1. MAKING PROJECT MANAGEMENT INDISPENSABLE FOR BUSINESS RESULTS.®
PMNetwork®
DECEMBER 2015 VOLUME 29, NUMBER 12
2015
PMO OF THE
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24-PAGE SPECIAL SECTION ON PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT PAGE 38
HOW TO HANDLE BAD PROJECT NEWS PAGE 23
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FeaturesDECEMBER 2015 | VOLUME 29, NUMBER 12
2015 PMO OFTHE YEAR WINNER
Mission Accomplished
The world’s largest credit union launched a PMO to
bring order to its IT portfolio—and gave U.S. military
members better access to their money.
By JeremyGantz
Universal Picture
In this special section, portfolio management
professionals from around the world explain
why what they do is indispensable and how
best practices are evolving. Because in an age of
volatility, nothing is static.
Bird’s EyeView
Four practitioners discuss how portfolio
management fuels business results by
boosting strategic alignment.
By Matt Alderton
Ready forVolatility
To navigate a turbulent marketplace, organizations
must master portfolio management.
By Sarah Fister Gale
Agile Command
Portfolio managers can nurture—and hasten—agil-
ity as organizations transition to a new framework.
By Steve Butler
Change From the Top
When the portfolio has to rapidly evolve, there’s
no substitute for C-suite support.
By Vidyadhar Kusur
2015 PMI PROJECT OFTHE YEAR FINALIST
Blazing a New Trail
A public-private partnership delivered hundreds
of new and improved bridges—and a blueprint for
managing infrastructure projects.
ByTegan Jones
Bart Doyle, PMP,
PgMP, PfMP,
Mainstream
Renewable Power
Chile, Santiago, Chile
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AlsoDECEMBER 2015 | VOLUME 29, NUMBER 12
MAKING PROJECT MANAGEMENT
INDISPENSABLE FOR BUSINESS RESULTS.®
THE EDGE
6 The Global Exhibition Hall
Digitization projects open
museum collections to
the world.
9 Forest Protectors
Corporations try to prevent
deforestation through supply
chain projects.
10 Iran’s Hotel Boom
As sanctions on the country
lift, hoteliers are launching
projects to accommodate
more tourists.
11 Big Retailers Go Small
Microstores force project
managers to think outside of
the big box.
13 Digital Advantage
Ten emerging technology
trends that are delivering
value right now.
14 Inventing Alternatives
With U.S. infrastructure
funding gaps the new
normal, project teams are
getting creative.
15 Going Nuclear
Facing power shortages,
South Africa plans to build
up to eight new nuclear
reactors.
16 Metrics
Scrum makes its way into
different sectors.
VOICES
18 Inside Track
From the Ground Up
Paulo deTarso Barros, PMP,
project management office
(PMO) manager, Grupo Edson
Queiroz, Fortaleza, Brazil
20 Project Toolkit
On the Same Page
27 In the Trenches
Manners Matter
ByYaelCohen, PMP
28 In the Trenches
Taking Measures
By Mustafa Dülgerler, PMP
70 In the Trenches
The 20-Percent Solution
By Ronald B. Smith, PMP
COLUMNISTS
22 Leadership
How to Identify Leaders
By RicardoVianaVargas,
PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMP
23 Managing Relationships
Prepare for the Worst
By Sheilina Somani, RPP, FAPM,
PMP, Contributing Editor
24 Career Q&A
Self Help
By Lindsay Scott
26 The Business of Projects
First Things First
By Gary R. Heerkens, MBA,
CBM, PMP, Contributing Editor
ALSO INTHIS ISSUE
68 PMI Store
Visuals matter!
71 Directory of Services
Project management
resources
72 Closing Credit
A product development
team races against time to
make Barbie say more than
just “hello.”
6
11
27
72
PMNetwork®
Cover photo by Brad Howell
WE’RE
HONORED!
Thanks to the Association
Media & Publishing’s
Excel awards. PM Network
received the silver in general
magazine excellence
and the bronze
in design.
8. 138millionNumber of objects in the
Smithsonian’s collection
30 millionNumber of visitors each year to
Smithsonian Institution’s 19 museums
5Minimum number of seconds
required to digitize a flat object
theEdThe Renwick Gallery, a branch of
the Smithsonian American Art
Museum in Washington, D.C., USA
9. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 7
ge
DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 7
The Global
Exhibition Hall
Conserving valuable artworks and artifacts is only part of a muse-
um’s mission. It also must share its collections with the public. Yet
museums can display only so many objects at once—and only so
many people can visit them. With new technologies enabling proj-
ects that used to be infeasible, museums are creating high-quality
digital images of sprawling collections and making them accessible
to anyone online.
“We can now digitize more collections in a shorter amount of
time for less money,” says Günter Waibel, director, digitization pro-
gram office, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA.
The blending of the digital sphere with the marble-and-mortar
environs of traditional museums is also a matter of survival. As a
paper presented at the 2015 Museums and the Web conference
noted, “the expectations in terms of audience are clear: if informa-
tion is not available online, then it simply does not exist.”
The world’s largest museum system is
taking that to heart. Each year, the Smith-
sonian’s 19 museums welcome about 30
million visitors. But they’re missing the vast
majority of the 138 million objects in the
collection. “You can see less than 1 percent
of that on display, so we wanted to bring
this enormous collection to the public and
let them interact with it,” Mr. Waibel says.
