Management - ITM Platform | Projects Programs Portfolio

Most studies conclude: attempts to produce change in companies often lead to failure. According to a study conducted in 2013 by The Katzenbach Center, Price Waterhouse Coopers states that the success of change initiatives are only achieved in 54% of cases.

The mistakes in these attempts to manage change not only involves an economic and personal expense that does not produce any kind of benefit, but that set the precedent of a failed change. This creates a negative predisposition amongst the employees to adopt changes in the future.

Learn how to tackle project change with this e-book on PMO transformation.

However, change should be the backbone of business activity, as it is the only way to give effective responses to an increasingly volatile and unpredictable business world. Therefore, it should not be something that leaders decide to implement at a given moment when there is a crisis of their business model: it should be an attitude of constant improvement that is applied at all times in the development of the company.

However, change management policies continue to face difficulties when implementing them. Below are 5 reasons that may justify this failure.

1. Lack of anticipation of needs

One of the main characteristics that any leader should have is the ability to anticipate problems. The ideal problem is the one that you never have to solve and this is obtained by anticipating its appearance. Therefore, the change must anticipate the real needs. Market studies and socio-economic forecasts should guide the changes adopted by the company in order to adapt to the needs of customers even before they present them.

One way to perceive the needs of clients and employees early is to establish effective channels of communication. If these do not exist, the management of the company will only be aware of the real problems that arise in the daily work when the problem becomes too great. Establishing appropriate communication channels will allow customers and employees to express needs at the time they are presented, when the problem is still incipient, not when the problem has already manifested itself.

2. The strategy of change is not clear or does not occur at the appropriate speed

In order for the change to take place efficiently, it is necessary for the employees to perceive a purpose and a plan of action. If they do not exist or are not clearly explained, employees are likely to be reluctant to change, since they do not understand what meaning they have and are not aware of an appropriate action strategy.

Likewise, if one tries to adopt attitudes of change too quickly, these initiatives are most likely to fail, since employees will not be able to assimilate them properly. Therefore, the change must be fast enough to meet market needs, but slow enough to be efficiently enforced by employees.

3. Lack of alignment between the situation before the change, the actions undertaken and the needs of the market

When planning to introduce changes, it is advisable for leaders to gather all possible data on the state of the business and the market. This will allow the situation of the company to be understood before the application of change, to locate the most susceptible aspects of improvement and to plan the actions that will be undertaken in this respect. On the other hand, obtaining information must be carried out continuously throughout the change process, in order to detect the possible occurrence of risks and to plan the attitude to be taken before they arise.

In addition, it is important to consider that there are aspects of the company that are not included in the numbers. Some examples are employee satisfaction or degree of motivation. To be able to know this information, it is appropriate to promote a close communication between the leaders of the company and the employees to guarantee that enough confidence is generated to express the appearance of problems in the day to day activities.

A correct alignment between the situation of the company, the changes that are going to be introduced, the employees and the needs of the market will increase the chances of success of the change process.

4. Effective change is not led from above, but involves all

A change imposed from the top of the company is unlikely to be effective in the long run. For its establishment, it must be accepted and adopted by each of the employees.

For this reason, the greatest possible involvement of all leaders at all levels of the company, not just managers, is desirable.

In this way, the change will not be perceived as alien, but will be considered as its own and this motivation will facilitate its success.

5. The generation of a company culture guarantees continuity

Adopting a change-friendly business culture will make it easier for change to stay in place over time and for the company to be dynamic, making it easier to adopt new changes in the future.

The company culture is its personality, so if it is open to changes will facilitate that these are adopted in a consistent, simple and with guarantees of success.

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Subject matter experts are highly sought after by project managers and project teams to provide unique expertise for solving a problem or meeting a technology challenge.

They often act as key advisers because of their deep understanding of a certain topic. This may be an area of knowledge, a process, a system, software or a piece of equipment. The unique perspective of a subject matter expert can inform content within the project, or the execution of the project itself.

The subject matter expert balancing act

A project’s subject matter expert will have spent a lot of time developing their specialisation. Either they’ve worked in a role that has allowed them to gain understanding of the system or topic, or they’ve studied extensively in the area. Inside your company this might be software specialists, technicians or engineers. Outside your company this might be lawyers, accountants or local government representatives.

Integrate your Subject Matter Experts with your ITM Platform environment

So what value does a subject matter expert provide?

Their input can often change the scope and direction of a project. They may have an understanding of systems or processes that will alter the approach the team is taking, or they may be able to provide an understanding around limitations of a piece of equipment. Without the specialised knowledge and expertise of the subject matter expert, it could be difficult to know what you are working with.

