project management - ITM Platform | Projects Programs Portfolio

In addition to the "weather station" and the "control tower", Casey and Peck distinguish a third type of Project Management Office: the "pool of resources". Often, this type of PMO is more simply named by its directive capacity.

In fact, the fundamental difference with the previous types of PMO are its managerial features, since it is dedicated to coordinate projects, components and programs of an organization.

Its direction can have two different reaches:

The most ambitious, is where the PMO extends to all projects of an organization.
However, it can also be more targeted, and focus only on transversal projects involving several departments, leaving more routine or restricted projects in the hands of a specific project manager.

How to organize the structure of a directive PMO

In a directive PMO, the project managers work directly for the PMO: the PMO assigns the projects, to which they have to direct the reports, and is the one that supervises their actions. Therefore, the directive PMO must diversify and prioritize its team of project managers: those who work for the PMO will have a more marked profile as supervisors and managers, while the subordinates will be closer to the daily execution.

On the other hand, the employees of the company can be organized in two ways:

One possibility is that they are part of the PMO itself. This system is valid in cases where all or almost all the work carried out by the company is in the form of projects.

The other possibility is that they are formally non-project workers, even if their work contributes to some. This approach is used in companies with a more operational profile and a smaller proportion of the work is devoted to projects.

Functions of a directive PMO

The most characteristic functions have to do with the coordination of talent:

Develop and maintain a sufficient and well-formed project manager template to manage all the company's projects.
Organize contributions from independent workers.
Assign the necessary human resources to each project, prioritizing in case of conflict according to business criteria.

Although these are the most defining functions, the directive PMO shares functions with other, simpler types of PMOs. These include:

Reduce costs by centralizing services.
Ensure adequate communication between team members and the organization of project management through the regular issuance of structured and complete reports.
Encourage the adoption of methodologies, standards, processes and tools that allow the management of projects to be completed efficiently.

How to control the efficiency of a directive PMO

Since the directive PMO is in charge of managing all the projects, it is difficult to evaluate if the work is being carried out properly. If it is the PMO itself that has to evaluate its performance, it is possible that bias will appear in the assessment and, although this is not the case, there can always be doubt about the potential conflict of interest.

There are some solutions that can be adopted in these cases.

Contract the services of an external audit. This way, you are guaranteed to obtain bias exempt reports in which both the positive aspects of project management and the negative ones are evaluated.

Generate an independent audit within the organization itself. To do this, a group of project managers should be set up outside the active projects, that can evaluate their efficiency in management.

Develop a rotating system for project managers. This is a methodology widely used in companies that have adopted the ISO 9000 quality standards. When a director does not take care of the management of a particular project, he can be assigned to the evaluation of the active projects. This is a very complete option, since the rotation of project managers ensures that they keep the two points of view constantly.

Should I incorporate a directive PMO in my company?

There are divided opinions among experts when recommending this type of PMO.

On the one hand, some argue that it is the best solution for the management of a company, since it guarantees maximum efficiency in all departments and projects. In case other systems already exist, a gradual evolution towards a leading PMO is suggested, since it is the most complete management method.

On the other hand, the directive PMO runs the risk of being invasive of existing work systems and appear as a structure that seeks to appropriate all departments or aspects of management within a company.

Therefore, prior to the implementation of a directive PMO in a company, it should be assessed if its profile and that of its employees allow for an appropriate introduction. Otherwise, one solution is to adopt other less demanding type of PMO and progressively evolve towards this type of PMO.

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Artificial lakes, Venetian canals inside commercial galleries, fountains capable of pumping water as high as a building ... Few cities make a more spectacular use of water.

Anyone would say that it is an abundant resource. However, Las Vegas is surrounded by the Nevada desert, one of the largest in the world.

How is this possible? Behind this paradox, lies successful project management, which allows for turning the driest of deserts into a fertile oasis. Let's see how.

Collaboration with neighbors

The city of Las Vegas collaborates with neighboring regions to obtain water supplies. Until 1991, each municipality sought to exploit the Colorado River and Lake Mead independently.

However, during that year, the Southern Nevada Water Authority was founded. This organization aims to ensure the proper use of water by all populations in the surrounding area. This way, it is guaranteed that water is used adequately and benefits not only some of the population but all.

Internal collaboration: companies and individuals

The larger companies in the city have been incorporated into the initiative of saving water. Perhaps not by conscience or social responsibility, but by an economic question: the cost of a liter of water is greater the more it has been consumed.

Regardless of the cause, major hotels in the city have established a healthy competition to see which performs the most efficient water management. Using advanced water purification systems, the main strip hotels only consume 3% of the city's total water.

