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Improving Project Management

There is probably no operational shortcoming more widespread in our industry as the need to improve project management. Managing projects is a demanding endeavor, and many engineers, architects, and scientists struggle with its complexities. The result is a host of problems such as dissatisfied clients, budget overruns, missed schedules, quality problems, increased liabilities, lost profits, and general organizational dysfunction.

Perhaps your firm is among the many seeking to improve how you manage projects. Where should you start? Having worked with several companies in this regard, let me offer the following suggestions:

u Don’t start with training. This is a common response but a misguided one. There are some good project management training programs available, but you’ll not solve your performance concerns simply by giving PMs training. You need to first take steps to ensure that your objectives are clear, that systems are in place to support training, and that you’re prepared to reinforce putting training concepts into action. For more on this, see my article “The Training (Non)Solution.”

u Determine your priorities. You likely won’t be able to address every significant project management deficiency at once. So determine which issues most need attention. Things to consider include the extent of the problem, the difficulty in solving it, and the potential benefits of doing so. I recommend ranking the issues, then determining how many of those at the top of the list can be reasonably addressed at one time. Later, after you’ve made significant progress on those issues, you can begin to tackle the others on the list.

It’s important to get others involved in identifying priorities. This should not be strictly a top-down process. You’re going to need the buy-in of your project managers, so at a minimum they should be consulted. I advise going still further, involving a cross section of employees at all levels who work on projects. They will give you a different perspective on the issues than the PMs alone, and may in fact identify problems that your PMs overlook. For more insight on how you might engage staff in this process, see my previous article “Tackling Operational Deficiencies.”

u Identify internal and external best practices. Most likely, there are project management practices implemented on a limited basis in your firm that are worth replicating across the organization. Perhaps it’s the project planning process in the electrical department or the cost estimating approach used in one branch office or how one of your better PMs manages client communications. Looking internally for best practices has some real advantages. You can see the benefits firsthand and the individuals who employ those techniques can help teach them to their coworkers. Recognizing internal best practices also sends a message that the firm is doing some things right, which neutralizes some of the inevitable anxiety that comes from pointing out problem areas.

It’s also wise to look outside your firm for best practices. Consultants and trainers, who you might engage later for PM training, can be a good source, although some merely teach the basics rather than best practices. The Ultimate Project Management Manual published by PSMJ is another good resource. You might talk to PMs whom you’ve hired from other firms, asking them what their former employers did that might be worth adopting. Don’t be afraid to look outside our industry either. There are many good project management practices from other industries that warrant consideration.

You might be wondering: Is it necessary to adopt best practices if just consistently doing the basic things would represent a major improvement? No. But there are certainly advantages to implementing best practices. It demonstrates a commitment to excellence, which likely will generate more enthusiasm among your staff. It provides a competitive edge over your competitors. Best practices typically will also yield the best results. Since the process of changing how you manage projects is difficult, you might as well pursue the greatest payback!

u Decide which changes are required and which are only recommended. As noted earlier, you can’t expect to improve everything all at once. Phase in changes over time, starting with those with the highest priority. You might consider a two-tiered approach, identifying some changes that all PMs must adopt and some that are simply recommended for the present. This enables PMs to see where the firm is headed in terms of reforming its project management practices. Plus some PMs will likely adopt some of the recommended-but-not required practices, which will aid the firmwide implementation of those practices at a later date.

u Define performance expectations. While all firms track some parameters of project performance, I’m often surprised how little these metrics seem to matter. Many firms have PMs who repeatedly fail to meet budgets and schedules, who have unhappy clients and disgruntled project teams—and yet still continue to manage projects! Many more have simply never really defined what they expect from PMs. This is a vital step in improving project management performance. Typical metrics include client satisfaction, repeat business, budget and schedule performance, project profitability and cash flow, and project team satisfaction. Establish a reward system for meeting and exceeding these metrics, a process for corrective actions, and criteria for determining when someone should be removed from the PM role due to poor performance.

u Update the project management infrastructure as needed. With changed project management practices, you likely will need to modify the systems that support those practices. This may be something as simple as creating a new form to something as complex as changing your accounting system. Here’s an important point: If you wish to discontinue a certain practice, eliminate any forms, reports, or procedures that support it. This is the equivalent of “burning the boats.” You may want to transition this change over time, but set a deadline and stick to it. If people have the option of not changing how they do things, guess what they’ll do!

u Now you can start training. Having identified what changes you’re making and having taken the steps necessary to facilitate those changes, you’re ready to provide PM training. The training, of course, should be customized to your firm’s needs. Beware of training programs that focus too much on the technical aspects of project management (e.g., budgeting, scheduling, scoping, estimating, etc.). There should be a healthy dose of instruction on how to improve communications, client relations, and interaction with the project team, for these are the areas where your most entrenched project problems are likely to be found.

u Institute regular project reviews. The best way to reinforce changes in how your firm manages projects is to establish regular project reviews. This is also one of the best ways to improve PM performance regardless of any changes in approach. Regular reviews—monthly is usually the preferred frequency—provide several benefits. They help confirm that PMs are complying with the firm’s standard practices. They provide an excellent forum for a senior reviewer to mentor a younger PM. Most importantly, they provide an early warning system, where an objective reviewer can help identify potential or developing problems that are better averted than dealt with later. Experience shows that this can dramatically boost the bottom line by preventing costly problems, or catching them before they become worse

Whatever course of action you follow, make sure you follow through. Every time company management talks about the need to improve, then fails to, they add to the inherent skepticism and resistance to change. If you were only going to excel at one corporate initiative, improving project management may well provide the biggest payback.

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