To determine the safest and most effi-
cient way to digitize its objects, the project
team launched a series of one-week proto-
type projects. As part of these projects, the
team integrated various databases that store
information about the objects as well as the
digital images, which enabled the databases
to communicate more efficiently with each
other. A scanned-in barcode provided the
unique identifier that allows the synchronization between the data-
bases. The team also had to routinely upgrade the network switches
to handle the project’s massive data. “For projects using a digitiza-
tion conveyor belt, we’re filling up the equivalent of a hard disk on
an average laptop in half a day—it’s a lot of data,” Mr. Waibel says.
Technology alone wouldn’t be enough, however. The team also had
to perfect the project’s physical workflow: the safe and speedy move-
ment of each object from its location to the digitization station and back
again, so that flat objects could be digitized in five to 30 seconds. “You
have to orchestrate this steady stream of objects to achieve the num-
bers and cost effectiveness we’re trying to achieve,” Mr. Waibel says.
The team’s efficient process allowed it to take an object off its shelf and
make its digital image accessible to the public in just 24 hours.
“We can
now digitize
more
collections
in a shorter
amount of
time for less
money.”
—Günter Waibel,
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., USA
DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 7
PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
10. 8 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
is pursuing a similar project to digitize its entire
collection of about 1 million objects—including
about 700,000 works on paper and 300,000 objects
such as paintings, sculptures, ceramics, jewelry and
furniture—by 2020. “The Rijksmuseum’s collection
is everybody’s collection, so management feels an
obligation to share it with everyone and to share it for
free,” says Cecile van der Harten, image department
head, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Like the Smithsonian, the Rijksmuseum team fol-
lows a carefully planned process. The Dutch team’s
standardized workflow and imaging protocol requires
every single object to be registered first so it can be
searchable online.
Winning Over Skeptics
The success of the Rijksmuseum project depends
heavily on stakeholder buy-in—the seamless
interactions of photographers, art handlers, cura-
tors and conservation specialists. The team found
that early project successes helped bring doubt-
ers onboard. “Ten years ago, there was a lot of
skepticism around digital photography among the
curators and conservation department, but people
were really convinced by the quality that could be
delivered digitally,” Ms. Harten says.
At the Smithsonian, the prototype projects
proved essential to helping the team secure buy-in
for its large-scale digitization efforts. “We invited
the entire Smithsonian community to come see the
process, because we see this as a culture-change
moment where we showcase how fast we can digi-
tize when we follow a disciplined approach,” Mr.
Waibel says.
Armed with lessons learned, the team launched
a large-scale project in November 2014 to digitize
250,000 pieces of historic currency proof prints
from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of
American History. As a result of its fine-tuned
workflow processes and the innovative technology
of the conveyor belt, the team digitized about 4,000
sheets a day, completing the project in just six
months. By contrast, if the team had simply used a
theEdge
Old Problems, New Solutions
Digitization projects are helping museums overcome long-standing challenges.
PROJECT SPONSORS PROBLEM DIGITAL SOLUTION
British Museum and the UCL
Institute of Archaeology,
London, England
Hood Museum of Art,
Dartmouth College, Hanover,
New Hampshire, USA
British Museum and the
University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology, Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Guyana National Museum,
Georgetown, Guyana
Archeologists and curators amass a
lot of data, but it’s of limited use if it’s
not organized and searchable.
Museum pieces may be nice to look at, but
they haven’t all been studied—so visitors
don’t always know what they’re looking at.
Arguments over who owns archaeo-
logical artifacts—the country where
they came from or the organization
that possesses the objects
Limited exhibition space
After scanning photographs of 30,000 British
Bronze Age tools and weapons, the project team is
crowdsourcing the public’s help in cataloging them.
A US$150,000 project to digitize more than 4,000
Native American objects and spur discussion
among scholars and indigenous communities
In the early 20th century, the two museums jointly
excavated the ancient city of Ur, in modern-day Iraq.
Artifacts are dispersed between that country and the
excavating organizations, but the Ur Digitization Project
will reunite all of them in one virtual space.
A US$8 million project will digitize the museum’s entire
collection and make it available on three interactive
touch screens so visitors can both see and learn more.
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands
11. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 9
traditional flatbed scanner, the project would have
taken over 20 years, Mr. Waibel says.
Ultimately, no matter how wonderful the tech-
nology, museum digitization projects will only earn
executive support if they support museums’ mis-
sions without making in-person trips a thing of the
past. When the Getty Research Institute launched
a partnership with the Digital Public Library of
America in 2014 to digitize nearly 100,000 items
from Getty’s special collection, the decision was
made in part because the project would open the
organization’s doors to more visitors.
“When MP3s first came out, the common belief
was that people would stop going to concerts, but
people still go,” Getty CEO Jim Cuno told Penta.
“There is every indication that [digital images] will
increase appetites for the real thing.”
“Ten years ago, there was a lot
of skepticism around digital
photography among the curators and
conservation department, but people
were really convinced by the quality that could
be delivered digitally.”
—Cecile van der Harten, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
The Rijksmuseum has seen that prediction borne
out: It set an attendance record last year, when 25
percent of its collection was freely available online.
Internally, curators and conservators at the
museum eagerly volunteer to have their collections
digitized, Ms. Harten says. “We’re very busy now—
we’re victims of our own success.” —Novid Parsi
FOREST PROTECTORS
In their quest for profits, companies have been
accused of not being able to see the forest for the
trees. But as customers and other stakeholders
increasingly express interest in sustainably pro-
duced products, big organizations are paying more
attention to the big picture—and launching proj-
ects to protect forests.