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For their part, ordinary citizens also collaborate. Incentive programs exist for the substitution of conventional irrigated gardens for others of native desert flora. The maintenance of these gardens implies a lower expenditure of water and instead this valuable resource can be used for human consumption.

The result is that approximately 90% of the water consumed by the city is purified and returned to Lake Mead.

Mentality change

Of course, all these changes have not occurred overnight: a gradual adaptation has been necessary. To this end, all public and private organizations, from the largest companies to the self-employed, through industries and families, have had to shoulder the burden in a common cause and adapt to the new circumstances of scarcity. Adapting to this new scenario will ensure the survival of your business model ... and life.

Forecast: the ability to anticipate problems

Las Vegas could never have had a population of 2 million inhabitants and an estimated 35 million visitors a year if it had not had enough water stock.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the construction of the Hoover Dam allowed the storage of large quantities of water, which not only ensured the supply, but allowed the water to become a source of electricity.

The construction of the dam before the water needs multiplied, allowed to face this new situation with guarantees and that the city prospered.

Application of new technological solutions

However, the technology is becoming obsolete and the available resources may be insufficient. This situation is also being raised in Las Vegas. Currently, it seems that the Hoover Dam will not suffice in the medium term. As a solution, the city of Las Vegas has sought rights to water from other Nevada basins and the Utah Snake Valley. A new pipeline connection between these regions and the city of Las Vegas will ensure their supply.

What can project management contribute with?

Accurate knowledge of available water resources. In the example above, it is necessary to know the exact volumes of water available, the demand curve, the capacity of the distribution networks, before carrying out a transfer or requesting new water inputs from neighboring municipalities...

Projection of the future: anticipation of the worst possible scenario. Rainfall is likely to increase in the coming years. Although forecasts for climate change seem to indicate otherwise, it is possible that a year’s rainfall will exceed forecasts. However, this exception is not something that can be counted on. A leader in charge of project management has to be able to always put himself in the worst place, to foresee the worst possible scenario and to prepare a suitable solution for him. That is why the Hoover Dam was built and that is why water transfers are planned before the need is urgent.

Agile and efficient technological solutions. The water utilization systems used in hotels, homes and businesses can recycle most of the water consumed and return it to Lake Mead. This is possible thanks to the use of advanced technology. Finding and adopting new technological solutions allows you to make the most of available resources.

Negotiation. Without leaders able to establish equilibrium scenarios in which all parties win despite giving in to certain aspects, Las Vegas would have dried up long ago.

Therefore, for this methodology of project management to work and be carried out properly, it is necessary that all involved share a mentality of entrepreneurship and a predisposition for continuous improvement.

This way of acting, either voluntarily or stimulated by the state of Nevada, has led to involve both companies and individuals in taking measures for water control. Teamwork and good coordination, is what has led to the social and economic miracle that is now Las Vegas.

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airport terminal, airport with control tower , In this blog series we have already spoken about the different types of PMO following the classification of Casey and Peck in 2001, and the tracking function as a "weather station".

When the PMO acquires authority to establish action guidelines, its function can be compared with that of a control tower that establishes when a project can be placed on the runway, deploy the flight and know what the conditions will be of the environment and competition for airspace (ie equipment time and funding).

The control PMO, however, not only makes decisions to guide projects. If the “weather station” measures, the control tower defines procedures and standards. It then monitors its compliance and seeks improvements.

While it is always important to recognize the differences that each PMO must include to fit its parent organization, these are some of the typical functions of a control project management office:

1. Establishes standards for project management

Every project must meet standards that serve as a reference and which should be adjusted as much as possible from the initiation phase. It is recommended that the standards be flexible and allow a certain adaptation to the circumstances that may be present during the project. Standards can refer to different areas, such as:

Information and nomenclature. PMOs often provide report templates that allow the information to be treated in a homogeneous way, facilitating their comparison and analysis between projects. It is convenient to establish what types of reports are provided, the frequency with which they are issued and the structure they present.
Risks. What can be presented at what time, what is the probability that they will occur and what impact they may have on the project.
Configuration of the project or organization. This entails the establishment of responsibilities for each of the people involved in the project, so that important milestones and decisions are taken by the responsible parties in the shortest possible time and with all relevant information.

It is good practice for standards to strike a balance between structuring and facilitating work: they must be sufficiently elaborate to capture the complexity of the organization without falling into bureaucratic excesses. It is about making things simple, for everyone to be clear about what to do, how to do it, what their responsibilities are, and who to communicate their results, their doubts or the problems that may arise.

