and established practices are of little importance. What is important is to complete their project to the satisfaction of the project sponsor, usually their direct management. Ideally their project management expects the PSO to support their 12 general parameters. Here is how the 12 general parameters are distributed across the three Phases of the Hybrid Project management Framework and what the support expectations should include.

Across all Phases

A Portfolio of Intuitive Tools, Templates and Processes

This portfolio is one of the Unique Value Propositions (UVP) included in the Hybrid Project Management Framework and the PSO is its steward. It should anticipate the needs of the HPM and inventory a broad selection to meet those needs. Part of its responsibility will be to encourage submissions by the HPM community for evaluation and inclusion in the portfolio.

Available Coaches, Consultants and Mentors as Required and When Requested

The HPM is not a professional or credentialed project manager. Most of their project management skills are the result of on the job experiences. So when an unusual situation arises they have to reach out to find a solution and that means having that resource available to them and known. The PSO needs to provide access to that information. That could simply be an online directory that lists skills and competencies, who has that and how to contact them for help.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

A Supportive PSO not a Compliance Monitoring PMO

The PSO is a reactive service not a proactive management service. The HPM goes to them when they need them not when the PSO needs something from them. The PSO puts out a menu of support and waits for needs to arise.

A Collaborative Engagement with Subject Matter Experts

The PSO support services must take the HPM from whatever level of expertise they might possess and help them solve their problems.

A Partnership with the Business Analyst

The Business Analyst assigned to the HPM’s business unit will be a frequent partner with the HPM and be the first professional the HPM reaches out to for help.

IDEATION Phase

Meaningful Stakeholder Involvement

The first opportunity to establish meaningful client involvement in the project is during the IDEATION Phase where the high-level project definition is developed. That begins with the Brainstorming Session. The PSO can facilitate that session and begin the process of building a collaborative relationship between the client and the developer teams.

SET-UP Phase

Minimal Nonvalue-Added Work and Waste Avoidance

The HPM is only interested in completing his project to the satisfaction of his manager, who may be reporting beyond the requests of the sponsor would be an example of nonvalue-added work. The PSO might offer some useful reports for the sponsor such as a Primitive Earned Value Analysis that reports tasks planned versus tasks completed.

A Lean Systems Perspective

The PSO might suggest systems for use by the HPM but must keep them lean if they expect the HPM to use them.

Flexibility and Adaptability of Tools, Templates and Processes to Meet Project Needs

Any tool, template or process contributed by the PSO must have flexible and adaptive properties to facilitate the HPM use of them.

An Operational Understanding of Traditional, Agile and Extreme Project Management Processes

Lean versions of any PMLC model promoted by the PSO must be available to the HPM. Short papers or one day workshops might help in that regard.

EXECUTION Phase

Minimal Documentation and Reporting

The HPM is only interested in those tasks that directly relate to achieving the project objectives. So the PSO needs to offer tools, templates and processes that directly serve that end.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategies

The HPM may have very limited skills and experiences with risk management and probably needs the PSO to provide some leadership on risk management. The more complex the project the more likely that risk will be present and must be managed. The simpler the risk management process the more likely the HPM will include it in their project plan. They are not likely to appoint one of their team members as risk manager. The PSO should consider appointing one of their staff to this position.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

The data would lead one to the conclusion that the HPM is the dominant player in the project management community. Yet the body of project management knowledge assumes that standard PMLC models are in common use. Mark Mulally [Mark Mulally, All is not the same in the World of Project Management, ProjectManagement.com, 3/27/17] would disagree. His research concluded that less than 2% of organizations are currently at a (CMMI) Maturity Level 3 or higher, where there is a consistent process that is consistently adhered to. Assuming his estimate is reasonable the project management community needs to establish the processes and practices that support the HPM. This article is a start to meeting those needs.

Married with Children Volume 4: The Broken Home

Written by Michelle Green on March 7, 2018. Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Married with Children Volume 4: The Broken Home

In previous volumes of the “Married with Children” series on communication tips and tricks to a positive Project Manager/Business Analysis relationship..

you’ve met (The Dating Game: PM/BA kickoff meeting), developed a trusting relationship or at the very least, learned about each other enough to work together toward a united goal (The Newlywed Game: PM/BA one-on-one). You’ve had a few kids, or rather a project team of sponsors, programmers, analysts, SMEs and so on. You’re having regular family meetings (The Happy Family: PM BA Communication Do’s) where you’re showing your family or project team stakeholders that you are a unified team working toward project success. But what happens when the unified team isn’t so unified?

