Developing a Project Management Standard for Your Organization Francine DiMicele, PMP June 08, 2015 NC Piedmont Triad Chapter.

Developing a Project Management Standard for Your Organization

Francine DiMicele, PMP

June 08, 2015

NC Piedmont Triad Chapter

• Why a PM Standard?

• Business Needs

• Objectives

• Benefits

• Approach to Developing a PM Standard

• Key Elements of the Standard

• Stakeholder Alignment

• Implementation & Communication

• Maintenance & Updates

• Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

Why a PM Standard?

• Standardize project management discipline

• Drive consistency

• Adhere to compliance

• Reduce overall project cost

• Reusable project information

Our focus today is around the best practices and considerations for “Developing a Project Management Standard for Your Organization”.

Business Needs

It’s important to identify the business needs driving the development of a Project Management Standard for your organization. Understanding these needs will help determine what to include in the new standard. Here are a few examples of business needs which may drive a new project management standard.

ConsistencyNeed consistent application of the project management discipline across the organization

Industry StandardsNeed better alignment with industry project management standards

Utilize CapabilitiesNeed to fully utilize the capabilities of project management and financial tools to automate and enhance current processes & procedures

Reduce Time & CostNeed to reduce time-to-market and cost of projects

ComplianceNeed to ensure projects adhere to regulatory and company compliance

DocumentationNeed standardize project templates and centralized artifact storage

• Promote the standardization for the project management discipline

• Mandate specific project management methodologies (i.e., Agile, Waterfall, Lean) and

criteria for using them

• Better alignment with project management industry standards

• Set project management expectations for project managers

• Fully utilize the best-in-class capabilities of internal tools to facilitate core (project,

portfolio and resource management) functionality

• Reduce project setup error rate and audit failures

• Provide project management training including curriculum, materials and certification

Stating the objectives of a new Project Management standard will ensure that key stakeholders understand what the new standard is trying to accomplish, but also they are used to define the scope.

Objectives

An organization may realize many benefits by implementing a Project Management Standard. Identifying the important benefits for your organization is key to gaining stakeholder support and alignment.

Consistent Project Management

Focus on Business Value

Maximize Tool Capabilities

Reduce Time-To-Market

Manage Risk Reduce Project Cost

Benefits

Approach

Perform external research and search internally for potential content. Consider piloting the new PM standard to specific business units or teams and incorporate feedback into the standard for a rollout to a wider audience. It’s difficult to know the potential impacts a new standard will have on your various businesses and teams.

Industry Research Internal Content Pilots/Training

• Perform industry research on other project management standards

• Jot down ideas from the research

• Create initial outline for new PM Standard based on research findings

• Create initial table of contents and document template

• Identify internal content sources for consideration

• Pull content into a draft standard and supplemental documentation such as a guide

• Solicit stakeholder feedback on content and potential impacts

• Finalize the new standard and documentation

• Identify teams or business units to pilot the new standard

• Prepare training materials and visuals

• Communicate new standard and associated training

• Publish/Roll Out new standard• Collect and prioritize a back

log of new content ideas to evolve the standard

FAQs

Forums

Newsletters

Training Materials

Presentations

Quick Reference Guides

Key Elements

It’s best to begin with focusing on the key elements from the business needs for overall project management. As the PM Standard evolves, add more detailed elements to meet your business needs such as methodologies, financial adjustments, etc.

Roles & Responsibilities Project Setup Project Hierarchy Project Types

Baselining Time Tracking Project Closure Reporting

Project Funding Forecasting Compliance Plan/WBS

Stakeholder Alignment

Socializing the approach and draft standard with key stakeholders will facilitate alignment of the new PM Standard. This activity will also help identify potential issues and concerns that can be addressed early on before the new standard is ready for publication. Continue socializing until stakeholder alignment is reached.

Solicit Stakeholder Feedback

Update PM Standard

with Feedback

AnalyzeIssues

& Concerns

Address Issues &

Concerns in PM Standard

Implementation & Communication

• Who is impacted by the new PM Standard?– New projects only– New projects; Project underway must comply before project ends– New projects in specific business units or teams

• What is the process for a team working towards compliance with the PM Standard? – List of non-compliant teams with action plan and alert schedule– Perform an audit on selected projects or teams to check on their progress

• Where will the new standard be housed? Are the supplemental documents and

training available including hyperlinks, training schedule, etc?

• Which internal users will receive the communication about the new PM Standard?– Leaders, project managers, or all internal users

• How to best ‘market’ the PM Standard to your audience?

A few things to consider when implementing a new standard include the immediate impacts on teams and projects and the course of action needed for teams to work towards compliance. When you communicate the new standard, you will need to ensure that the standard, supplemental documentation and training is available.

Maintenance & Updates

Your new PM standard will evolve based upon changing conditions and impacts such as strategic business, organizational, regulatory and economic. You will need to decide on how often to make changes and the process for approval, as well as, updated artifacts and training materials.

• Track and prioritize content updates

• Research for potential impacts and risks

Collect Content Updates

Review / Alignment

Finalize Content & Training

Publish Updated Standard

• Publish standard• Send

communication• Implement training

schedule, computer-based training, etc.

• Execute stakeholder review (existing process if available)

• Incorporate feedback

• Update content with feedback

• Design/Update training materials

• Finalize documents

Final Thoughts

• Identify the business needs for a new PM Standard

• Develop your approach / plan

• Prioritize the key elements to include in the standard

• Solicit stakeholder feedback and alignment

• Implement your standard – don’t forget supplemental documents and

training materials

• Determine the review cycle and collect potential content ideas