In April, fast food giant McDonald’s pledged to
end deforestation in its supply chain by procur-
ing items including beef, fiber-based packaging,
coffee and palm oil from sustainable sources. The
same month, Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell,
KFC and Pizza Hut, announced it will stop using
palm oil obtained through deforestation by the
end of 2017. And consumer products giant Procter
& Gamble has also promised to break its supply
chain’s links to deforestation by 2020.
Making public commitments to reduce defor-
estation is a good start, but implementing the
projects and setting up measures to track results
is more complicated, says Kerry Cesareo, senior
director of forests, World Wildlife Fund, Wash-
ington, D.C., USA. Ms. Cesareo provides technical
help to global corporations aiming for environ-
mentally responsible supply chains for wood and
paper-based products.
“To begin with, the commitment has to be
A palm oil plantation and
pastureland in Honduras
meaningful to the organization, and it has to
translate to policies and practices that will deliver
results,” she says. In 2009, for example, Kimberly-
Clark, which produces paper-based consumer
12. 10 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
theEdge
IRAN’S
HOTEL BOOM
With economic sanctions set to lift in 2016,
Iran wants to become an international tour-
ist destination. And hoteliers are stepping up
with projects to meet a growing number of
visitors to the long-isolated country.
Iran cracked open its doors to interna-
tional tourists in 2013, but sanctions still
made it difficult for tourists to use credit
cards. This year’s international agreement
between Iran and Western nations to limit
the country’s nuclear program and end the
sanctions will make life easier for travelers.
Some hotel companies have responded
quickly. France’s Accor became the first
Western company to manage a hotel in
Iran in decades when it opened two hotels
near Tehran’s airport in mid-October.
Rotana Hotel Management Corp., based
in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, plans
four hotels in Iran by 2018.
“Iran hasn’t built proper hotels for the
last four decades,” Ramin Rabii, group CEO
of investment firmTurquoise Partners, told
The Independent in September. “But tourism
is a huge opportunity, and almost all the big
hotel brands have made a visit recently.”
Efforts to expand tourism in Iran began
even before the deal was signed in July.
President Hassan Rouhani has eased
visa requirements for tourists, and his
government’s tourism department began
working with groups at home and abroad
to increase accommodations and access to
tourist attractions and promote Iran as a
world-class destination.
The government is ambitious: It wants
to attract 20 million visitors a year by
2025. With just 5 million foreign tour-
ists arriving in 2014, hotel companies will
need to move into high gear to meet the
national goal. —Ben Schaefer
goods such as Kleenex, set a goal to procure 100 percent of its wood fiber from certified
sources. Achieved in 2014, the initiative involved creating an action plan with specific proj-
ects and key performance indicators to measure results, she says.
Projects included establishing an audit process to track where raw materials come from
and visiting all suppliers to educate them on the sustainability goals
and how that would impact sourcing requirements. “Setting clear
targets and working with your supply chain is the most important
part,” Ms. Cesareo says.
Getting Everyone on Board
Global construction firm Carillion has been another leader in proj-
ects to prevent supply chain deforestation.
“From a project management perspective, there are three things we
do to meet our sustainable timber sourcing goals,” says David Picton,
chief sustainability officer, Carillion, Oakley, England. First, the com-
pany established a sourcing policy for all projects that mandates all
timber meets standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC),
a not-for-profit that promotes responsible management of the world’s
forests. Then Carillion partnered with its key suppliers to educate them
about sustainable forestry and how to demonstrate FSC compliance.
Mr. Picton notes that it is not enough to communicate the policy to suppliers. “They need to
know why sustainable timber sourcing is important to our long-term success,” he says.
Finally, the organization added a review step to ensure every project is in compliance. “We
audit a number of things on every project, including safety, quality and now sourcing,” Mr.
Picton says. This process begins with the project specifications, which lay out the sustainable
sourcing requirements, and it includes regular checks of documentation for chain of custody
and FSC compliance. “This audit process is how we can be sure our expectations are being
met,” he says.
Beyond the Trees
While most of the corporate projects related to sustainable sourcing focus on supply chain
education and sourcing mandates, a few companies are investing in projects that actively
promote reforestation. Gourmet kitchen goods retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc., for example,
is partnering with suppliers in Indonesia to build a nursery to grow plantation wood for one
of its furniture lines. And technology giant Apple is supporting World Wildlife Fund’s work
with forest plantation companies on responsible practices.
“These are examples of how some companies are being innovative in their efforts to save
forests, in addition to changing internal practices,” Ms. Cesareo says.
For companies just beginning this journey, experts encourage them to reach out to groups
with technical expertise and their own peers for lessons learned on setting realistic commit-
ments and implementing changes that can be measured and sustained. “A lot of organiza-
tions have already had a lot of success, and they have valuable lessons to share,” says Lael
Goodman, an analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. As this
trend matures, it will become easier to find sustainable resources and to measure and report
the impact these changes have on the organization and the environment. “Even three years
ago, a lot of these goals seemed out of reach,” she says. “Now I think this movement has the
potential to be successful if organizations and companies follow through on their commit-
ments.” —Sarah Fister Gale
“Commitment
has to be
meaningful to
the organization,
and it has to
translate to
policies and
practices that
will deliver
results.”
