PM Network - November 2006

Overprocessed

POINTS OF VIEW

James T. Bowen is a consultant focusing on project management, process development and proposal development. He formed On Target Program Management Solutions in Bellingham, Wash., USA, after 26 years of experience in the public and private sectors.

Gary Chin, PMP, is an independent consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the high-tech, IT and pharmaceutical industries. He focuses on project and portfolio management processes and is the author of Agile Project Management [AMACOM, 2003].

Is structure always needed—or are there times to loosen up? James T. Bowen: We need to first define what we mean by structure. I usually think of it as a set of understood processes a project manager and a project team use to initiate, plan, execute, control and close out a project. The processes can range from general guidelines like A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^®Guide) to thoroughly documented company-unique operating instructions used by the team, stakeholders and senior management alike.

I can’t imagine any situation where project managers wouldn’t rely on some level of structure. The key is for the organization and the project managers to define and use a structure tailored to the organization and project. One size doesn’t fit all. Yet many organizations try to use a single structure. In a way that’s understandable because it may have been difficult to put into place and the organization is happy just to have a single set of standard processes.

However, those are the organizations that may need to loosen up.

Gary Chin: Being able to strike the right balance between structure and freedom to do your own thing is arguably one of the foremost project management success factors. There is no easy answer, because finding the sweet spot is very specific to the organization and situation.

Also, I want to point out this is a “project management” and not a “project manager” success factor. There’s no doubt the project manager is critical to project success, but if you focus on only the individual, you’ll miss the bigger picture of the overall project management environment. When management puts the onus totally on the project manager, it’s really passing the buck and looking for individual heroics to carry the organization.

How can organizations implement agility in their structure? Mr. Chin: Start by recognizing that process is scalable. Also, it’s easier to scale down than up. So I like to see organizations put together a comprehensive structure at the project management office (PMO) level with scalabili-ty guidelines, then allow the project manager to scale it down based on the project situation at hand. On the people side, individuals—and the functional managers who assign them to projects—need to be well-trained on what it means to work in the project environment.

Even if an organization was wildly successful using one structure, blindly replicating it won’t work in every case. The key is tailoring the structure to the organization and the project.