We’re finishing off this series with The Broken Home, or those major relationship “don’ts” that could damage your PM/BA team as individuals, impact project delivery dates, project value, stakeholder security, or in the worse cases I’ve seen, even lose you a job. That’s right – DIVORCE!

1. Interruptions, Assumptions and Bad Timing

Now this one is all me! I have the sort of mind that’s always thinking 20 steps ahead. I often jump in and finish sentences for my PM or stop them mid thought because I think I know what they’re going to say and I think they’re going down the wrong path. If I’m being completely honest, I do this with my real spouse too! I’ve actually seen this to be a pretty common PM and BA affliction that can lead to lack of trust and a degradation of team unity. Before butting in with assumptions and interruptions during team meetings, mentally place your idea on the Importance and Urgency Matrix shown below.

Important and Urgent / Urgent and Not Important, you have a green light to forge ahead with your comment, theory or statement. If your thought lands on the gray side of the matrix, save your idea for later when you’re not in a group situation.

2. Over-Heading

Over-heading is an instantaneous trust-killer for a PM/BA relationship. You wouldn’t go call your spouse’s mommy because they did something you didn’t like, would you? No, you typically discuss issues with one another until you can come to a resolution or compromise. The same rules apply to going to your PM or BA’s supervisor, manager or other authority before giving them the benefit of discussion. Unless it’s a question of ethics or something similarly extreme, you should address your issues with each other first. Crucial conversations are a necessary evil of any healthy relationship, and trust is critical in the PM/BA relationship. Break it unnecessarily and it’s very hard if not impossible to get back.

3. Missing the Clues

This doesn’t just mean that you may miss some verbal or physical indications that someone needs you to jump in, shut up, or make a note of something for later, but it’s also about looking for holes in the boat before it sinks. In Volume 1: The Dating Game, we discussed the need to define your handshake agreements in your PM/BA kickoff meeting. Remember to employ them. Maybe even define expressive clues to each other early so that you don’t leave anything to guesswork. Twisting your earring, crossing your arms left over right, loosening your tie, placing your pen above your tablet instead of beside it are all examples of non-verbal cues you can provide each other during tense situations to keep you on the same page or to indicate that you need to talk later. Stay away from verbal statements such as “let’s take that off-line” unless absolutely necessary. Statements such as those can shut a person down to more than just that topic, but all other topics in your meeting.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

4. Talking in Circles

Ever have this argument with your spouse?

“You’re always late.” “Well, you yell too much!” “Then be ready next time!” “I was this way when you met me!” “Yeah, well I hated it then too!”

Talking in circles means to talk a lot, but not achieving anything, or to come back to the point you started from without being any further along than when you started. Nothing gets resolved by talking in circles. Avoid the blame game and look for the root cause and perspective in these types of conversations. If you find yourself stuck in a circle argument, employ the Rogerian Model below and in most instances you can steer the discussion toward a productive and compromising end.

For our spousal argument above, maybe one spouse is always late because he/she has to have their hair just right to feel socially accepted and the other likes to be on time for the very same reason. A compromise would be to plan an extra 30 minutes in for “hair time”. Both parties benefit from the compromise while still meeting their individual needs.

5. Arguing with an Audience

Jane Blaustone stated, “The best security blanket a child can have is parents who respect each other.” Do your PM/BA relationship and your project team a favor, and never argue in front of your team. Normal project healthy debate is okay, but major heated disagreements on direction, process, etc. is not. It’s all about respect.

So go out there and give your project team the best security blanket you can… a strong and cohesive PM/BA team at the helm!

For additional information on many of the topics in the four-part series check out these links:

1. http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/project-scope
2. https://www.projecttimes.com/wp-content/uploads/attachments/Guide_PM-BA_Collaboration.pdf
3. Larson, Elizabeth. “Bad Business Analysts, Project Managers, and Relationships.” BA Times – Business Analyst Resources, www.batimes.com/elizabeth-larson/bad-business-analysts-project-managers-and-relationships.html.
4. PennyPullen. “What Are the Root Causes of Business Analyst and Project Manager Tensions?” PM Blog, 22 Jan. 2015, www.esi-intl.co.uk/blogs/pmoperspectives/index.php/what-are-the-root-causes-of-business-analyst-and-project-manager-tensions/.
5. “The Project Manager-Business Analyst Relationship: When Roles Collide.” TechWell, www.techwell.com/techwell-insights/2014/11/project-manager-business-analyst-relationship-when-roles-collide.
6. “Arguing in Circles”. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/living/family/linda-lewis-griffith/article39441612.html
7. “ENG 102 – Intro to Rogerian (Compromise-Based) Argument.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Feb. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhB75sFvG8w.
8. Nelson, Rochelle. “9 Ways To Stop Fighting In Front Of Your Kids.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Sept. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/25/how-to-stop-fighting-in-front-of-kids_n_5879630.html.