Where could this be a risk?

It’s important to be aware that your subject matter expert has invested a lot of time working in their speciality area. Whether they are aware of it or not, they have probably formed some strong opinions on it.

For example, a subject matter expert may have specialist knowledge about a certain system your company uses. However, they may be unsure of how this system interacts with newer software, apps or social media sites, and how they can be utilised together to improve the customer experience.

Similarly, while a subject matter expert may know a lot about a specific product, they could be unfamiliar with your audience itself. This would make it difficult for them to understand how the product will be used by this customer demographic.

The takeaway message from this is that if you’re working with a subject matter expert, consider how their potential bias weighs up against the value of the knowledge they’re providing. It’s a balancing act. Don’t take everything they say as the whole truth, but remember that they have unique insights to offer, which can contribute to your project.

Strategies for dealing with potential subject matter expert bias

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re working with a subject matter expert:

1. Stay aware of potential biases

Keep in mind that while you’re dealing with an expert, their particular views on the subject matter may not take into account the relative position of this knowledge in your project. Their research and knowledge should complement that of other experts on the team.

Any bias could also result in the objective of your project being skewed. Don’t allow this to override the purpose and outcome of the project.

2. Have research proofed before it is implemented

While it’s tempting to have subject matter experts heavily involved in the entirety of a project due to their superior knowledge and expertise, it’s a good idea to leave them out of the implementation process if possible. This allows someone else to look over their research and identify any potential bias before it is implemented for the project.

3. Have a number of subject matter experts working together

Another good idea is to engage several subject matter experts to work on the project together. It’s even better if they come from completely different backgrounds, as they will have different opinions. This will mean that several people’s input comes together to produce the final product and the opportunity for individual bias is lessened.

While it may not be possible (or affordable) to find two or three subject matter experts, at least have your expert work closely with other members in the team who can apply their own knowledge and perspective to the project.

Managing subject matter experts and stakeholders is a big part of what a project manager does day-to-day: oftentimes, the most crucial aspects of projects are related to leadership, communication and engagement problems.

One of the best ways you can learn more about how to work with subject matter experts is by completing a project management course online. Southern Cross University offers an online Master of Project Management course, designed to develop your critical thinking and leadership skills.

This article was produced by Southern Cross University in collaboration with ITM Platform.

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The fifth area of knowledge of PMI's PMBOK refers to all activities and processes related to responsibilities, policies and quality objectives. Quality is a key pillar in project management.

What does the quality of a project mean? Simply stated, the quality indicates that the result delivered by the project meets the defined expectations of the project.

According to the PMBOK itself, quality is:

"The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics meets the requirements."

Thus, quality management is the set of practices whose objective are to ensure the outcome of the project is sufficient to meet the goal or set objective.

Make sure you meet the quality of your ITM Platform projects

Unfortunately, this premise is often not met. It's very common to venture into large projects that do not meet the proposed needs. This can happen for multiple reasons, to which we can refer to as the three great enemies of quality.

The lack of communication between the sponsor and the team associated with the project is one of the most common ways of damaging project quality. There are times when the team appropriates the project from the collection of requirements, but the final delivery is not a suitable means to achieve the sponsors' goal. On the contrary, it may happen that the sponsor doesn't have a clear idea of how to reach their goal, so they can not give exact instructions regarding the requirements
The intangible quality. Quality has a lot to do with perception, so the client will have a different notion than the project manager or the analyst who is responsible for realizing the most complex technical details. In order for this subjective character to not become an obstacle, it is desirable to arrive at clear agreements and commitments on what quality means in the expected result. In the case of agile methodologies, these agreements become the guiding principle of the project iterations, coagulated under the notion of user story: a discrete requirement, the minimum that can be delivered in a functional way.
Conformity with what is planned. Or, what is the same, to think that the requirements will become a round product and finished as soon as all the planned work is completed. If progress is not measured continuously, assessing the needs for additional integration between requirements, adding new tasks and proactively solving incidents, the result may not be of the expected quality, but will be, at best, a product on which a second phase of work must be added.

To understand the great enemies of quality better, we will look at an example. Let us imagine that the project in question is a document management system with copy versioning, requested by an insurance company. The reason for requesting the document management system is that commercial area managers need to have visibility on all the policy offers that have been made to their customers to find guidelines in the negotiations and to design new promotions and pricing policies.

What happens in this project when the three enemies of quality are involved?

