PMN1012 Agility

7/30/2019 PMN1012 Agility

1/1254 PM NETWORK OctOber 2012 WWW.PMI.ORG

Abilit

In a time of extraordinary upheaval,organizations must build agility into

their DNA using iterative practices androbust risk and change management.

by Sarah FiSter Gale

illuStrationS by JameS SteinberG

Agility

pecial Section || ogz ag


2/12OctOber 2012 PM NETWORK 55

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Faced with a tumultuous marketplace, organizations have to act ast. But a solid oundation

o project management practices still applieseven i it is implemented in a quick and itera-

tive manner. Recklessness is no substitute or organizational agility.

Yet the increased volatility and complexity o the project landscape makes reacting to

and planning orchanging market conditions more dicult than ever beore. Whether

due to anemic economic growth or the continuing digital revolution, three-quarters o

executives said their business environment was changing, according to a 2010 report by the

Institute or Corporate Productivity.

o thrive in such an uncertain business world, organizationsand their project manage-

ment oces (PMOs)must identiy risks sooner, adapt to change quickly and deliver value

incrementally across the project lie cycle.PMIsPulse of the Profession Organizational Agility report ound that o projects at orga-

nizations with high agility:

73% nish on time

75% nish on budget

83% meet goals and business objectives

71% meet or exceed ROI

All those numbers are well above the survey average.

Its a paradox, says Niel Nickolaisen, CIO o Western Governors University (WGU),

an online university based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. In this age o declining budgets,

organizations have to deliver more results at a aster pace than ever beore.

Business and project leaders are discovering one o the best ways to do that is by aggres-sively reshaping their culture and business practices on a three-pronged ront:

More collaborative and robust risk management

Rigorous change management to better adapt to changing market conditions

Increased use oiterative practices, based on a solid oundation o project management

standards, that enable teams to ollow new lines o thought

All three practices are gaining avor as organizations worldwide scramble or an elusive

edge on the competition, according toPMIs 2012 Pulse of the Profession report.

S s ss s s q Pms f. Karthiktwitter Feed

Agility doesnot equAl

AnArchy.

Project Managers on Twitter (#pmot) Talk About the Components of Organizational Agility



ound that 91 percent o U.S. executives say they plan

to reorganize their approach to risk management

over the next three years. Strategies include:

Elevating the prole o risk management through-

out the organization (52 percent)

Reorganizing risk-management processes (39 per-

cent)

Providing additional training or sta (37 percent)

Incorporating new technologies (31 percent)

o make the most o their risk-management

eorts, executives need to leverage the rsthand

knowledge and expertise o project leaders, particu-

larly those within the PMO.

Executives choose projects or business reasons,

but they may not ully understand the technological

or resource limitations related to those choices, Mr.

Verma says.

By joining orces, executives and PMOs each get a

more diverse perspective on risks and opportunities.

Mr. Nickolaisen says that at WGU, every project

plan is evaluated based on whether it will increase

graduation rates, improve operational excellence and

serve WGU employees.

You have to dene your competitive advantage,then ocus your innovation eorts on projects to sup-

port that advantage, he says.

Establishing stringent selection criteria lets orga-

nizations identiy where to take risksand where to

scale back. At WGU, or example, network reliability

projects may be mission-critical, but they dont drive

competitive advantage, so Mr. Nickolaisen opts or

o-the-shel solutions that require ewer resources

or implementation. Tat lets the school ocus on

a more cutting-edge student analytics project that

could help the university improve graduation rates.Because we choose standardized solutions or

those projects, we have the capacity and resources

to support innovations that push our competitive

advantage, he says.

iterative aPProacheS

o lessen the possibility o ailure on these high-

Organizations across sectors are trying to increase

their agility so that they can get innovative products

to market aster, says Kshitiz Verma, head o cloud

operations at NEC, an I rm in Mumbai, India.

By stripping away the layers o procedures that

can slow projects and replacing them with more col-

laborative decision-making processes, organizations

can deliver projects aster and more eciently than

their rivals.

You cant achieve agility i everyone works in

isolation, Mr. Verma says. Youve got to operate as

a team where everyone has a chance to contribute.

Such partnerships enable organizational lead-

ers to build the strongest portolio and ensure that

project goals align with business strategy, says Mr.

Nickolaisen. Tis, in turn, liberates organizations to

take calculated risks and turn all the volatility and

chaos to their advantage. Tats when you get orga-

nizational agility.

the riGht riSkS

When organizations are orced to make rapid-re

decisions, projects can careen out o control. Pro-

active risk management that begins during projectselection and planning enables executives and proj-

ect leaders to identiy the actors that could secure

or sabotagesuccess. Whether its tracking a shiting

regulatory environment or recognizing a lack o

adequate internal resources, early and consistent risk

management allows organizations to be more fex-

ible and manage obstacles more fuidly.

