Strategies for Innovative Project Management:

Improving Enterprise Performance

By Larry Puleo, November 2003

Abstract: One of the largest issues facing executives in most organizations today is
improving enterprise performance to move the company forward. This challenge exists
due to the lack of a disciplined process for selecting strategic priorities and allocating
resources to execute those priorities. This paper discusses two innovative approaches
using project management to help leaders achieve project alignment and improve
project performance across the enterprise. One approach is to employ portfolio project
management to enable leaders to select and prioritize projects that align with an
organizations strategic plan. The second approach discusses a new method of
employing an integrated project management process within an organization that
incorporates the strategic, developmental and tactical levels and describes the
ownership and accountability of each level to ensure that projects are completed much
more quickly, so that benefits to the organization are realized much sooner.

The paper is intended to help business leaders recognize the need to change their
approach to the way change initiatives are selected and implemented within their
organizations to achieve a major improvement in return on their business investments.
Focusing on a select few top priorities that are aligned with the strategic plan and
allocating the limited supply of key resources to implement those priorities is the way
the company will move forward. Organizational leaders must face the truth and
realize that their companies cannot survive with management and management systems
that do not have a bias towards action. Utilizing an integrated project management
process as an accountability system and execution model to make things happen and
get required results positions executives to execute their strategic initiatives instead of
just thinking and talking about them.

Typically projects are initiated in many functional areas or divisions but the people
initiating the projects do not attempt to evaluate, in any detailed way, what the impact
is on existing projects and resources. This could be compared to a hospital taking in
new patients who need surgery, without any regard to the availability of either doctors
or the operating room. A hospital operating in this way would be in chaos within a
week. Chaos, is that the state of projects in your organization?

Project management is a learned discipline used to implement organizational initiatives efficiently

and effectively. To do so, trained and experienced project managers employ specific methodologies,
tools and techniques to lead teams toward a common goal. Significant portions of organizational
activity are driven by projects, however in most organizations project management is not a core
competency. Our years of experience working with corporations reveal that projects are not aligned
with strategic plan initiatives, they are sanctioned in silos, there is no repeatable process in place,
decision makers receive limited information regarding project status and therefore can not monitor
whether projects should proceed or be terminated and project management training is non existent!

1
Most organizations have hundreds of projects underway and ad-hoc manners in which projects are
started and resources are assigned to these initiatives. These projects are an organizations portfolio
of business investments needed to move the company forward. The problem is most leaders don’t
realize they have a portfolio and worse, they don’t do a good job of managing the portfolio. With so
many possible business opportunities, picking the right projects for profitability can mean the
difference in the success or failure of a business. To address these problems more organizations are
pointing to project management methods and training to get better returns on business investments.

Project management and the problems existing in organizations is not new, however what
successful companies are embracing is an integrated project management process called portfolio
project management.

Portfolio project management, an integrated accountability model that focuses on alignment and
execution to achieve results, is the method and strategy that business leaders must employ to break
through performance walls. Portfolio project management is not a “techie” thing, but rather a
business discipline needed to ensure successful execution of strategic business investments.

Since the future of the organization comes through projects, few things are more strategic than
having visibility of an organization’s programs and projects. Typical project management systems
report the past, on a project-by-project basis with no view of the entire organization. Under this
structure each executive competes for limited resources to address their division’s priorities, not the
organizations, top priorities. An integrated project management model provides an organization
with visibility to its strategic initiatives by presenting immediate and comprehensive project
information to leaders at all levels. Only through an integrated project management system will
leaders achieve alignment and execution throughout the organization. Portfolio project management
keeps management and teams performing in a rigorous and consistent manner to get things done
quickly, efficiently and effectively. This is accomplished by establishing a governance framework
focusing on accountability, performance management and discipline to assist organizations with the
implementation of strategic initiatives.

Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt, an Israeli physicist, is the person most credited with advancing the knowledge
of the improvement methodology called Theory of Constraints (TOC). Dr. Goldratt states that there
is a need for a new method of project management. Simply stated Dr. Goldratt indicates that ‘if a
project is initiated to have a positive effect on the organization, then the sooner the project is
completed; the sooner the organization receives the benefits. Therefore the constraint of any single
project must be its cycle time (the time it takes for the project to complete). The constraint of the
entire collection of projects of an organization, its portfolio, must be the combined cycle time of all
of the projects.” 1

Described by Fortune Magazine as a ‘guru to industry”, and by Business week as a ‘genius”,

Goldratt suggests that organizations answer the following questions to develop better project
management methods:
• What causes project cycle times to be longer than necessary?
• What can an organization do to drastically cut the cycle times of all projects?
• What role must the executive play in order to have an impact on these cycle times? 2

2
“Projects are essential to the growth and survival of enterprises and organizations because they help
deal with the changes in the business environment, competition and market needs,” says David I.
Cleland, a member of the Project Management Institutes Research Advisory Group and professor
emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Industrial Engineering, Pittsburgh, Pa,
USA. “Executives are responsible for managing change, and the best way to manage change is to
have an organizational portfolio of projects.” According to Richard E. Westney, author of The
Strategic Project Planner and CEO of Westney Project Services, “All projects are investments.
Projects convert business opportunities into assets. The project manager owns the process, the
means of supplying the information for these projects. This elevates the importance of project
management as a discipline.” 3

Organizations that want to be successful need to establish an integrated project management

accountability process in order to execute strategic initiatives and the project management process
must focus on the strategic, developmental and tactical levels to enhance the organizations and
individual’s project management capability. Support from upper- management must be more than
just “lip service.” They must also be able to see the potential benefits and be willing to make the
necessary sacrifices to ensure success.

A two year study conducted from 1999 to 2001 by researchers, Dr. Janice Thomas, Dr. Connie
Delisle and Kam Jugdev from Athabasca University (AU) revealed the need for project
management training is critical and that project failure dominates all sectors and more than half of
project managers have little or no formal training to deal with the complexities of today’s projects
leading to the “accidental project manager” phenomenon. Dr. Peter Carr, Acting Director for AU’s
Centre for Innovative Management, stated, “This study on project management constitutes another
component in a growing research program line developed by AU to address the emerging
knowledge requirements of managers in today’s new economy.” 4

As part of the study, a survey was posted on key websites on the Internet and distributed via-e- mail
to senior executives, project personnel and consultants involved in managing or directing public and
private sector projects. Responses numbered 3,156; of those 1,867 were from desired target groups
under study.

Seventy-five percent of target group respondents reported that projects consistently come in late and
over budget across all sectors. Almost half of the respondents noted a lack of applicatio n of
appropriate project management tools, techniques and methodologies. The survey also indicates that
many company executives around the world continually under-fund project management and view
the role of project manager as an add-on to an employee’s job description without appropriate
training or compensation further supporting the '‘accidental project manager'’ phenomenon.

Organizations and their people are set up to fail.

Most organizations have numerous projects underway with no formal project mana gement process
in place to effectively manage successful outcomes.
• We strategize beautifully, we implement pathetically,” say U.S. automobile executives. 5
• “42% of IT projects were abandoned before completion and roughly 50% of all technology
projects fa iled to meet chief executives’ expectations,” says the Wall Street Journal. 6

3
• “Industry statistics indicate a 75% project failure rate due to disappointing results or abandoned
projects,” says Standish Group International. 7
• Robbins-Gioia Inc found that “90% of project managers often underestimate project size and
complexity. Nearly half (44%) have cost overruns of 10% to 40%, and only 16% consistently
meet scheduled due dates.” 8

Years later and we still have not embraced project management as the discip line to hold people
accountable and execute the implementation of strategic change initiatives. For many organizations,
projects are the building blocks that provide the foundation for the organization’s future viability.
Projects emanate from the strategic plan, therefore to increase project success at the strategic level a
process must be established to select and monitor projects and ensure projects and resources are in
alignment with the strategic plan. This process is portfolio project management. At the
developmental level the focus is on project throughput, repeatable processes and mentoring to
improve the organizations and individual’s project management capability and at this level the
process is the project management office. At the tactical level it is all about individual project
management leadership and execution and how the project team interacts with the complexities of
the project, copes with the changes that inevitably occur and deals with the unexpected problems
inherent in all change initiatives. For success to occur, synergy is required from all project
participants at all levels.