Lack of communication: The commercial management communicates the product that has been imagined that will solve their problems. However, it does not explain its business need in detail, preventing alternative ideas from emerging that could better serve that outcome, such as a CRM module with supply chain analysis and aggregate information. The systems team is based on the requested features of the document management model, cutting some characteristics whose implementation would be too expensive.
The intangible quality: When the product is delivered, the technical team and the project manager are satisfied and estimate the quality of the result by 90%. The most ambitious features are lacking, but they may be added at a later stage. The document manager works, is better than before, and deadlines and budgets have been respected. When the commercial director announces the new system to his team, he finds that nobody knows how to use it how it was intended. Understanding the dynamics of negotiations and extracting data is a long and expensive process. Although you can manage your documents well and improve productivity a little, no new pricing policies will emerge.
Conformity with what is planned. Along the way, there are characteristics that could have saved the project, such as the connection with the payment and supplier management system, and an apparently minor technical problem has prevented the new document management system from highlighting the changes of the latest version With the previous ones, facilitating the work

What does it take to manage quality?

Constant outward communication. It is necessary to understand the reasons and motivations of sponsors and clients to internalize what are the best requirements that guarantee quality.
Negotiation and agreements to define the quality of results
Pro-active problem solving
Adoption of good practices. To help in this regard, we then review the good practices that, according to the PMBOK, should be followed by the project manager in collaboration with the team members to manage the quality of the project.

Phases of Project Quality Management

1. Quality planning

Quality planning is done in the first phase of the project. The quality plan can be an independent document, although it is better that it is part of the total project management plan we have prepared, it is a way of unifying the norms and criteria that govern the quality of our products or services. It establishes the rules, variables and factors that will govern the processes, tasks, activities and projects of the organization.

The quality plan of the project establishes the standards that will govern it. These standards may be standards of the company itself or also of the client, if for example it has an ISO of its own quality and sets its own minimum requirements. The contributions made by our client will allow us to establish the quality objectives of the plan itself.

The quality plan allows for establishing the deadlines and procedures of the quality controls in the project itself, so that it fits the marked requirements and the expected objectives.

2. Quality assurance

The quality assurance can be measured through an independent evaluation of the project processes. It is a question of supervising to verify that the plan is in accordance with the purpose we had set ourselves, and for this we must check that all tasks and activities meet the requirements set.

We advise you to appoint a project control team to assume quality assurance responsibilities. It is not only a question of measuring the final result, but also of controlling and supervising the different phases, tasks, activities and dependencies.

It is also important to make reports that improve the perspective, justify the changes and correct errors or point out improvements during project management.

3. Quality control

Quality control is similar to quality assurance. The difference between the two concepts is that the quality control is carried out by the team that works in that phase, process, task or activity. On the other hand, quality assurance is supervised by a group outside the group that works at that stage.

Quality audits are carried out on an ongoing basis in each project management process. In this way, the team ensures that the result meets the standards set in the initial quality plan.

These types of audits or controls can be carried out through inspections, reviews and tests. Thanks to the integration of quality control in a systematic way in the process, we have the margin and capacity of reaction, besides the possibility of correction in case of any failure or error. It is important that you make and update a record of the tests, a history that feels the basis of learning to avoid future mistakes in that project, or another one in your company.

4. Continuous Improvement

Quality controls and quality assurance are implemented from the quality plan. The goal is to correct errors and ensure that the result is in accordance with the target or end mark, and meets the set standards. It is desirable to involve all stakeholders in quality controls to be able to rectify and make deviations from the initial planning if satisfaction with progress is low. In projects, transparency is often the mother of quality.

The quality management of the project allows us to continuously improve, advance and grow our company. The project manager has to be documented in the initial phase on the quality management of other plans, which will allow him to improve efficiency and avoid repeating mistakes. Hence the importance of records of controls and quality assurances, as well as reports, since they not only allow to lead the current project, but also provide for and alert about future.

All the team involved can collaborate by providing ideas for continuous improvement. Shared satisfaction contributes to commitment and involvement. And all this has a positive impact on the company, its services, products and projects that you want to carry out. The initial phases in which the foundations and the organization are established are fundamental for the later development.

This article belongs to a series on the 10 areas of knowledge of PMBOK. Check out the previous articles in the series:

The 10 areas of knowledge. 1: Project integration management

Integration with the ITM Platform Project Menu

The 10 areas of knowledge. 2: Project scope management

The 10 areas of knowledge. 3: Project Time Management

The 10 areas of knowledge. 4: Project Cost Management

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Financial services are an infallible measure of your time

At the time of European colonization, the great adventures of exploration were only possible thanks to the issuance of loans by the great bankers of the time.