Tat can only happen when executives, business

units and project teams work together throughout

the project lie cycle. Only then can they make

changes to projects beore problems arise, saysPete Nathan, PMP, senior manager o the PMO at

Gulstream Aerospace Corporation in Savannah,

Georgia, USA.

Te next step in managing project risks is pre-

venting the risks that derail projects, not dealing with

them ater they happen, he says.

A June study by Deloitte and Forbes Insight

amamurthy, PMP, @fromkarthik, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India || i g g s p. y spp pp

y aava fvwk a.yv paa a amwva aa .

Ksitiz Verma, NEC,Mumai, Inia



perormance around quality and achieving intended

business results.

Mr. Jutte is currently working with Crdit Agri-

cole Consumer Finance in Amsterdam, Nether-

lands to implement an agile approach or its I

department. Te stakeholders were skeptical o

the processand o the I departments ability to

deliver projects on time and budget. Rather than try

to explain the benets o a more agile approach, the

PMO decided to show them.

Te I team chose a project to rework a cus-

tomer website, created a proo o concept and deliv-

ered a rapid prototype o the upgrade in two weeks.

Ten the PMO brought the stakeholders together to

show them the prototype, demonstrate the new site

and receive eedback on how to proceed.

Te stakeholders were properly impressed, Mr.

Jutte says. And by getting their reactions early on,

the team was able to make adaptations to increase

the projects value.

reducinG the drama oF chanGeS

No organization can keep up with all the shits with-out securing buy-in across the enterpriseand that

takes change management. Te PMO has a pivotal

role to play by acting as a source o inormation and

adviser to portolio leaders. Te PMO provides the

acts so the executives can make the best decisions,

says Janice Weaver, PMP, associate vice president o

the enterprise program management oce at Nor-

ton Healthcare, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Ms. Weavers team aims to ease the drama

o change by building fexibility into its standard

project management practices. I, or example, anissue has a low likelihood o occurring, the team

wont run it through a ormal risk registry and

review process.

We make note o it and discuss it inormally,

she says. But we dont spend hours on tasks that

dont add value to our process.

Te best PMO leaders help manage change

on projects by acting as a knowledge channel

value projects, WGUs delivery team breaks them

into smaller chunks, delivering iterations in phases.

By breaking the project into bite-sized, value-driven

pieces, we lower our risks dramatically, he says.

Tats one big reason more organizations are

adding iterative and agile approaches. PwCsInsights

and Trends survey o global project management

practices released in August ound that 34 percent

o respondents use an agile project management

approach within their organization. And the Pulse

of the Profession report has seen a steady rise in the

use o agile approaches.

When a project is divided into smaller pieces

delivered more requently and with a regular stream

o stakeholder eedback, organizations can deliver

prototypes on a rapid basis. Not only can project

owners get immediate value rom those deliverables,

they can gain better control over what comes next.

Its a business enabler, says Bart Jutte, manag-

ing director o Concilio, a project and risk man-

agement consultancy in Delt, Netherlands. Its a

low-risk, low-cost way to deliver big benets.

But adding such iterative approaches wontdeliver benets without standards as a oundation.

Ten the outcome can be chaos. o achieve true

buy-in, everyone, rom the executive oce to the

PMO to the delivery team, has to be on board with

the basics and the processes. Alas, its the top tier

the one that can compel the rest to ollowthats

oten hardest to convince.

Te programmers are usually in avor o itera-

tive methods. Te hurdles come when you try

to get operations and management to accept the

approach, Mr. Jutte says. But you must have sup-port rom the top i you want to achieve this kind o

change on an organizational level.

Tats where the PMO comes in. PMO leaders

can act as a vital link between senior leaders and

project teams, communicating the business value o

iterative practices in terms executives understand.

Te PwC report ound that organizations that have

had a PMO or six or more years reported higher

g sg . Kristen Dammers, @KristenDammers, London, England || ds gz



avoidinG SurPriSe

PMOs oster even greater organizational agilitywhen theyre empowered to nd and implement

innovative solutions. According to the Pulse of the

Profession Organizational Agility report, 71 percent

o organizations that are most eective at change

and risk management report having a PMO, more

than 20 percentage points above the study average.

Tis year, Gulstreams PMO launched a project

to build an analytics tool to act as an early predictor

o ailure. It examines risks correlated to previously

identied root causes o missed project targets,

allowing the team to more readily spot dangerpoints and take proactive corrective actions.

