Project Management: Is it An Oxymoron? June 10, 2016 John Colangelo & Sridevi Kumaravelu

Agenda Who are Project Managers? Roles and Responsibilities of a PM Value of Project Management UNM IT PMO History, Evolution, Goals and Standard Lifecycle & Classification Tools and Techniques Community involvement Open Discussion

Who are Project Managers? They are organized, passionate and goal-oriented who understand what projects have in common, and their strategic role in how organizations succeed, learn and change. Project managers are change agents: they make project goals their own and use their skills and expertise to inspire a sense of shared purpose within the project team. They enjoy the organized adrenaline of new challenges and the responsibility of driving business results. The Project Manager’s number one goal is to keep the project team focused on the successful outcome of the project as specified in the success criteria for the project.

Who are Project Managers? They work well under pressure and are comfortable with change and complexity in dynamic environments. They can shift readily between the "big picture" and the small-but-crucial details, knowing when to concentrate on each. Project managers cultivate the people skills needed to develop trust and communication among all of a project's stakeholders: its sponsors, those who will make use of the project's results, those who command the resources needed, and the project team members. Project managers work hand in hand with business analysts to ensure that the customer’s needs are identified and codified into the project goals.

What is the Value Proposition? UNM IT - project management is the value driver that helps you get the most out of its performance. When tailored, or “fit”, to a UNM’s culture, project management provides value by improving: The execution of strategy, through repeatable, reliable performance and standardization; The integration within the organization, through elimination of “silos” and better communication and collaboration

What is the role of a Project Manager? Project managers are the point people responsible for coordinating activities of project team members to achieve project objectives. Project Managers focus equal attention on near- and long-term activities. Historically the role of Project Manager focused on the larger, more technical projects. However, in recent years it is being applied to a variety of smaller, less technical projects as well. The Project Management function has received a lot of attention over the last 10 years and has become a highly desired competency in most organizations. The PMO recommends applying project management rigor to projects commensurate with their size and importance.

Specifically, what are the responsibilities of a Project Manager? Defining the scope of projects; Developing project schedules; Estimating project costs; Gaining stakeholders’ approvals; Measuring project progress; Controlling project changes; Communicating Status; Identifying Risks; Managing Schedules; Motivating the Team to reach project goals; Closing out projects.

Why are soft skills important to being a great Project Manager? The common thread running through all the essential skills needed to be a great Project Manager is working with people. Whether it’s defining the scope of a project, exercising change control or closing a project out, the more comfortable Project Managers are with interacting with people the more successful they will be in their role. The PM must maintain project team focus on the overall Project goals as defined in the success criteria and the Project charter and plan.

Why do organizations need project management training? Project failure is typically due to inadequate upfront work, including poor requirements, poor documentation, poor communication and inflexibility. Effective and efficient, highly trained Project Managers will ensure project success and help organizations exceed stakeholder expectations. Project managers keep teams focused on goal-oriented results.

Why do organizations need project management training? The most important reasons are expressed with cold, hard facts (per 2003 Standish Report): Projects with no PM at the helm……………. Completed projects had only 52% of proposed functionality 82% of projects had time overruns Average cost of overruns - 43% over budget

Project Management Pays Off PMs add value to projects (industry data supports this) Large fortune 100 companies endorse use of PMs on large enterprise projects (based on data) “Pay me now…………..or pay me later” ……either way…..it takes an investment in a PM Dedicated resource focused on ONE THING….PROJECT SUCCESS

IT PMO: History and Evolution

IT PMO: Goals To improve time to market cost to market commitments and customer satisfaction resource productivity on projects

IT PM Standard Why a Standard for Project Management is Important Standard-MG13-FINAL.pdf Maturity levels – UNM can take one step at a time to increase our project quality. One important first step is development of a Project Management Standard that can be easily deployed commensurate with project complexity. The standard is not prescriptive, UNM’s projects are not “one size fits all” so the standard is flexible. The standard sets forth a minimum level of rigor for all UNM projects.

Lifecycle and Classification

Apply Project Management rigor commensurate with the size, scope, and importance of the project. Don’t just generate volumes of documents. Refer to the artifacts as “tools” not “documents”

SharePoint sites  Meta data tagging for documents  Easy navigation  Quick lists for logging data  Easy to use for team members  Quick access for Steering documents and updates  Future plans for tools

How do you want to be involved? Participate in projects from the evaluate stage? Regular meetings or forums? Information posted in IT Website? IT-UNM, IT-Agents and other venues? HSC colleagues roundtable with other UNM Project Managers? Need your inputs and feedback

Open Discussion Challenges you face in projects Community engagement How can we work together on maturity model Enterprise project selections and prioritizations Suggestions on how the PMO can improve UNM projects and project management Tips on how to leverage Business Analysts