The purpose of this framework is to enable fact-based rationalization or prioritization of

investments and resources that are getting allocated across a company. Today’s executives confront
a multitude of opportunities, but rather than set priorities, most simply take on too many unfocused
projects. This leads to under- funding, duplicative efforts, priorities established through emotion
and/or political clout and the allocation of resources to non-strategic efforts. To drive success,
executives must move away from ad- hoc setting of priorities and allocation of resources and
towards a strategy that:
• Intelligently compares initiatives across a set of strategic imperatives and dimensions.
• Prioritizes initiatives across the organization on an informed basis.
• Effectively allocates resources to drive successful execution.
• Provides information to better understand the ongoing costs and progress of the efforts.
• Gains better visibility into the value (financial and strategic) that investments deliver to the
company. 9

The goal of portfolio project management is to achieve focus, balance, effective allocation of
resources and measurement and accountability. The chart on the next page was reprinted from Amir
Hartman’s book “Ruthless Execution” and illustrates this goal.

4
 GOALS of PORTFOLIO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Resource Measurement &

Focus Balance
Allocation Accountability
Determine "what Invest in today and
Match assets to Everyone has 'skin
really matters" tomorrow
expected returns in the game'

Ÿ Balance mix of Ÿ Allocate resources Ÿ Rigorous metrics

Ÿ Business driven
initiatives for based on strategic Ÿ Close non-
line activity
growth and priorities performingprojects
Ÿ Relentless linkage
operations Ÿ Sequence work in Ÿ Quarterly reviews
to the business
improvements phases based on against milestones
strategy
Ÿ Balance risk of affordability and Ÿ Strong linkage to
Ÿ Focus on a select
guarantee return business incentive structure
few top-priority
vs. strategic absorption
initiatives
investment Ÿ Visibility across
the enterprise

Reprinted from Amir Hartman's book Ruthless Execution

5
Many companies think in terms of portfolios of businesses; however each year more business
leaders are focusing on their portfolio of business investments, the set of projects that their business
must pursue in order for executives to execute their strategic plan and allocating their limited
resources and management attention to it.

To support the portfolio project management concept various software vendors offer tools that
enable company executives to formulate strategy, and assess, monitor and optimize their strategies
to achieve desired outcomes. Additionally these tools enable organizations to collect and ana lyze
project data, create standard metrics against which to select projects, evaluate progress and govern
proposed and active projects. A word of caution; organizational leaders must focus on the process,
not the tools to support the process. Organizations just beginning to employ portfolio project
management should take a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach using spreadsheets and word processing
software and as the process matures explore more sophisticated decision support tools.

Baylor University CIO Reagan Ramsower says, “I can prioritize projects and in some cases
eliminate them. And I can use portfolio project management to show our efforts are aligned with the
overall mission of the university.” Don Hass of the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation
District of Oregon uses portfolio project management to track more than 100 projects and improve
strategic planning. “We had to get I.T. out of the decision- making process of prioritizing projects.”
A steering committee and not the technology department should be designated to select projects and
establish and maintain the necessary discipline.” Baylor’s Ramsower says, “The decision- makers
have to buy into the process. If departments can get their pet projects approved by playing a round
of golf or attending a reception, what’s the point?” 10

The chart on the following page illustrates an integrated portfolio project management
accountability model.