I you can predict in advance what will cause a

project to go into a ditch, you can intervene beore

it happens, says Mr. Nathan.

With that inormation, PMOs can implement

review steps to determine i a new project is headed

down the same path. For example, an absentee

project sponsor and multitasking human resources

between leaders, vendors and ront-line work-

ers, she says. Oten, that means doing whateverit takes to keep the project moving orward

especially when that comes to guiding the team

through unexpected changes.

Ms. Weaver points to a new Norton pediatric

outpatient acility project. Prior to the launch

meeting, the architect sent an eight-page tabbed

spreadsheet denoting all the potential building

eatures and asked representatives rom all 20

departments to ll it out beore the kicko event.

Although the exercise was a good one in the-

ory, the hospital sta had neither the time northe patience to complete the document. So Ms.

Weaver met with the architects, who then came

back with a revised statement o work, and the

next meeting went much more smoothly.

When problems arise and changes occur,

PMO leaders can intervene and help organiza-

tions act with agilityallowing everyone to be

more productive.

g : Fx. Odelar Vando de Oliveira, PMP, @odelar, Sao Paulo, Brazil || i p s, s s

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Niel Nickolaisen, Western Governors Universit(WGU), Salt Lake Cit, Uta, USA.

PhOTO by ChAd hURST



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a w.Jo Pollack, PMP, Rico Compan, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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are both high predictors o troubled projects at

Gulstream, says Mr. Nathan. When project leaders

spot these potential issues during assessment, they

can nd a new stakeholder or secure additional

resources. Or, they can delay the project until ithas the leadership and support needed to succeed.

Either way, the leaders must manage those changes

in the project plan to ensure it doesnt go com-

pletely o track.

Early predictors can be a projects salvation,

Mr. Nathan says. You can change its ate and get

it back on track.

Its that adaptability that drives organizational

agility, he says. Te sooner problems can be solved,

the more agile an organization becomes.

Organizations can urther enhance their agility

by incorporating strategic interventions into the

project plan, says Jody Pollack, PMP, senior pro-

gram manager at oce equipment maker Ricoh

Company, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Te biggest ac-

tor that causes problems on projects is surprise, he

says. I I know something is going to happen, I can

plan or it, but i its a surprise, it takes a lot longer

to deal with.

Mr. Pollack is currently overseeing deployment

o 750 copiers and devices to 85 locations. Each

machine must be congured based on the clients

unique specications, and many o the locations

such as a chemical company and government

sitesrequire background checks and saety train-

ing or the installation crew. Tere are a tremen-

dous amount o logistical issues to contend with,

Mr. Pollack says.

On such projects, resources are always

stretched thin, and clients have a high sense o

urgency. So rather than waiting until these issuesrear their ugly heads, Mr. Pollacks team is deepen-

ing the talent pool, working with senior executives

to launch a training program and background

checks or all technical personnel who will then be

ready or action.

By thinking about project obstacles rom a port-

olio perspective, the PMO eliminates a recurring

riskand accelerates the companys response time.

O course, there is no single path to organiza-

tional agility. But i PMO leaders and executives

work together to add more iterative practices, iden-tiy risks upront and be more open to change, they

can solve problems, take smarter risks, and deliver

innovative products and solutions to market aster.

We are trying to think about change and risk

management more proactively, Mr. Pollack says.

Its easy to get mired down in the day-to-day battle

and not take a step back to look at the big picture,

but thats what you need to do to succeed. Pm


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Many organizations rely on three core practicesall o which increased in use

over the prior year, according to PMIs 2012 Pulse of the Profession report:

The trend is even more marked among high-

perorming organizationsthose with 80

percent or more o their projects completed

on time, on budget and aligned to business

goalsthan low-perorming organizations,

those with less than 60 percent or more o

their projects completed on time, on budget

and aligned to business goals:

What are the elusive ingredients behindorganizational agility?

Agile

27%

Riskmanagement

71%

Changemanagement

73%

Source: PMI 2012 Pulse of the Profession Organizational Agilityin-depth study. Results based on a survey o 1,239 project proessionals in August 2012.

84%

54%

80%

40%

61%

20%

Practice risk management

Practice change management

Use agile approaches

Leveraging those three key practices helps organizations reap the benefts o increased agility.