—Kerry Cesareo, World Wildlife
Fund, Washington, D.C., USA
Tourists at
Golestan Palace
in Tehran, Iran
13. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 11
Big Retailers
Go Small
Big-name retailers are trying small-store formats on
for size. Launching these microstore projects in urban
areas allows large companies to find growth opportuni-
ties outside their traditional markets. But it also requires
project managers to rethink space planning, the cus-
tomer experience, logistics and IT requirements.
Retailer Wal-Mart may have started the trend in the
U.S., and it planned to add up to 170 additional small-
format Neighborhood Markets during 2015 alone.
Target was quick to follow with CityTarget and Target-
Express stores. Meanwhile, high-end grocery chain
Whole Foods Market plans to open five “365 by Whole
Foods Market” small grocery stores in urban locales
during 2016. And after completing successful small-
store projects in Spain, Norway and Finland, Swedish
furniture company Ikea plans to open microstores with
a footprint less than one-third the size of its typical
locations over the next six years in Australia, the U.K.
and Canada.
“This concept is doing very well in Europe and many
other countries,” says Hervé Laumonier, CEO of One-
2Team, San Francisco, California, USA. The organiza-
tion provides software-as-a-service project management
services to retailers. Mr. Laumonier sees the microstore
strategy as a smart way to increase market share. But
it’s not simple, he cautions. “Those companies have to
change the way they work.”
Spatial Reasoning
Higher rents and labor costs, complicated building per-
mit processes and complex lease negotiations are typical
with urban retail projects. Historic downtown buildings
usually aren’t structurally equipped to house contempo-
rary retail stores either, requiring extensive construction
or retrofitting and renovation. But the lack of square
footage is the real elephant in the room. Project manag-
ers must customize microstore layouts to fit the space.
“You might think the simple thing would be to just
scale everything down,” says Rich Scamehorn, chief
research officer for InContext Solutions, New Brighton, Minnesota, USA. His company uses virtual
simulations to help retailers visualize new projects. “But that’s difficult to do and still keep custom-
ers feeling like they can move easily through the store. The imperative is moving the shopper from
one purchase to the next.”
“You might think the simple thing
would be to just scale everything
down. But that’s difficult to do and still
keep customers feeling like they can
move easily through the store.”
—Rich Scamehorn, InContext Solutions, New Brighton, Minnesota, USA
A Wal-Mart Neighborhood
Market in Chicago, Illinois, USA
PHOTOBYSCOTTOLSON/GETTYIMAGES
14. 12 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
The product mix also needs to be tailored to
urban living with the understanding that most
customers will arrive on foot or by public trans-
portation. That translates into microstores stocking
balcony sets rather than large patio furniture and
selling four-packs of paper towels versus 12-packs.
“It’s having the right mix of products and then
merchandising them so they are easy to find,” says
Michelle Greenwald, a professor at New York Uni-
versity Stern School of Business, New York, New
York, USA.
In large-format stores, consumers can’t possibly
explore every aisle, so they don’t even try, Ms. Gre-
enwald says. Instead, they head right for the items
on their shopping list. With a smaller selection, “it’s
so much easier to shop the entire store to see what’s
new.” Mr. Scamehorn agrees. What’s critical, he says,
is “providing the differentiated types of products
people want from a particular retailer in just enough
variety that they feel like they still have choices.”
The IT Factor
The logistics of stocking the stores can also be a
challenge, as merchandise must be delivered using
city streets and alleys, and inventory has to be
stored in tighter quarters. All this requires a highly
efficient back-of-the-house operation, according
to Mr. Scamehorn. Project managers must work
closely with IT to incorporate “smart” inventory
systems into plans to create and maintain produc-
tive stores in small urban footprints.
“The challenge is that everybody on the manu-
facturing side is trying to be more efficient too, so
they want to consolidate deliveries and use fewer
and bigger trucks to ship more stuff,” he says.
“That’s one area where I think there will need to
be some interesting innovation coming along for
urban retail projects.”
Technology also impacts how customers interact
with the front of the house. More than just providing
a physical location where customers can pick up and
return merchandise ordered online, brick-and-mortar
retailers must meld with the digital experience as part
of an “omnichannel” strategy. Project managers now
need to incorporate in-store technology ranging from
digital menu boards and mobile point-of-sale termi-
nals to touch-screen monitors for product videos and
online ordering.
“Technology is just going to get better and bet-
ter at interacting with individual shoppers,” Mr.
Scamehorn says. “Retailers need to customize the
level of technology usage to each kind of shopper
and find a good mix that will keep customers com-
ing back.” —Diane Landsman
theEdge
“Retailers need
to customize
the level of
technology
usage to each
kind of shopper
and find a good
mix that will
keep customers
coming back.”
—Rich Scamehorn
A CityTarget store in Seattle,
Washington, USA
PHOTOBYSTEPHENEHLERS/GETTYIMAGES
15. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 13
Source: ISACA, Innovation Insights:Top DigitalTrends thatAffect Strategy, 2015; U.N. Global Pulse; Mercy Corps; MarketWatch; Forbes; eMarketer; Class-central.com. (ISACA report
methodology: More than 140,000 ISACA members around the world—practitioners and executives across all business sectors—were surveyed.)
Technology is increasingly driving organizations’ strategies. Those that fail to innovate around the right digital
trends—and launch projects to integrate them into operations—risk falling behind quickly.