6
 ORGANIZATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY and EXECUTION MODEL

Strategic Planning Strategic Project Management

Analyze Alignment for

Business Business Impact
Action Plans
START Goals & Strategy - New Project Initiatives
(Projects)
Objectives - Current Projects
- Backlog Projects

Project Mix
- Fit w/ Goals Project Performance
& Objectives Analysis
Place in backlog Portfolio Balance: - Proceed
NO
or Kill project - Revenue vs. Cost - Delay
Reduction - Terminate
- Project Value vs.
PORTFOLIO PROJECT LEADERSHIP Risks
Executive Governance Board
Business Portfolio Decision-making & Direction
YES
Are we doing the right projects?
NO
Are we investing in the right areas?
Do we have enough resources to support the investments
in our portfolio? Organizational
Is our portfolio balanced from a risk / reward perspective? Analysis Leadership, Ownership &
- Financial Capital ? Accountability at each
- Human Capital ? level

YES

Project
Prioritization and Resource
Allocation
Project Performance
Dashboard
PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE Project Status
Continuous Improvement and Support of the Portfolio Management Corrective Actions
Organization's & Individual's Project Project Reviews Decisions Needed
Management Capability focusing on improved Corrective Actions, Metrics, Priority Changes
project throughput and reduced project life cycle Risk Assessment, Repeatable
time Processes, Standards, Project / Individual
Templates, Mentoring and Performance Status
Training
Reporting
- Milestones
- Deliverables
Project Execution
PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project Scope Definition
- Budget
- Issues
Tactical Project Management Project Planning, Control,
What, Who , When Execution, Tracking and Leadership, Ownership &
Project Closure Accountability at each
level

7
STRATEGIC LEVEL – Portfolio Project Management
Portfolio project management is the component of the accountability system that links strategic
planning with execution processes to improve an organization’s capability to implement change
initiatives by enabling executive management to view existing and proposed projects as a portfolio
of business investments to properly assess the allocation of limited resources, time and money by
asking:

• Are we doing the right projects?

• Are we investing in the right business areas?
• Do we have enough resources to support the business investments in our portfolio?
• Is our portfolio balanced?
• Are our projects and resources in alignment with corporate strategic goals?
• Are we measuring and monitoring individual projects?

Benefits of Portfolio Project Management

Portfolio Project Management provides the following benefits
• It improves project planning and management processes
• It positions the organization to make good financial decisions and meet their defined strategic
and financial objectives.
• It limits risk
• It establishes metrics for managing the portfolio and provides information on how investments
are performing relative to strategic objectives.
• It focuses limited resources on projects that further the organizations most important goals.
• It keeps close tabs on a project’s effectiveness and value throughout its life cycle
• It discovers and eliminates duplicate projects
• It recognizes earlier in the process those projects destined to come in over budget or schedule

DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL – The Project Management Office

Organizations have departments for all operational functions such as accounting, human resources,
information technology, and marketing, but few organizations have a centralized office to manage
projects, yet all organizations have many projects underway. The project management office should
be established for maintaining and supporting best practices for the project manager and providing
the organization consistency in project performance. A project management office provides project
delivery improvement by:
• Focusing on driving down project life cycle time
• Flowing more projects through the organization
• Choosing a better project mix to meet organizational goals.

8
At this level we ask:
• Are we capturing the right metrics and reporting the right information to ensure successful
executive execution?
• Are we providing organizational and individual development and consistency for project
management to accelerate project delivery?
• Do we have the right people and tools in place to ensure project success?
• Are we eliminating the ‘accidental’ project manager?

Functions of a PMO
A Project Management Office typically performs any or all of the following project management
functions:
• Manage and monitor projects and portfolios
• Establish and enforce project management processes, standards, metrics, templates and
methodologies
• Manage and develop project managers
• Organize and manage the resource pool
• Conduct project reviews
• Provide project management training, consulting and mentoring
• Select and support project management software tools

Benefits of a Project Management Office

• Develops project management expertise as a core competency to execute projects more
efficiently
• Centralizes management and coordination of projects and resources
• Formalizes project proposal and prioritization process eliminating wasted money/effort on
cancelled projects
• Formalizes and standardizes project management methods and tools
• Reduces/mitigates risk of cost and schedule overruns

The chart on the following pages identifies the project management functions typically performed
by a project management office.