2. See how to meet the established standards

This consultation should have two approaches:

External focus. Document techniques for measuring risks, quantifying the progress of a project ... See similar cases in other companies and try to apply them to your specific situation.
Internal focus. Make sure that all team members and staff of your company understand and know how to implement the standards you have established. On the other hand, involve them in the detection of errors and in the suggestion of improvements. Everyone should feel part of the team in which they participate and collaborate in their success. A close view, from within, provided by the workers themselves, is an irreplaceable resource.

3. It promotes the compliance and the elevation of the standards

Organizations with a culture of advanced quality will find it easier to take this step. It is also important to consider incentives for those who strive to do their work to the best of their ability, for example, by including the adoption of standards in staff reviews.

4. Participates actively in the improvement of standards

In addition to rewarding those workers who suggest ideas that allow to improve the established standards, from the own direction of the project office it is necessary to work actively in its improvement. Accumulated management data is a great starting point for improvement. It will be important to consider what programs and areas of activity may suffer most from the adoption of change, to cushion the shock through raising awareness.

Process of implementing a control PMO

As with any other change management process that affects the entire organization, the beginning can be quite difficult.

However, there are some factors that help facilitate the process:

An extended recognition of the shortcomings for which it was decided to create the office
Leadership shared between senior management, middle managers and the management of the new PMO
The adoption of complete but simple software such as ITM Platform, which allows organizing projects in programs and analyzing complex information in a unified way.

If these conditions are not available, or if implementation difficulties are high, it may be advisable to start with a set of more basic functions, related to the centralization of information and the facilitation of decisions.

Being rigorous and exhaustive in the data collection allows you to gain the trust of the clients and the managers, who will later be more likely to adopt the changes proposed by the PMO, that could introduce new management systems for projects gradually.

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If you lead a consultancy firm in project management, odds are that things have been good for you in the last couple of years: the industry has recovered from the global recession in many sectors, and PM has rapidly grown as a management philosophy to expand beyond the niche areas of software development, construction and infrastructures. In fact, many of our best customers come from industries as different as financial services, insurance, healthcare, or the food industry.

However, we still find it very surprising that many small-to-medium consultancy firms with great talent offering highly specialized consultancy services in project management are not stocking up in a solid and diversified portfolio of project management solutions.

Sure, many players choose to go hand in hand with a top vendor. This grants them access to big accounts and ensures that the complexity of the solution is a golden gate to offer on-boarding services. However, there are several reasons why you should not be content with doing just that:

Improve your vendor portfolio

No matter how much you love your expensive and sophisticated solutions, some customers won’t fall for them for a number of reasons: price, past experiences, or very specific needs. It’s always a good idea to add additional vendors that stick out for different reasons: whether they’re targeted at specific industries, have a focus on certain buyer personas, a methodological edge or simply a lower price point, they’ll be a catch for a number customers you’d likely not convert on your own.

Diversify

If built properly, a diverse vendor portfolio can better support your own service offerings. Different software solutions will need different forms of supplementary training and support, and the chances are that, unless you build your strategy around your main vendor, smaller players can better adapt to some of your already existing services.

Care about your level of Sales Relationships

People outside the industry may think otherwise, but we know that selling technological services is fundamentally a matter of trust. Trust not only takes time, but the bigger the other size it is, the more laborious it will be to establish it.

What I’m trying to say is that the ladder of sales relationships can be very long if you’re partnered with an industry giant, but just takes clear strategy, periodical meetings and some sales with a smaller company.

Grow your reputation as independent advisor

The more diverse your portfolio of solutions, the likelier it is that you can be perceived as a recommender with the ability to provide reliable, independent expertise, including non-biased advice on what solutions should be implemented in a given situation. A limited vendor portfolio immediately defies that purpose.

The example of ITM Platform’s Partner Model

Over the last three years, ITM Platform has built a network of partners to sell our PPM software solution globally.

A recently added partner in Mexico landed a $ 250,000 job after we referred them a company that had recognized their need to reorganize their processes on a project basis.

In a Southern European country, a former user of ITM Platform was put in charge of creating a new food processing plant and decided to stay with the solution he was already familiar with. Our local partners were able to secure the training and capacitation for the factory set-up in the first yearly period.

In all these cases, the price tag for licenses we sold was a mere percentage in single digits of the revenues that the services provided by our partners generated for them.

That’s not a problem. “We’re in the business of providing a solution and generating recurring monthly revenue from satisfied customers. Asking our partners to share their revenues for associated services with us would only distort the model and distract us”, says our CEO, Daniel Piret.

“We think we can have a particular appeal for firms that are interested in moving from the traditional model of service provision to the juicy recurring SaaS business model”, points Daniel.