THE TOP 10
Portfolio managers take note:Ten emerging digital technology trends are most likely to deliver significant value to organizations in the near future.
DIGITAL ADVANTAGE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TREND POTENTIAL IMPORTANT FIGURE PROJECT EXAMPLE
BIG DATA
ANALYTICS
MOBILE
TECHNOLOGIES
CLOUD
COMPUTING
MACHINE
LEARNING
INTERNET
OF THINGS
MASSIVE
OPEN ONLINE
COURSES
(MOOCS)
SOCIAL
NETWORKING
DIGITAL
BUSINESS
MODELS
CYBER-
SECURITY
DIGITAL
CURRENCY
Uncover trends and
patterns that can be
leveraged to improve or-
ganizational intelligence
Extend an organization’s reach
through new platforms for
business applications and richer
interactions with customers,
plus streamline operations
Access on-demand
technology services while
cutting in-house IT costs
Cognitive computer systems
with the ability to learn from
business-related interac-
tions can help transform
how organizations operate.
Physical objects linked to the In-
ternet can originate data—and
communicate it to organiza-
tions or individuals to add value.
Educate large numbers of
people—including employ-
ees—at low cost in virtual
learning environments
Enhance employee and
customer interactions,
extending an organization’s
marketing platform through
web and mobile platforms
Disrupt entire industries
through business models
impossible without digital
technologies
Protect information
networks and devices from
threats
Enable transactions that
aren’t tied to physical
currency (e.g., cash)
Already
mainstream
Already
mainstream
Already
mainstream
More than
five years
Two to
five years
One to
two years
Already
mainstream
One to
two years
Already
mainstream
Two to
five years
Worldwide
value: US$125
billion
Worldwide
value: US$3.3
trillion in 2014
Worldwide
value: US$127
billion by 2017
Worldwide
private invest-
ment: US$14.9
billion in 2014
Worldwide
value: US$1.9
trillion in 2013
Worldwide
MOOCs available
(as of October
2015): 4,054
Worldwide social
network ad
spending (2015
projection):
US$25 billion
Worldwide potential
reach:At least 30 billion
devices will be connected
to the Internet by 2020.
Worldwide
value: US$75.4
billion
Worldwide value:
More than US$10
billion in 2014
Health organizations used anonymized
information from mobile phone networks
to help understand travel patterns during
a 2015 typhoid outbreak in Uganda.
A mobile app allowed the Philippines’ first
micro mobile bank to send US$2.3 million
directly to 25,000 families affected by
Typhoon Haiyan.
Adobe in 2015 released a cloud-based pro-
grammatic ad platform for advertisers and
media publishers that integrates analytics
and audience-targeting capabilities.
Healint developed a mobile app to
let users summon help when having a
stroke. The app can learn to distinguish
between a deliberate emergency shake
and other movements.
The French company Babolat created
a smart tennis racket that records
detailed information about the
player’s performance.
To on-board new employees and save
time, McAfee created online courses.
Nokia created its own worldwide
social network, BlogHub, to break
down organizational silos and facilitate
employee communications.
The ride-sharing service Uber added a
new function to its platform in 2015
allowing businesses to request rides
for customers.
A US$15 million initiative sponsored by
the U.S. Department of Energy aims to
develop new technologies to protect the
U.S. power grid from cyberattacks.
A team at Johns Hopkins University is devel-
oping a digital currency called Zerocoin that
will prevent fraudulent transactions without
revealing buyers’ personal information.
TIME TO
MAINSTREAM
16. 14 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
Inventing
AlternativesFrom energy to water to transportation, the United States’ aging infrastructure looks increas-
ingly decrepit. With a significant funding shortfall projected for years to come, the pressure is
on teams to find innovative ways to cut costs and time on infrastructure projects.
The country’s roads, bridges and transit systems will see an investment short-
fall of nearly US$850 billion by 2020, according to the American Society of Civil
Engineers’ 2015 Infrastructure #GameChangers report. Inland waterways need
US$13 billion through 2020, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and
a 2015 U.S. Department of Energy report estimates that the cost of repairing and
modernizing the country’s power and energy network will reach tens of billions
of U.S. dollars.
Where all this funding could come from is unclear. In the meantime, organiza-
tions are seeking more streamlined approaches to infrastructure projects. Project
teams are testing and fine-tuning outside-the-box approaches before pursuing
them on a larger scale.
In 2014, the water board in Washington, D.C., USA completed a US$470 mil-
lion project to build a wastewater treatment plant that creates power from the
theEdge
Project: Parking Lot Revamp
Owner: City of Detroit, Michigan
Budget: US$162,000
Objective: Prevent stormwater from
running into the sewer system
Innovation: To save hundreds of
millions of U.S. dollars the city
spends to treat the mix of storm-
water and sewage, this pilot project
will funnel water from a parking lot
to a nearby vacant field. There, the
water will be naturally filtered and
then enter the Detroit River.
U.S. roads, bridges and
transit systems will
see an investment
shortfall of nearly
US$850billion by 2020.
Source: American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2015
Infrastructure #GameChangers report
At the state and local levels, U.S. government agencies are discarding traditional approaches to help rebuild a
crumbling infrastructure in the face of funding gaps.
Project: South Interchange
Owner: Utah Department ofTransportation
Budget: US$14 million
Objective: Relieve congestion and
improve safety for 20,000 vehicles per
day by replacing a 40-year-old highway
interchange
Innovation: The construction and design
teams used a cutting-edge diverging-
diamond interchange design that made
traffic flow more efficiently—and cost
significantly less than a complete rebuild,
which would have totaled US$100 million.