9
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE FUNCTIONS

Manage Project
Cycle Times /
Tools,Techniques,
Corrective Action
Templates & Metrics

Training & Mentoring

Develops Future Establish Repeatable
Leaders PM Process

Provides Dashboard Focused on Strategic

Information to Goals / Right Project
Governance Board Mix

Performs Project Facilitates

Audits For Delivery Governance Board
Threat Avoidance
Clarifies Role of PM in
Maintains Master Organization
Project Portfolio,
Prioritization of
Portfolio & Resource
Management

10
TACTICAL – Project Management Leadership
A repeatable project management process provides a consistent framework to coordinate and
communicate all project activities and at the tactical level provides an execution methodology to
ensure projects are:
• Done well
• Delivering the desired results
• Within budget and on time

At this level we ask:

• Who is the project sponsor?
• Why are we doing this project?
• What are the project scope and stakeholder expectations?
• How will we know we are successful?

Benefits of project management leadership

Employing a project management methodology introduces the following benefits at the individual
project level:
• Creates ownership and accountability.
• Improves the organization’s ability to deliver project requirements
• Ensures appropriate review and coordination.
• Establishes a focal point for problem resolution and communication.
• Introduces consistency – a repeatable process.

In addition, at the tactical level, project management standards are followed to avoid common
project problems such as:
• Poorly defined scope, objectives and/or customer expectations
• Scope ‘creep’
• Absence of project planning and control
• Poor overall coordination of project activities
• Lack of communication amongst all stakeholders
• Lack of project sponsorship
• Insufficient allocation of project resources
• Insufficient project manager influence and authority
• Poor estimation and/or unrealistic timeframes
• Bureaucratic / political difficulties

The chart on the following page summarizes the phases and major activities that a project manager
is accountable for in this leadership role.

11
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP

PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT

DEFINITION PLANNING EXECUTION CONTROL CLOSURE

Identify: Ÿ Project activities Ÿ Monitor & review Ÿ Implement Ÿ Scope

Ÿ Project sponsor planned, work activities change control verification
Ÿ Project manager estimated and Ÿ Report status process Ÿ Customer
Ÿ Project team assigned Ÿ Monitor team Ÿ Deliverables Acceptance
Ÿ Project scope Ÿ Dependencies performance reviewed Ÿ Sign off obtained
Ÿ Requirements identified Ÿ Blend the team Ÿ Commitments Ÿ Lessons learned
Ÿ Expectations Ÿ Milestone dates Ÿ Risk assessment monitored Ÿ Future
Ÿ Major deliverables established conducted Ÿ Issue managed opportunities
Ÿ Resource Ÿ Communication Ÿ Manage change Ÿ Plan impact Ÿ Post
commitments plan Ÿ Process analysis implementation
documented improvement Ÿ Plan adjusted issues
Ÿ Risk assessment Ÿ Testing and Ÿ Status and Ÿ Team evaluation
conducted quality control changes Ÿ Recognition and
conducted communicated celebration
Ÿ Sign-off Ÿ Vendors
obtained managed
Ÿ Celebrate Ÿ Benefits
successes achieved

12
Project Management Training and Development

The study conducted by Athabasca University revealed that project failure dominates all sectors and
more than half of project managers have little or no formal training to deal with the complexities of
today’s projects. In 2001 KPMG Consulting conducted a study of 256 companies that revealed
86% of projects fail due to common management woes: 11
• Improperly defined objectives (17%)
• Unfamiliar scope (17%)
• Lack of effective communication (20%)
• Poor project management skills (32%)

Let’s begin to look at why projects fail? A component of project management is project
organization. Successful projects are organized around three entities:
• Executive Sponsorship
• Project Manager
• Project Team members

But in most instances the people selected to fill these roles have had no project management
training and do not know what is expected of them.

Role of the Executive Sponsor

Along with the executive management team that approves projects, the Executive Sponsors will:
• Set the project priority
• Provide funding
• Approve resource levels
• Approve / deny changes to project scope
• Participate in project review meetings and approve/sign-off on key deliverables

But there is another dimension to sponsorship that is not easily itemized and where organizations
need some help. The sponsor must ensure that the project participants are focused on and committed
to a common purpose and project vision for success. The project manager will achieve this within
the core team, but the sponsor needs to expand that commitment to include the larger business
community and support groups. Visibility to the core team, recognition and celebration of successes
are also critical sponsorship activities that rarely occur.