From the Sponsor’s Desk – It’s the Mastery that Counts

Written by Drew Davison on March 6, 2018. Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on From the Sponsor’s Desk – It’s the Mastery that Counts

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” – Thomas Jefferson

How many times have we been challenged with a knowledge gap in our personal or professional lives? We need to learn a few words in a different language to welcome guests from a foreign country. We need to invest our hard earned millions to earn the best return at minimum risk. We need to follow some obtuse instructions to assemble a new piece of furniture. We need to apply a mandated new process, procedure or methodology at work. We need to navigate through a detour in a construction zone to get to our destination. We need open heart surgery. We need to figure out a new or changed technology. And so it goes.

Life is filled with these know-how gaps. We have a few options to address those challenges. We can acquire the needed information on our own. We can rely on someone who already has the knowledge and experience to educate and guide us. Or, we can hand the job off to someone else. Which option we choose depends on a myriad of factors, from how big or critical the challenge is, the time and cost of the options available, to our personal and organizational strengths, interests and inclinations.
In this story, we’ll see how a major financial services organization responded to a mandated regulatory change that required them to identify and track the source and pathway of data deemed critical to accurate and timely financial reporting. We’ll discover that it’s the mastery that counts.

Thanks to Peter Szirmak for the details on this story. Full disclosure here – Peter Szirmak has been a colleague and friend for over a decade. His accolades for the Project Pre-Check practice appeared on the back cover of my first book on the subject. I was not aware of the project covered in this article until recently and had no personal involvement in its conduct.

The Situation

The global financial crisis revealed shortcomings in the ability of banks to provide timely, complete and accurate aggregation of risk exposures. The correctness of reporting data proved to have severe consequences not only to individual banks but to the entire financial system. In response to these shortcomings, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued the “Principles for Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting” (RDARR), outlining key areas to strengthen risk data aggregation capabilities and internal risk reporting practices.

One of the requirements of RDARR related to what is called data lineage. Data lineage tracks data from its origin to its destination, the different processes involved in the data flow and their respective dependencies to ensure that the final presentation in financial reports is accurate and transparent.

Our company of interest, a large international financial services organization, like its peers, was faced with the challenge of ensuring the accuracy and transparency of the data used in its financial reports. In 2014, it launched a project to ensure data lineage compliance with the new regulations.

The Goal

To track the data lineage for 125 different pieces of information and ensure their use in the company’s financial reports was accurate and transparent. The target date for completion of the project was December, 2016. The budget allocated to the endeavour was $10 million based on what the organization felt was a worthwhile investment. Accountability for the project was assigned to the Chief Data Officer (CDO), head of the Enterprise Data Office.

The Project

The CDO assigned the project to a senior IT project manager along with three senior data analysts from his organization. Together they considered options for how to tackle the challenge and, after due consideration, recommended a team of 20 data analysts to manually trace each piece of information back to its source.

The organization had a standard practice in place to submit every project to the Enterprise Architecture Group for an assessment of the planned approach and possible alternatives. The practice, called an Initiative Assessment or IA, was a collaborative and iterative exercise developed with the organization’s Project Management Office. Its intent was to build a comprehensive and holistic view of a project’s impact on the organization and beyond. Project managers and teams used the practice to get feedback and insight on a multitude of fronts as the work progressed.

The first IA review about a month after project launch received full support from the review committee. The consensus was to continue exploring and building an understanding of the project’s breadth and depth using the IA practice.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

Three months in, the scope was much better understood. The 125 information items had burgeoned to at least 275 data elements in over fifty systems involving over ten programming languages and a multitude of scripts and fourth generation tools. The IA review at that point was able to consider a number of viable alternatives to achieve the project’s goals.

