On Defining Risk Management |
| "I think we must be careful about terms"...Bill Duncan |
| What do we mean by risk management?
Some people equate risk management with formal processes and tools such
as risk registers, meetings devoted to risk identification, assigning
probabilities and impacts to identified risks, and so on. Others forgo
much of the formal process but do a great job of incorporating risk
management into all of their planning and management activities. Others,
particularly on smaller, |
| Bill Duncan : www.pmpartners.com |
A recent Forrester Research Inc.survey reports..." Most companies have now established project management offices (PMO) to help them enforce standard IT processes during IT/business projects. . But many PMOs continue to focus too much time on compiling reports for senior management and not enough on ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within scope."... "That could explain why nearly one-fifth of all new IT project implementations are delivered three or more months late."
The problem seems to be that PMO's rather than act as a supporting arm of the stream of corporate projects ( See the PM World Today Editorial for July-August 2003 "Learning From NASA") do not want to get their hands dirty with "in the trenches support" of project offices. Instead they take a role of process auditor without providing a harried project office with the help that results in the corporate change that integrates an IT shop with the business aspects of managing a project.
The Forrester Research Report classified a project as a "failure" if it was delivered one to three months late and affected at least 3,000 end users. According to survey respondents, 19% of enterprise application initiatives were delivered at least three months late, and another 17% were between one and three months overdue. The Forrester researcher doesn't expect any dramatic improvements in IT project delivery rates because of IT management apathy.
The Forrester Report researcher reports "I think there is improvement that can be achieved, but not from a project management methodology standpoint, because those have been around for years," ..."business units have to remain much more involved with IT departments on project requirements throughout the entire life cycle of the project."
PMO's as corporate project management support groups must become welcome relief and advice to a Project Manager and the Project Office without being seen as yet another audit group out to make a name by highlighting the failure to embrace the need for best project management business practices. In a word the IT PMO must be seen to be value added to the conduct of the stream of corporate projects and at the same time ensure that the IT shop and business processes are an integral part of an IT project.
Also it would help to clarify the use of the Project Management Office name which has grown up to mean a corporate entity that is in the business of developing, promoting and supporting the implementation of both business and project management processes. It would be far better to rename these entities as the NASA has done, that is the APPL, or Project Management Branch or Major Project Support Line or whatever is appropriate to the particular corporation and return to the use of a Project Office (PO) or Systems Project Office(SPO) as it used to be called in the US Department of Defence as a generic name for a dedicated project team.
David Curling
Editor PM World Today
[ More on a Computer World on line magazine article on PMO effectiveness. ] Search for article on PMO Effectiveness.
Max's Musing |
| Is the PMP Examination a Psychology Test? |
| Rita Mulcahy, PM trainer and consultant, says quote: "The PMP exam is not like any exam you may have taken before . . .But because the exam is written psychometrically, there are questions on the exam that even experts find difficult!" Psychometric means: psychometrics n. (used with a sing. verb) "The branch of psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and personality traits. Also called psychometry." I thought this exam was a test of PM knowledge based on the PMBOK, not a psychology test? |
| Max Wideman : www.maxwideman.com |