Our mission for 2017 is to transform our partner network in our main channel for sales, and to do that we have designed new partner-friendly policies.

In other words, our growth strategy consists in helping our partners attract big business.

What do our partners get:

A PPM solution that, added to their portfolio, competes in functionality with the top players, while having the extra appeal of being incredibly cost-effective.
Our partners have priority as re-sellers: they can sell licenses for a lower price than our official price lists. It’s our way to make sure that customers won’t contact us directly after being approached by a partner.
Hot leads coming from our marketing campaigns
Recurring net margin
And much more!

To apply for the program, register at our partner website, or download our brochure here.

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One of the great challenges facing CEOs is improving internal communication. The challenge of this type of policy is to proceed with communication without restricting it; Or, in other words, get the information that:

is sufficient but does not generate noise;
leave traces that allow recovery;
distributed in a differentiated way, without generating gaps.

The importance of internal communication policies is proportional to the size of the organization. However, finding this balance can be especially difficult if you do not have a team where members are accustomed to collaborative work. To reinforce this interconnection, it is necessary to engage its members with strategies that foster the pooling of their skills and allow them to evolve as part of a whole.

When working in project management, it is vital to strengthen communication channels among the members of the initiative. If we think of our team as a coordinated body, they all bring their inventiveness and talent to achieve a common result by assembling their different functions. However, in designing internal communication policies, different procedures and channels will have to be designed:

communication between the team of a project
communication between projects and teams other than the same organization(external)

While in the first case the communication tends to have a tactical dimension, because it is oriented to improve the quality of the project and the effectiveness of the execution, in the case of communication between projects can have a strategic dimension, oriented to generate synergies and create Shared knowledge that can raise the value of the organization and its capacity for innovation. It is at this point that the management of internal communication may require an expert to coordinate and direct it.

Perhaps a line of work is not as efficient as it may be because its resources are unlinked, that is: employees, technology and processes work in an uncoordinated way. An integrated vision of the tasks assigned to the team members, allows the manager to guide the goals of each one and propose synergies aimed at encouraging reciprocal learning.

Here are some factors that you should take into account to improve the collaboration in your projects and we present the definitive tool to optimize the communications between the members of your team.

Synchronize your computer

A good internal communication plan allows the company that deploys it to save resources and avoid deviations in cost planning. This is because errors have a greater monitoring by all the collaborators, so that corrections not only come from the management of the project, but are generated once they are publicly shared. The added value of promoting self-help among peers increases the sense of authorship that the employee professes towards the object of his work.

Likewise, a project manager who relies on the values of cooperation and emphasizes the role of collective work will be able to propose more agile solutions, since it will have real-time information on the specific availability of each member, and scope of specialization. It can also use the creation of subgroups that, because of the special affinity of their members, are able to solve problems that another conjugation of employees would be unable to address.

Mission impossible without the right tools

Improving the relationships between the different segments that make up a human team can be supported by software that integrates their tasks, documentary contributions and specific annotations into a single conversion platform. Relying on these types of applications often means that project coordinators have a greater capacity to intervene on the overall stage, since they have a global perspective on all operations.

Slack is a great example of business communication that manages to retain the user, retrieve shared information more easily than email, and add features through apps. There are many reasons why you should start using Slack in your office.

For example, the ITM Platform Teambot application allows you to use ITM Platform from Slack, query tasks and projects and navigate to the planning environment without having the Slack chat.

If you are not an ITM Platform customer, you can now try Teambot with a free environment from this trial:

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Little by little

It often happens that employees perceive these types of measures as restrictive, since they involve the obligatory adaptation of all those affected to be implemented. However, once that initial phase of mistrust in the new protocols is overcome, they themselves discover the advantages of working with project management tools.

One of the most common points of friction between employees and a new working methodology is related to the learning challenges involved in using an unknown platform. In this sense, ITM Platform Teambot relies on the leadership of the Slack network within the world of corporate messaging and leverages its infrastructure to offer a more intuitive work experience. Moving to an environment where the user feels comfortable reduces the general rejection associated with technical progress.

To counteract this proven trend that evokes the technological evolution in teams already formed, it is appropriate to devote the time that is necessary to show the benefits derived from working with state-of-the-art solutions. Creating a tutorial for all collaborators, starting a shared video conference presentation or disseminating a written manual, are initiatives that can reduce the step and increase the confidence of the staff in the new methodology.

As you have seen, many factors are involved in the definition of an internal communication plan. Therefore, we must spare no effort in enabling new channels of interaction that ensure corporate synergy and increase the degree of commitment of our employees or subordinates.