Project: Deep Creek Canyon Weekend
Bridge Replacement
Owner: Montana Department of
Transportation
Budget: US$2.75 million
Objective: Replace three flood-damaged
bridges
Innovation: Originally, the project was esti-
mated to take nine months. By constructing
the new foundation before removing the
old bridges and building other elements off-
site, the project team replaced the bridges
in just three weekends.
NEW WAYS FORWARD
17. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 15
GOING
NUCLEAR
Burned out on its aging coal-fueled
power plants, South Africa is rethinking its
energy portfolio. The country is planning
up to eight new nuclear power plants
by 2029 to stabilize its power grid. The
program, which could cost up to US$100
billion, would generate 9,600 megawatts
of power.
South Africa currently relies heav-
ily on coal and has only one nuclear
plant. But frequent electricity blackouts
caused by power supply shortages have
disrupted life for residents and business
alike, leading to calls for changes. The
country’s finance ministry says the lack of
reliable power is the top constraint on the
economy, The Wall Street Journal reported
earlier this year. South Africa hopes to
have the first new plant running by 2023.
But some see funding problems on the
horizon—along with continued power
supply instability. An editorial in South
Africa’sTheTimes newspaper complained,
“The government is unable—or unwill-
ing—to specify exactly how it will be
funded…. Neither is there a coherent
explanation of how this country will make
do with its stuttering electricity supply for
the next decade or so until the first of the
nuclear power stations comes on stream.”
Others fear that the awarding of large
contracts could breed corruption.
“[T]he potential for corruption is there
for all to see.The administration must
ensure a competitive [bid] process,” Anne
Frühauf, a southern Africa analyst atTeneo
Intelligence, told Bloomberg in December.
—Ben Schaefer
The Roadbot automates the typically labor-intensive process of identifying
and sealing cracks in road surfaces, and requires just one operator.
solids left at the end of the water treatment process. The high-grade biosolid generated by
the facility can be sold and reused in farms and city gardens. Before the project team could
get full funding, though, it had to sell a key stakeholder group—the organization’s board of
directors—on the economic value of turning sewage into electricity.
The project team learned firsthand from European wastewater-treatment facilities that use
the same thermal hydrolysis technology. After biosolids are treated at high heat and pressure
to kill any pathogens, organic matter becomes food for microbes, which in turn convert it
into methane. To prove the system would work in Washington, the team built a small pilot
plant, says Chris Peot, director of resource recovery, D.C. Water, Washington, D.C., USA.
The pilot proved that thermal hydrolysis would produce more gas for the electricity-generat-
ing turbines than a conventional biosolids digester.
“Not only are we producing clean, green renewable power so we don’t have to buy as
much power off the grid, but we’ve drastically reduced our carbon footprint, which is good
because we’re the biggest user of electricity in Washington, D.C.,” Mr. Peot says. “The pilot
testing showed all of that. It made the economic argument for us.”
For the developers of Roadbot, a US$1.4 million proof-of-concept project, dem-
onstrating small-scale success is a must. The Roadbot automates the typically labor-
intensive process of identifying and sealing cracks in road surfaces, and requires just one
operator. The project team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta, Georgia,
USA developed an algorithm and lighting system to identify the cracks at 5 miles
(8 kilometers) per hour, or 88 inches (224 centimeters) per second—which means the
machine has just 136 milliseconds to identify and locate each crack. A high-pressure
hydraulic system then precisely dispenses asphalt into the fissures.
Rather than constructing the entire robot at once, the team engaged in iterative test-
South Africa’s only nuclear
power station, in Koeberg
PHOTOCOURTESYOFGEORGIATECHRESEARCHINSTITUTE
18. 16 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
INTO THE SCRUM
Scrum has long been a popular agile approach in the software
project world. Now, as organizations continue to adopt itera-
tive techniques, it’s slowly making its way into other sectors.
By Ben Schaefer
WHERE IT’S AT
59%of ScrumMasters
are certified.
The average Scrum team:
29%of Scrum users
work in IT.
12%work in
finance.
Uses Scrum artifacts, including
product backlogs, sprint backlogs
and burn-down charts (90%).
Conducts sprint
planning before
each sprint (83%).
Holds a team
meeting each
day (81%).
Follows two-week
sprints (60% of
respondents).
Has seven
members.
THE LATEST
STATISTICS, SURVEYS
AND STUDIES
ing—finding the best lighting system, for instance,
by taking images with various lights. “We built
progressively on our test data for prototype
subsystems before building the full prototype
system,” says Jonathan Holmes, senior research
engineer, Georgia Tech Research Institute,
Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Now that the prototype shows the system can
extend road life spans and save public money, the
Roadbot team is looking for potential partners on
the next phase: expanding the Roadbot, which cur-
rently is only 1 foot (0.3 meter) wide, to handle a
road’s full width.
Not every cost-saving measure requires invent-
ing an entirely new technology; sometimes, the
solution comes from applying existing systems in
new ways. When the Michigan
Department of Transporta-
tion had less than one year to
complete its 96Fix project, a
US$153 million initiative to
repair 7 miles (11 kilometers)
of Interstate 96, it turned to
an e-construction option that
had worked on smaller efforts.
