David Cotgreave
Written Articles
In IT Project Management we put so much effort into choreographing our deliverables and outcomes, the part of the process that our “audience” sees, but how much thought goes into what happens out of sight, behind the curtain?
When a colleague heard that I was heading to the RHS Tatton Garden Show in July, she said that even I couldn’t find project management teachings in the topsoil. Like most gardeners, I do love a challenge, so the gloves are, well, ON! Years of experience, and countless IT Projects under my belt, and a passion for plants and flowers! How hard can this be?
Sow, here we grow!
There are unexpected parallels even if, at first blush, horse trials and IT Project Management may seem worlds apart – I was struck by many similarities in the principles, the methods and the challenges.
WORLDS APART
Quickly, let’s compare the two.
It IS tempting to make a grand, headline grabbing move to justify your organisation’s faith in you, investing in a new portfolio software application or churning your talent, for instance. When new to a role (in many business environments, not just IT Project Management), new managers tend to lean into making sweeping changes, it’s human nature. Often though, hindsight shows that making small tweaks could have been more productive.
Rather than shake things up, it can be quicker, and less stressful to shape things up! If you’re new to a role, instead of slashing or splashing budget and drastically altering project team structure, how about looking at the small step changes you can make that can quickly unlock ROI. Less broom, more polish!
I love this out of office reply from Collette, an IT Project leader who takes herself out of the project portfolio the first Friday and Monday of every March just to have a proper delve into how they do things, assess how aligned their resources and ambitions are, and imagine how they could operate better. A Spring Clean – what a great idea.
IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT
We measure how successful our projects are all year round, in terms of Return On Investment (ROI), budgets, delivery times met, etc but an IT Project Management Capability Assessment checks in on how effective the delivery frameworks and processes that underpin project success are.
If you’ve ever trained a puppy, you’ll know the value of a “treat” to reward good behaviour, like sitting or staying on command. I think most dogs know the word “biscuit” before they learn their own name, mind you, I know some PMs who are as partial to a bourbon or chocolate malted milk, she writes dunking a digestive! At Crufts I saw a lot of treats passed from owner to dog with a “good boy” or “good girl”. Rewards are vital to the process.
Experience and anecdotal evidence suggest that Bex isn’t alone in seeking a little bit more. In many organisations now, IT project teams feel that the necessary fixed scope, set budgets, tight deadlines, limited resources and defined roles and responsibilities, leave little or no room for experimentation and innovation.
The thing is, if you’re getting the results, do you need the added sizzle of innovating?
I think that you do.
This is one of the things I love about Stoneseed, our team, and the culture we have evolved. When we talk about someone behind their back, it’s always positive and hugely complimentary!
If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, Dale Beeton is Stoneseed’s Head of Client Engagement and, as our clients will attest, he is one of those “extra milers” that make a real difference – and not just from a business perspective.
The trainer was explaining the team’s fairly unique binary approach to scrum sprints, which effectively boils down to them having two duration categories – A) one week long and B) three weeks long.
The new hire found this interesting and enquired about the reason behind this approach. In her last job, length and number of sprints would be decided at a goal setting meeting, a twelve-week scrum project could have 15–20 Scrum sprints, which could be as short as a handful of days and as long as a month.
So, “Why?” seemed a reasonable question but it was met with either blank expressions or an unsatisfactory explanation. The trainer did not know, nobody on the team could answer either.
The next couple of years will see extensive Digital Transformation and regeneration of many, if not most, businesses and organisations.
It’s not a bold or groundbreaking prediction, I mean, it’s happening already! Game changing technologies are revolutionising business operations and outcomes the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0 is well underway, Accenture are even talking of an advanced group, The Reinventorsm who, they say are embracing “Total Enterprise Reinvention” – a “deliberate strategy centred on a strong digital core.”
Digital transformation, regeneration, reinvention – there’s quite the frisson of excitement where it’s happening … but I do foresee a problem that few are talking about …
… the digital elephant in the room is …
… where are all the IT Project Managers coming from to manage all these HUGE IT projects?