71% 54% 29% 25%55% 38%44% 27% 25%

Faster responseto changing

marketconditions

Organizationalchanges made

more quickly orefciently

Overallimproved

organizationalefciency

Fastercompletion o

projects

Improvedcustomer

satisaction

Improvedemployee

satisaction

More proftablebusiness results

Cost savings Improved riskidentifcation

and mitigation

2.8%increase rom

20114.4%increase rom2011

12.5%increase rom

2011



delivering major projects in te pulic ee is alwas

raugt wit risks, an ew people know tat etter

tan Srikanta Nalamuni, ea o tecnolog or

te Unique Ientication Autorit o Inia (UIdAI)

in bangalore. In tis role, Mr. Nalamuni is leaing aour-ear, countrwie project to provie a unique

ientication numer to all Inians using ee an

ngerprint recognition, creating te largest iomet-

ric ataase in te worl.

Wen te Inian government ire Mr. Nala-

muni, e immeiatel recognize tat te nee or

spee an agilit coul create some prolems. Te

project a to move quickl, e sas, ut te gov-

ernment o Inia, like most governments, is a prett

ureaucratic organization.

Rater tan run te project as a traitional gov-ernment eort an expose it to te mria associ-

ate stakeoler risks, e create istance etween

te team an te sponsor. Instea o setting up

sop in te government eaquarters, e rente an

apartment near is ome as is ase oce. Ten

e pulle in people rom ierent government

epartments, ire tecnolog experts rom te

private sector an aske proessionals rom aroun

te worl to join te

team.

Tis ensure e

a iniviuals wit

te roa expertise an

viewpoints e wante, an

wo coul work in a fexile

project environment. We roke

own te arriers an mae it a are-

ones operation, e sas. Tat gave us quite a

it o agilit.

Agilit was particularl important in te earl

as o te project, wen is team was still rain-

storming. Togeter te create a series o innova-

tive ieas to alleviate te potential risks o a project

involving more tan a illion people. For example,te team partnere wit ozens o venors, munici-

palities, registrars an oter communit groups to

run scale-own versions o te project locall,

rater tan tring to ire tousans o workers to

an out across te countr.

It was all aout spee, Mr. Nalamuni sas.

We realize earl on tat te project was too ig

to eplo as one monolitic sstem. b partnering

wit local groups, we coul actuall get te jo

one aster.

Rolling out te project in smaller groupsallowe local teams to aress critical concerns.

data securit an transparenc ecame priorities

as te team eploe te iometric tecnolog

an inrastructure to local partners an egan col-

lecting ata. Te ke is controlling te caos an

ringing in structure a little it at a time, e sas.

An recognizing tat spee is te price ou pa

or structure.

sps . Stuart K. Brown, @StuartKBrown, Wellington, New Zealand || ds gz

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g : Sp. Francisco Bastos, PMP, @fecabastos, Sao Paulo, Brazil || cg s & sg . i s

As te project plan was one an te egan

to implement pieces, Mr. Nalamuni rougtstructure in incrementall, aing process an

oversigt, an eventuall moving it into te gov-

ernment oices.

Toa, te project as a ormal project manage-

ment structure wit regular milestone reviews. It is

uner uget an aea o sceule or te 2014

ealine, accoring to Mr. Nalamuni. As o Jul

2012, te teams a signe up 1.2 illion people.

Risk management must e [consiere] a commonpractice an not a est practice. We soul moveawa rom using te wors est practices ortings tat soul e [seen] as asic, an riskmanagement soul e a asic/common practicein all o our ecisions.

Mounir AjamBterram, El-Koura, Lebanon

I project managers avoi risk an cange

management, ten te are not oing teir jo.Te are avoiing it. Te ave to emrace risk/cange management rater tan work on avoiingtem.

Ibrahim Dani, PMPAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

For more posts on risk management, visitPMI.org/Voices.

PmiS voiceS bloG o rs mg

t Pw f rk Maam

As organizations aapt to will siting market orces, te must alance riskacross teir project portolios. Tat requires a new take on a long-staningpractice:

91%of U.S. executives plan to reorganize and repriori-

tize their approaches to risk management in the

next three years.

Source:Aftershock: Adjusting to the New World of Risk Management, deloitte an Fores Insigts. Results ase ona surve o 192 U.S. executives.

Areas of Improvement

heres wat executives aim to improve aout teir organizations risk-man-agement tecniques:

65%

51%

44%

30%

57%

50%

43%

27%

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The ROI

better risk management meansetter organizational agilit:34% o organizations tat areigl eective at risk manage-ment report ig agilit, versus3% o organizations tat areminimall eective at risk man-agement.

34%

3%

Source: PwC. Results ase on a surve o more tan 1,000 risk proessionals in Novemer 2011.

Source: PMI 2012 Pulse of the Profession Organizational Agility in-ept stu.



t Pw f caMaam

Asolute u-in or an signicant sit requires cange management

across te enterprise.