Digitizing—rather than printing
and mailing—traditionally paper
processes such as contractors’
bids, project drawings and
payroll certifications required
of federal projects saved valu-
able time on a project affecting
140,000 motorists a day.
“It was a new technology for
this project, but one that had
been piloted a few times on
smaller projects,” says Gerard
Pawloski, metro region con-
struction engineer, Michigan
Department of Transportation,
Southfield, Michigan, USA. “Closing the freeway
has user costs for the public and for businesses in
the area, so shortening the time of construction is
a huge benefit.”
Whether they’re inventing entire systems or
finding new ways to use existing technology, proj-
ect teams continue to search for new ways to shore
up U.S. infrastructure. —Novid Parsi
“Closing the
freeway has
user costs
for the public
and for
businesses in
the area, so
shortening
the time of
construction
is a huge
benefit.”
—Gerard Pawloski,
Michigan Department of
Transportation, Southfield,
Michigan, USA
19. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 17
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS TWO BIGGEST CHALLENGES
THE PAYOFFS, PRIORITIES AND PROBLEMS
Functional areas where Scrum is most used:
Source: The 2015 State of Scrum Report, ScrumAlliance (produced in partnership with PMI’s ProjectManagement.com and ProjectsAtWork.com).
Methodology: Nearly 5,000 people were surveyed in 108 countries and more than 14 industries.
21%
combine Scrum
and lean.
The factor cited as the most important in adopting Scrum?
Senior management
sponsorship and support
1. Identifying
and measuring
the success of
Scrum projects
2. Transitioning
from waterfall
to Scrum
Self-reported success
rate for Scrum
projects
Respondents who cited
fulfilling customer needs
as the highest business
priority for Scrum projects
Respondents who say Scrum
improves quality of work life
for teams, but 71% believe
it causes tension with non-
Scrum teams
95%
of respondents use Scrum as
their agile approach. Of those,
use Scrum exclusively. Of those
using a combination of practices:
63%
combine Scrum
and waterfall.
43%
combine Scrum
and Kanban.
11% Product
development
33%
IT
44% Software
development
42%
46%52%
62% 49% 87%
20. 18 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
Voices
ILLUSTRATIONBYJOELKIMMEL
Paulo de
Tarso Barros,
PMP, project
management office
(PMO) manager,
Grupo Edson
Queiroz, Fortaleza,
Brazil
All companies want to grow. But success can
create its own problems. Since its founding in
1951, Grupo Edson Queiroz has become one of
Brazil’s largest holding companies, spanning an
array of industries including energy, manufac-
turing, communications, and food and beverage.
Faced with siloed subsidiaries operating with
their own logic, Grupo began integrating opera-
tions in 2010. It launched a PMO that year to
facilitate the transition and ensure that all proj-
ect activity is aligned to strategy, and it hired
Paulo de Tarso Barros—a project practitioner
with more than a decade of experience—to lead
the PMO.
What exactly was the impetus for creating
the PMO?
Before, all of the organization’s companies oper-
ated on different IT platforms. In 2010, Grupo
Edson Queiroz began a huge transformation: the
integration of all these companies on one platform.
Between 2010 and 2013, the PMO was totally
focused on the implementation of an enterprise
resource planning system and other supporting proj-
ects. Then, in 2013, we started to establish monitors
and controls over all projects in the entire group.
Whatdidtheprojectmonitoringreveal?
Business units were asking for new projects without
INSIDE TRACK
From the Ground Up
21. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 19
Small Talk
What’s the one
skill every project
manager should
have?
Leadership, the ability
to guide people to
change.
What’s the best
professional advice
you ever received?
Know yourself and
take control of your
emotions. When
you’re trying to create
change, sometimes
you have to have
tough conversations.
But you can’t
accomplish anything
if you fight with your
clients or colleagues.
What’s your favorite
leisure-time activity?
I love cycling, and on
weekends I bike in the
mountains. It gives
me energy to face the
challenges of the week.
In Brazil, we’ve been facing tough times economically
and politically, so we want to ensure that our projects
deliver the right benefits using the right resources.
seeing the whole picture. For example, the manufac-
turing unit asked to buy a new machine, but without
an analysis of what the best machine would be and
what benefits it would bring to the entire company.
Business-unit leaders were using their intuition to
choose projects, not making a rational business case.
As a result, there were projects that weren’t deliver-
ing the right benefits to the group.
HowdidthePMOrespond?
We changed course. Before our focus was on
delivering projects, but in 2014 we decided that
we would look at the benefits realization of every
single project. The PMO had to deliver benefits,
not just more projects.
So we implemented portfolio and change manage-
ment practices, and a business-case analysis for every
single project. After that, we decided to implement
another PMO, a corporate PMO, that would be
responsible for corporate projects only—the projects
seen by the shareholders as contributing the most
to strategy—and to ensure those projects’ benefits
are realized. We also started to develop a culture of
continuous learning.
Describeacoupleofexamplesofcorporate
andnon-corporateprojects.
We’re overseeing 15 corporate projects. One is the
implementation of a sales and operations planning
(S&OP) methodology. Its main objective is to make
the company more productive and make better deci-
sions about what to produce, when to produce it
and the amount of investment needed to produce it.
Another corporate project is structuring all the busi-
ness units so that they’re in legal compliance. When
you’re not in compliance with the Brazilian govern-
ment, you have to pay huge fees—a percentage of
gross profit every single month.