In the western United States, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, banks operated with minimal regulation. To build trust in its users, the bank was often the most solid building in the entire settlement. During the time when remote communication was done by MORSE code and the train lines forced to coordinate the schedules in remote territories.

Nowadays, the need for trust and guarantees has not changed, although the means to produce it uses current technologies.

Monitor the contribution of your technological projects to the development of the business with ITM Platform.

Entities providing financial services to private users move trillions of dollars around the world, and mainly include commercial banks and insurers. The transition to increasingly more digital users has forced this sector not only to provide online banking services, but to give access to those same services in mobile applications.

The pressure on banking to modernize its IT systems

And it's not just about designing an attractive and useful online banking application.

A commercial banking mobile application is only possible as a result of dozens of different projects, such as:

Making remittances to other banking entities
Secure authentication system with fingerprint
Account management, with recovery of historical information and permanent updating of the latest movements
GPS navigation to find the nearest cashier or office
Viewing of information

All this does not take into account all the technological infrastructure with which the online banking application must be connected in order to be launched, nor the legal and compliance obligations to which this type of operations are subject, including the protection of data during its recovery , treatment, storage and communication.

Competition is fierce: according to a Ernst & Young report launched in 2016, in most surveyed countries, the general public relies more on mobile banking services from supermarket chains or digital home banking to traditional banks' online banking applications .

If these projects were not managed in a coordinated way, it would be impossible to guarantee the service. What's more, it would be crazy to think that it would work at the time of launch. That is why every financial services company needs to manage its projects in a coordinated manner.

That means that, without addressing all the implications and connections between the new application and existing systems, and without coordinating projects based on these connections, at some point we will find this message when we open our online personal banking application:

"We are experiencing some technical difficulties. Apologies for the inconvenience."

If we reach this outcome, coordination has failed. Meaning having to abandon the project management to deal with the crisis.

The message has as many causes and variations: login problems, failure to update data, procedural problems.

However, the result is the same: loss of customers and reputation.

That is why, for the organizations that manage to coordinate their projects, competitive advantages immediately ensue. In addition, attracted by a comforting user experience, new customers arrive in flocks. The most robust building in the city has been erected, perfectly visible on every mobile screen.

Financial services and project management

In order to avoid messages like that and to construct a robust strategy of technological delivery, the responsibility of the CIO of a banking institution has to be the general of his army. In order to coordinate their activities, these profiles should focus on at least 6 major responsibilities:

Develop projects for all business units of the organization with equipment and limited funding, often responding to direct demands for new internal projects.
Contributing to productivity goals consistently.
Leading the digitization of the service portfolio.
Modernize information systems, which are often decades old. The transition is difficult, but without it the overall response time will be compromised. In addition, problems of backward compatibility may arise as soon as there are strong demands to implement new technologies for a user, such as direct mobile payment.
Reducing contingencies that impede active planning and "putting out fires" effectively.
Use credible measures to see if teams are working on appropriate projects.

The 11 questions for financial services projects

These responsibilities require access to aggregate information, such as that provided by portfolio management tools, and which can be summarized in 6 basic questions:

What projects are currently being implemented?
What projects are planned?
What resources are available?
Are there limits or restrictions on the use of these resources?
What other projects can be implemented with current capacity?
What are the dependencies between projects?
What are the options for resolving conflicts for the use of resources between different projects?

In addition, there are other questions whose response is likely to require meetings and deliberation. The following 4 are some examples.

Are there unapproved project proposals that merit efforts in the light of the current situation, or do they have synergies with other projects already initiated?
Given the follow-up of the projects, is it appropriate to cancel any of the ongoing projects?
Have resources been planned according to project priorities and job-specific competencies?
Is there any review of objectives and priorities affecting project implementation?

In order to be able to respond adequately to these questions, it is necessary to use the project portfolio of the organization as a repository of ideas and proposals that are evaluated, analyzed and initiated according to a constant cycle.

In many organizations in other sectors, the portfolio steering committee is comprised of directors from various areas, each of whom provides input on priority projects. This model can also be implemented in banks or insurers; the key is to find the balance between the technical feasibility criteria of IT managers and the business vision.

On these foundations, the digitization, innovation and commercial development projects of any financial services entity will be protected by a robust governance system with guarantees of success.

If you liked this blog, here are some related blogs that you may find interesting:

How to manage multi-project organizations

How SaaS-based project management has surpassed the MS Project model

Integration with the ITM Platform Project Menu

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Effectiveness of internal change projects requires effective leadership that is able to be influential without coercion, to persuade through seduction, and to recognize the complexity of influence in corporate settings.