An effective project sponsor can make the implementation of change immeasurably easier. Clearly
defined and well communicated objectives, commitment of the business community to the project’s
success, adequate funding and resources, quick resolution of issues….who can argue that this would
not alleviate some of the problems encountered on projects? Leadership development and its role in
managing change is an opportunity that should not be missed.

13
Role of the Project Manager
The project manager is responsible for coordinating and integrating all the activities required to
ensure stakeholder expectations and business requirement(s) for strategic initiatives are met. Some
of the skills needed to be an effective project manager are:
• Leadership
• Scope definition
• Planning and control skills
• Establishing a change control process and an escalation process
• Business / System requirements definition
• Project reporting and escalation of issues
• Risk assessment
• Interfacing with executive management
• Dealing with cross-organizational politics

Other behavioral skills needed are team blending, communication, influencing, negotiating,
problem solving and conflict resolution. Rarely is training provided to people selected to become
project managers. Hence the “accidental project manager.” Most organizations will tap someone on
the shoulder and tell him/her to manage a project. The process usually goes something like this:

Marian had worked as an Accounts Payable processor for the company since college. She was
cross-trained in payroll was promoted to supervisor of the Accounts Payable Department. Her
performance always exceeded expectations and she was well liked by her peers and senior
leaders. One day her manager, Rachel asked her to be the lead person for a new project that
involved evaluating, selecting and implementing the financial modules of a new enterprise wide
information system. Marian mentioned to Rachel that she didn’t think she was ready for such a
role because she never evaluated software packages. Rachel said “don’t worry I’m here for
support and you know most of the people from finance and IT. “

It is for this reason that I have come to recognize project management as the accidental profession.
Those who do it accidentally get tapped because they are in the right place at the wrong time.

Some organizations use seniority, not ability, as the factor for selecting project manager resources.
Change implementation leadership requires a unique skill set that does not match the skills required
to run an existing operation. The project manager must be able to work in a very ambiguous
environment. As a change agent, this person must be prepared to challenge the status quo, hold
people accountable, deal with scope changes, manage in a matrix environment with limited
resources while keeping an eye on schedule, cost and the quality of the product or service to be
delivered.

It is important to critically consider the caliber of the resource that will be used to implement
change. One of the first questions to ask when implementing a change is, “Who can marshal the
resources, get us from Point A to Point B, negotiate with the stakeholders, cheerlead the
development process and constantly keep an eye on progress of the initiative?” Organizations
should not take lightly the role of the project manager and should spend time choosing the right
person for the job. While project management can be considered the accidental profession,
successful projects do not happen by accident.

14
Role of the Project Team members
Most people selected to participate as members of a project team were hired to perform functional
or operational activities and not to implement change initiatives. Think about it. People are hired for
some functional activity for which they have experience or were trained to perform. The activities
can involve market research, finance, system programming, accounts payable processing or product
assembly. In each case, the person doing the work is trained to perform specific activities that fall
within and are defined by the organization’s structure.

When the time comes to introduce a change, these same organizations are not built to do it
effectively. Projects are change initiatives. They are needed to make some improvement, whether it
is to increase revenue, reduce costs, gain market share, improve customer service, comply with the
law or increase business efficiency.

The activities to be performed by team members in a project environment require more analysis of
current systems and processes that are inefficient, planning for performance improvements, trial and
error activities, taking risks to pursue non-traditional ideas, and designing and developing
improvements.

In addition to changing work activities, people assigned to projects may have their schedules
changed, reporting relationships changed and work with people they may have never worked with
before. Sounds like a recipe for high stress and anxiety for folks assigned to projects.

Yet, most project team members are the same people who were hired to perform specific functional
or operational activities then later are called upon to help implement change, again without any
training to perform the newly assigned tasks. And this new responsibility is typically assigned “in
addition to” instead of “in replace of” current duties. The result? People are assigned to projects
who don’t want to be there, who have not been trained to perform project responsibilities, and who
must do so while managing some or all of their existing workload. Is this creating an environment
for success?

