This Focused Performance Weblog started life as a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective, but is in the process of evolving towards primary content on interactive and mobile marketing. Think of it as about Focusing marketing messages for enhanced Performance. If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired -- No. Not me yet.
...all PPM projects have to be managed as change management initiatives. The leadership involvement and cultural change expected from stakeholders is essential for the successful completion of the project portfolio process.
This echoes conversations I've recently had with Critical Chain-savvy software providers like Realization and ProChain as well. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to successful implementations that are expected to have sustained longevity are the people who expect the software (with a little process change) to provide the solution.
It ain't just process and technology. If significant improvements are expected, it's the thinking and culture of those involved that will have to significantly change. Nothing kills benefits of a change quicker than a failure to "walk the talk" on the part of the leadership. That's a cultural change that requires careful management and some serious coaching until the desired way of thinking is automatic.
Common Sense PMBOK - In A Simple Way to Put PMBOK to Work, Glen Alleman translates the PMBOK to a set of 3 to 6 questions for each of the 8 PMBOK knowledge areas. Nicely done, in terms of keeping things as simple as possible, but not simplistic. Some of the questions might not be so easy to answer, depending on your PM maturity level, but having them in front of you should move you to developing answers for your project.
"Zero is easy to measure and observe. Impossible to fudge. And, I have found, amazingly liberating."
If you want/need to move things through your system faster, you need to minimize tying up work-in-process in queues (in-boxes). And you can't get more minimized than zero.
"...there are conditions under which it actually helps to have some generalists, especially for fairly small groups, some individuals that you might think of as Jacks- or Jills-of-all-trades or multitaskers,' said Waite. 'You might actually have to pay them more and they might often do the wrong task, but if you don't have them, this whole notion of specialisation leading to greater economic productivity might actually be wrong."
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