One of the alternatives proposed was to use the data lineage expertise offered by Mapador International Inc. A member of the review team had had previous experience with Mapador and their approach to what they called application cartography. She was most impressed with their mastery in the data lineage domain and believed their expertise would help deliver a comprehensive, high quality solution on time and within budget.

After Mapador’s offerings were reviewed and their references checked, they were invited to bid on the project. With their quote and projected time frame well within the allocated budget, Mapador were welcomed aboard and the work progressed.

Mapador’s approach was to work backwards from presentation to origination. They relied on the company’s data analysts and business owners to provide the necessary context and access. The work was divided into subprojects by information groupings so the work could progress in parallel, reducing the time required. When a dead end was encountered – for example, no obvious source for a data element – the Mapador staff worked with the organization’s business and data resources to solve the problem. A number of external information sources were identified in the process.

Mapador’s suite of tools and the staff’s parsing talents incrementally revealed the required data lineages. As part of that process, a knowledge repository evolved to manage the incremental results from the lineage analysis. The repository, accessible through a web browser, allowed the data analysts and business staff to review and approve the results on the go.

And so the work continued.

The Results

The project was completed by September, 2016 for a total of $4.2 million including Mapador’s costs. Over 500 data elements were ultimately traced to the 125 information items. Those data elements involved some 97 internal systems and 7 external sources using seventeen programming languages plus the aforementioned scripts and code generation tools.

Mapador’s process also delivered the knowledge repository covering the targeted data and applications. That allowed the company to refresh the information at will to identify possible or actual changes to the lineage profiles.

What a Great Team Learned

There is often a tendency to think inside the box in situations like this. The project didn’t look particularly challenging. It appeared the organization had the skills and resources needed in house. Why look anywhere else? In fact, another large financial services organization chose to hire a boatload of analysts and tackle the analysis themselves. After spending in excess of $80 million, they pulled the plug and called Mapador. Fortunately, the organization we’re concerned with had the IA practice to force teams to think outside the box.

Four key factors provided the foundation for a very successful undertaking:

A Roadmap – The IA practice was the catalyst for exploring alternatives. In fact, considering both business and technology alternatives along with a myriad of other potential impacts was a prerequisite for any project to get approval and follow-on funding.
Mastery – This assignment was in Mapador’s sweet spot. That’s what they do, day in and day out. They are masters of code and documentation navigation and exploration. They had the practices, tools and know-how from the get-go. There was no learning curve to get up to speed. They hit the ground running and brought the organization’s staff up to speed on the job. As well, the organization’s IA practice demanded mastery on all fronts for the exercise to work effectively. It was a match well made.
Collaboration – Culture can play a huge role in an organization’s success or failure as well as the outcomes for individual projects. In this case, collaboration was institutionalized with the IA. It wasn’t a formal checkpoint review. It didn’t involve senior executives ruling from on high. It was peers – IT staff, business folks, contractors, architects, data analysts, programmers, whoever was needed – sharing information, ideas and strategies on the best way to achieve success for the team and the organizations.
Iteration – Two of my last three posts in this blog have covered massive project failures that delivered nothing of any substance for years. This organization’s culture embraced iteration through the IA’s process of creeping commitment. When Mapador joined the fray, it was just business as usual. They proceeded on an information item by information item basis, organized sub-projects operating in parallel, vetted results, built the knowledge repository incrementally and proceeded accordingly. That reduced the risks, accelerated delivery and imbued everyone involved with a confidence build on achievement.

These four building blocks enabled this project to deliver the goal set two years prior, with minimal risk, moderate costs and a reasonable time frame. In fact, the IA was really the progenitor of the other three factors. The IA couldn’t work without mastery, collaboration and iteration. In fact, it sustains that culture.

I haven’t done an exhaustive study on this thought, but I expect you’ll find the presence of these four factors in most successful projects and the absence of one or more in failed ventures. Let me know what you think.

Finally, be a Great Leader. Put these points on your checklist of things to consider so you too can acquire and build the mastery you need to achieve project success. Also remember, use Project Pre-Check’s three building blocks covering the key stakeholder group, the decision management process and Decision Framework best practices right up front so you don’t overlook these key success factors.

Thanks to everyone who has willingly shared their experiences for presentation in this blog. Everyone benefits. First time contributors get a copy of one of my books. Readers get insights they can apply to their own unique circumstances. So, if you have a project experience, good, bad and everything in between, send me the details and we’ll chat. I’ll write it up and, when you’re happy with the results, Project Times will post it so others can learn from your insights. Thanks