Companies that take new change initiatives seriously relieve team members of at least 50% of their
daily job functions. The people selected to work on projects must be able to stay focused. Without
dedicated and focused attention, project expectations and resource motivation tend to drift and fade
away until funding for the initiative is pulled or the project becomes a ‘runaway’ project and the
objectives become watered down just to “get it over with”.

Therefore a key issue for organizations is to develop programs to address the current project
management skill shortage and the training and education organizations will need to offer over the
next few years.

If you believe that project management is the ‘accidental profession’, then you can safely assume
that there are not a whole lot of people out there who are proficient in project management. Seems
to me that organizations need to figure out how to develop these people because recruitment is not
going to fill the bill and implementation of strategic initiatives will continue to fail.

15
“The most effective project managers are developed day-to-day, not year-to-year or project
mistake-to-project mistake. Mistakes will happen, even with the best of mentoring, however, project
managers with strong mentors should find their people effectiveness continually improving. The
benefit is that the company and everyone connected to the project shares in those gains.” 12

Neal Whitten
What to Do
To determine whether your organization can achieve its project goals, an assessment of the
organizations project management capability should be conducted considering the following
statements as they apply to your group and whether you can agree or disagree with each statement.

1. Our company has an accountability system in place that aligns actions throughout the
organization with the corporate strategic plan. Agree / Disagree.

2. Our company turns strategic priority issues into assigned measurable action plans that are
monitored with project status reported on a monthly basis to a governance board responsible
for managing strategic business investments. Agree / Disagree

3. Our project management process includes maintaining an inventory of all strategic projects
to avoid duplication. Agree / Disagree

4. Our project prioritization process includes executive leadership from the business units and
IT and includes actively keeping tabs on project effectivene ss and value throughout its life
cycle. Agree / Disagree

5. We have no problem killing projects. Agree / Disagree

6. We have institutionalized project management into the day-to-day fabric of our organization
by standardizing project management methodologies, tools and techniques to execute
projects more efficiently. Agree / Disagree

7. Our project management process includes periodic project reviews to identify troubled or
potentially troubled projects in order for corrective actions to take place earlier in the project
life cycle. Agree / Disagree

8. At the senior level we know the next major milestone and milestone date for our strategic
initiatives. Agree / Disagree
9. Our project management process offers project management training and mentoring to our
project managers. Agree / Disagree

10. One of the key objectives of our project management process is to reduce project cycle time
by employing best practice project management disciplines that focus on continuous project
management improvement. Agree / Disagree

11. We capture the appropriate project metrics and report the right information to ensure
successful executive execution of strategic initiatives. Agree / Disagree

16
 12. A business case, scope document and work breakdown structure are standard project
management documents used for all strategic projects. Agree / Disagree

13. Our project management process allocates resources effectively, putting the organization’s
money and people where the future of the organization is heading. Agree / Disagree

14. We utilize project management as our accountability system and execution methodology.
Agree / Disagree

If the outcome of the assessment indicates a need for improvement then the leadership team should
capitalize on the opportunity to create a competitive advantage for their company by providing or
developing the organization’s project management competency.

Implementation -The Organizational Challenge

How to influence the development of project management as a required business discipline, and
develop the competencies of project participants in shaping the culture to improve organizational
project performance is a challenge for most organizations. Enormous skepticism and resistance is
encountered when trying to implement a project management accountability model, because project
management holds people accountable and organizations do not embrace accountability.

“If people are not prepared to be held accountable for what they do, it is unlikely that they will
achieve much. To choose a goal without being prepared to be accountable for progress towards it
is to choose nothing.” 13
David H. Maister

A project management approach to business problems and opportunities is becoming the norm
rather than the exception. Projects are the tools for implementing the strategy of the organization.
Effective project management starts with selecting and prioritizing projects that support the
organizational mission and strategy. It results in a portfolio of projects that balances threats and
opportunities and provides better utilization of resources. The chart of the following page represents
a high- level strategy for implementing a project management accountability model.