Communication is one of the most complex and at the same time exciting processes of the human being. Although many human aspects are influenced by communication, language is the main component. In addition, in a project-dominated work environment, where the nature of work is different every time, communication is a fundamental piece that every project manager must master.

Communicate with all your team members in a collaborative software and find out the status of your projects at any particular moment

The same is true for projects aimed at internal change. Moreover, change communication is more complex than the normal. Typically, when we communicate a message to produce a change in someone's behaviour, we expect an immediate reaction from an isolated individual or a small group of people. On the contrary, in change management we seek to produce a stable and controlled change, over time, where the recipient is a group of people whose answers must be coordinated. The complexity can be overwhelming.

The importance of communication in these cases is essential. If you do not measure the reactions to the change through feedback flows, you run the risk of unsuccessfully implementing the change due to uncertainty and lack of knowledge of the issues.

Therefore, mastery of communication techniques is essential for the proper functioning of a company. To begin with, in organizations of a certain size it is advisable to have internal communication policies that facilitate such feedback. One simple way to set these policies, for example, is to set up weekly meetings. In large corporations, internal communication often requires the hiring of experts to streamline discussions and establish initiatives to share ideas, knowledge or impressions.

In general, the domain of change communications can be divided into three aspects: using the right language, communicate in the optimal context, and to focus communication to the solution of real problems presented in the projects and which are perceived by their Leaders.

Use the right language to communicate change

The words you use to describe change management will mark the willingness of your interlocutors to adopt these new work systems. Whether it's to convince project leaders about the introduction of a new methodology or to motivate project members to keep it in mind during the different phases of the project, the terminology that you have managed will have clear repercussions.

For starters, its very difficult for your team to feel interested in a work system that they do not understand. Therefore, it is best to speak in a language that you know they will understand. If the new methodology is born from the identification of problems with which they are in contact, make the connections obvious so that they can understand the consequences of their work on the whole organization. Communication can empower if it seeks to reinforce the consistency between problems and solutions to the scale of individual work.

Another more simple example, it happens similarly when a doctor explains to their patient what his diagnosis is and why it is important to follow a certain treatment. If you use excessively technical language, although it is probably the most scientifically and academically correct, your patient will not understand, will not give adequate importance to their illness, or will not be able to properly follow the treatment. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the physician to use adequate language to ensure that the patient is aware of his illness and predisposes him to follow the treatment properly. The success of the company (in this case, the good treatment of the patient) depends on it.

Context

Read this article if you are worried that your computer doesn't have all the information needed: Tips for communication in remote work teams

Change management cannot be considered an isolated activity, independent of the rest of the company. Precisely the opposite, change management must permeate all aspects of the company, so it must be shown as a global concept that relates to the company and its circumstances.

A fact that is common to change in all companies, is that it must occur in each and every one of the people involved in the project. The global change will be the result of the addition and interaction of all the subjects involved in the project or in the company.

Therefore, change must be presented as a discipline that requires regular and progressive training, prior knowledge and interaction between individuals.

Regardless of these facts, the change manager must pay special attention to the needs and specific situation of each company and market, in order to be able to adapt the change methodologies in a personalized way to the circumstances of the company.

Solving real problems

Company managers seek solutions to their daily business problems to enable them to reach a final product that meets the needs of their customers and obtain the desired market share.

Therefore, in order to convince them of the need to make changes and an adequate management of the change process, it is necessary to touch on the issues that matter to them, that the changes aim to improve the results of the projects. For example, if the organization does not have a methodology for coordinating projects with interdependencies, new conversations about the contribution of projects in terms of external benefits, the objectives of the different programs and the guidelines that guide the overall strategy should aim to spread to all levels, to be gradually incorporated as a business culture. Thus, project members should move from being part of a project to being part of a corporate portfolio with more ambitious goals.

One of the main responsibilities of the change manager is to identify how process failures, described at the macro level, can be modified in a realistic manner. It is essential that an arrangement be reached between a top-down and bottom-up perspective.

Acceptance = language + context + troubleshooting

Today, more than ever, organizations need effective change management. The change today is greater than ever before in business history: faster and more important and more complex. Due to the demands of the market, companies also become more demanding and ask for positive and concrete results.

To get acceptance of the change systems, you can rely on the three fundamental pillars that we have developed throughout this article: use a precise language while also being accessible, adapt to the context and the concrete needs of each company and each market scenario and demonstrate that an efficient change management will solve practical problems for the company.

If you are interested in this article, you can continue reading some of these:

change management concepts and definitions

5 considerations for managing a project portfolio