, s g p #Pm. Trevor Miller, @trevormillerau, Brisbane, Australia ||

caSe Study || cg mg

Cange management is an organizational respon-siilit, ut aving sai tat, te project manage-ment role is to unerstan its clear meaning.

directl an inirectl, cange management asa tenenc to impact project management in termso scope/qualit/time/cost. All te goo projectmanagers are alwas aligne to policies o cangemanagement eing in practice.

Syed Moiz, PMPJeddah, Saudi Arabia

In m opinion, te eective wa to implementcanges is top own. I will a [tat] projectportolio management [elps wit cangemanagement. To egin:]1. dene a strateg an te necessar canges.2. Use project portolio management to coose te

rigt projects to implement te strateg.3. Implement te strateg via tese projects.

Frank Spiegel, PMPOberursel, Germany

Unless te cange is initiate or supporte tesenior management o te organization, tere isnot muc impact or support tat can e acieverom te oter sta.

Te impacts or te eects o canges (otpositive an negative) an te time wen teeneits are expecte nee to e clearlcommunicate to te sta wo will e impacte te cange. Or else, a lot o resistance or tecange can e expecte.

Padmakar Boyapati, PMPMuscat, Oman

Te organization is responsile or te cangemanagement strateg an plan, ut I also elieve

tat te project scope must inclue executiono tat plan, incluing reporting ack up to tesponsor(s) wen/i tere are callenges wit useraoption an wat migt e te reason or tosecallenges. deliver o te prouct onl is sort-sigte.

Nina Kelley-Rumpff, PMPFeasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, USA

For more posts on cange management,visit PMI.org/Voices.

Support System

Change Behavior

Wen o executives egin to communicate cange to teir organizations?

The ROI

better cange management meansetter organizational agilit. Accor-ing to te PMI 2012 Pulse of Profes-

sion report, among organizations tatare igl eective at cange man-agement, 34% ave ig agilit, an5% ave low agilit.

Source: 20112012 Change and Communication ROI Study, Towers Watson. Results ase on a surve 604 organi-zations worlwie rom April-Ma 2011.

Source: 20112012 Change and Communication ROI Study, Towers Watson.

26%

14%

20%

17%

10%

6%

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33%26%

of organizations follow a systematic change

management process.

have a dedicated change management staff.

34%

5%


12/12

caSe Study || i Psss

I strongl elieve tat we ten to unerestimatecomplexit. Most IT projects toa involve innovationan learning wile we work. New tecnical solutionsemerge wile we work. New nees pop up wile wework. An we iscover new opportunities wile we work.

Risk analsis an traitional cange management

will not o in tese cases. Te just get san in temaciner an will ela progress an learning.

In preominantl complex projects, tere is no usemaking etaile plans up-ront. you nee to ave aprocess tat empasizes learning wile working.

Scrum is ver well suite or te complexarea. In Scrum, tere is collaoration,

sel-organization an a constantlemerging acklog o work.

Geir AmsjOslo, Norway

Tere isnt a nee to e puristaout te approac [to projects].

Its goo to know te avantageso eac perspective an to guiete project lie ccle in accorance

wit wat te specic situationemans.In some cases, more o a waterall

approac can elp maintain clarit oirection an momentum. Scrum is ver component-oriente, wic can ave a ragmenting eect tatisrupts emerging over-arcing concepts.

Man o te tecniques o Scrum, suc as te closeattention to completing elegate tasks an te spirito group prolem-solving, I tink, can e useul to anapproac.

Jonathan FeistGreater Boston Area, Massachusetts, USA

For more posts on iterative approaces, visitPMI.org/Voices.

t Pw f iavAppa

Agile approaces ave man avantages, are use man ig-perormingorganizations an are growing in popularit.

The Advantages of Agileorgzs s g bs

84%

77%

75%

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Facing the Future

Wat is te projecte rate o cange oran organization's use o iterative, incre-mental or real-time project manage-ment tecniques?

The ROI

Iterative approaces are use 40% o ig-perormingorganizations. Tats oulete rate o low perormers.

Source: State of Agile Survey 2011, Version One. Results ase on a surve o 6,042 sotware evelopment proession-als rom 22 Jul-1 Novemer 2011.

PmiS voiceS bloG o i Psss

40%61% Grw

40% Rm Sb

3% drs

20%

Source: 2012 Pulse of the Profession surve,PMI. Results ase on a surve o more tan1,000 project proessionals in late 2011.

Source: PMI 2012 Pulse of the Profession OrganizationalAgilityin-ept stu.

PMN1012 Agility

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