17
 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY to ESTABLISH an ACCOUNTABILITY and EXECUTION MODEL

Organizational Accountability / Execution

Assessment

Assessment of Develop
current Strategy to Implement
capabilities, close gaps education and
goals and identified from awareness
objectives assessment

Portfolio Project Management

Conduct
Establish
project Identify Implement
Portfolio Create
alignment, projects to project
Project inventory of
prioritization proceed / portfolio review
Management projects
and resource terminate process
Process
allocation
START
Project Management Office
Establish
Develop Utilize lessons
project
templates and Develop project learned to
management Conduct
checklists. management improve project Project
methodology project reviews
Begin metrics management Management
and project life
Mentoring processes Accountability
cycle phases
Model
Functional
Project Management Leadership
Reconfirm Ensure Implement
Train, coach scope, adequate work corrective Initiate project
and mentor objectives and breakdown actions & begin status
project expectations structure tracking and reporting for all
managers for current (project plan) is control for active projects
projects in place projects

18
Leading researchers and scholars view the twenty- first century as the age of project management,
which is the means to ensure organizational effectiveness and competitiveness.

“In traditional organizations, project management processes are fragmented, invisible, unnamed,
and unmanaged and inevitably exhibit poor performance.” 14
Michael Hammer

“Successful organizations are ‘projectized’ organizations, that is they run the business by project
management.” 15
Tom Peters

Executive Management needs to engage people in project execution to obtain information, evaluate
progress and learn from failures regarding strategic change initiatives. If they don’t, they, like most
projects, will fail.

Committed leadership is required to provide the right environment for people to succeed when
implementing change initiatives. Projects are essential to the growth and survival of their entities
because, when executed successfully, they help deal with changes in the business environment,
competition and market needs. Executives must be held accountable for managing change and the
best way to manage change is to emp loy a project management methodology that enables an
organization to manage strategic project initiatives as a portfolio of business investments and
prioritize them in accordance with their importance to the corporate strategy for profitability.

The Gartner Group proposes, as a “Strategic Planning Assumption” for companies that through
2004, organizations that establish enterprise standards for project management, including a Project
Office, with suitable governance, will experience half as many major project cost overruns, delays
and cancellations as those that fail to do so. 16

Summary
Stop thinking and talking about change and focus on making change happen to improve your
organization’s performance!! Project management is your ticket to that success. It will enable you
to get on the road to quicker implementation of strategic initiatives and keep your company moving
forward. Organizations that want to be successful need to establish an integrated project
management process in order to execute strategic initiatives and enhance the organizations and
individual’s project management capability. This is not easy stuff, but if you are not spending your
time reviewing and reevaluating your strategic initiatives, what are you spending your time on?

19
Sources

1. Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Theory of Constraints, North River Press Publishing Corporation,
December, 1999.
2. Gerald I. Kendell, “Choosing the Right Project Mix”, International Institute of Learning White
Paper, 2001
3. Ross Foti, “Picking Projects for Profitability”, PM Network, December 2001
4. Exploring the “Knowing-doing” Gap in Project Management, Athabasca University, Centre for
Innovative Management Working Paper # 2001044, October 2001.
5. Detroit Downer, 1991
6. Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1998.
7. Financial Executive Magazine, June, 2001.
8. Robbins-Gioia Inc, 2002.
9. Amir Hartman, “Ruthless Execution”, Prentice Hall, 2003. See also www.ruthless-
execution.com.
10. Joshua Weinberger, “Which projects are Worth Your Time,” Baseline Magazine, October 2003
11. Susan McNeice Filler, “Project Failures Spur Management Back to Basics,” Billing World and
OSS Today magazine, November 2001.
12. Neal Whitten, PM Network Magazine, 1999
13. David H. Maister, Creating a Culture of Accountability, Upstream Academy Network
Presentations, April, 2003.
14. Michael Hammer and James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation, Harper Business, 1993.
15. Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos, Knopf, 1987
16. M. Light and T. Berg, “The Project Office: Teams, Processes and Tools,” Gartner Strategic
Analysis Report, 1 Aug, 2000.

20