We have about 60 to 70 smaller, non-corporate
projects throughout the organization that are over-
seen by other PMOs, such as the IT PMO and the
product-development PMO. They’re responsible for
the business units, and I report to the executive suite.
DoeseachPMOhaveitsownsetofproject
managers?
We decided not to have the project managers report
to each PMO but to the business leaders, the direc-
tors and managers of each business unit. Stronger
relationships get built when they work together that
closely. Of the 16 project managers, six work on
corporate projects. And we say “project leaders,” not
“project managers.” Since 2010, we have been fac-
ing change after change, so we need people to act as
change agents and as leaders.
Howdoyoumeasurethesuccessofthe
PMO’sfocusonbenefitsrealization?
We identify the business indicators that the C-suite,
the board and the owners use to determine the
health of the business, and then we connect them
with benefits realization. We have different kinds of
business indicators: financial, quality, performance
and operational.
For example, with our S&OP project, the inten-
tion is to grow our earnings before interest and tax
(EBIT), so EBIT is a financial indicator. Another
business indicator is the level of our stock of prod-
ucts. We intend for the S&OP project to ensure we
have the right amount of stock. So we link these
indicators to benefits, and every month we measure
how they’re performing.
Howareyoupromotingaprojectmanage-
mentculture?
Formal training is 10 percent of our effort to foster
this learning culture. The other 90 percent of the
effort is about the day-to-day: learning by experi-
ence, and reflecting on lessons learned and best
practices. Our organization is 65 years old, so it’s a
challenge to change mindsets.
Every day I show different project leaders the ben-
efits of developing a learning culture in their teams.
The first step is making the business units aware of
the importance of the learning process—that learn-
ing contributes to performance, which contributes
to results. PM
22. 20 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
VOICES ProjectToolkit
Project managers manage in all directions, including up. But it’s not always
easy to talk to a superior as freely as you would a peer, especially if you
disagree with his or her point of view. We asked project practitioners:
What communication techniques do you use
with senior management?
On the
Same Page
De-clutterthe Message
It is important to spend time examining
what roles communication and
governance play in ensuring a single
version of the truth. While each situation is different,
misunderstandings commonly happen.
A simple way I avoid this is by maintaining effective
program or project update reports. Make sure they
are simple enough so all levels of the business can
understand them.”
—Alex Brindle, multichannel projects manager,
Home Retail Group PLC, Milton Keynes, England
Develop Empathy
Managing a project requires
understanding senior management’s
expectations, and managing them. There
is no better way to do this than by trying to understand
their motivation, challenges and expectations.
WatchYourTone
The biggest lesson I have learned about
speaking to executives is to maintain
a steady cadence and avoid emotional
tones of voice. That helps keep the discussion on track.
Recently, I was in a meeting with senior leadership.
After going through a status update of current projects,
I opened the floor to any thoughts or concerns. One of
the senior executives in the meeting began berating my
team, my manager and me, and questioned the purpose
of the projects.
The easiest thing to do would be to get angry at
these accusations, respond to them, and ruin any
chance of changing this person’s opinion. Instead, I
took a second to breathe, which helps me compose
my thoughts without conveying frustration with my
body language. Then, calmly and with an even keel, I
discussed each of the executive’s points objectively.
This senior executive began to soften his stance and
joined the discussion in a more productive and calm
manner. But if I had responded angrily, I could have
put my team and myself in the crosshairs of a senior
executive. As someone who is responsible for my team’s
work, that would have been rash and unprofessional.”
—Kevin Waugh, e-commerce project manager, Modern
Builders Supply, Toledo, Ohio, USA
23. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 21
Processes like design thinking, a proven tool for
generating innovative solutions, rely on empathy
as a primary tool to improve communication and
understanding for the desire and needs of others.
Empathy allows you to clearly see the effects of your
decisions on others while protecting the relationship.
It’s harder to fall into negative disagreements when
you’re truly focusing on the other person’s needs and
the organizational context that generates it.
With empathy, you can transcend the technical
barriers that naturally appear.”
—Ezequiel Kahan, PMI-ACP, PMP, account delivery
manager, Softtek, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Choosethe Right Path
It’s crucial to understand an executive’s
preferred style of communication. Some
folks prefer an informal email, while
others are fine with a quick discussion over the phone.
Still others may need a very formal approach. Use each
approach accordingly.
I recall one instance where I was the lead on one of
the two streams of a large program. Midway during
the execution of the project, my reporting manager
informed me that the director of one of the groups
from the second stream had raised a concern regarding
one of my actions. I was surprised because I knew that
person well, and wondered why he went to my manager
instead of approaching me.
My first instinct was to provide a formal reply to my
manager and have that forwarded accordingly. Instead,
I decided to capitalize on my good rapport with the
director. I told my manager about my relationship with
that director and got his approval to directly approach him.
We met over coffee and I asked him to explain what he
was concerned about. I listened and then explained to him
in detail why I did what I did. He was able to relate to my
point of view and the matter was resolved.”
—Jaikumar Nair, PMP, senior project manager,
Tech Mahindra, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Talk It Out
Discussion is
always helpful.
Share your
communication
techniques
on the PMI
Project, Program
and Portfolio
Management
LinkedIn Group.
Crystal Clear?
One out of five projects fails due to
ineffective communication.
PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® In-Depth
Report: Executive Sponsor Engagement—Top
Driver of Project and Program Success found
that one challenge likely lies in the wide gap
in perception between what project managers
say executive sponsors do and what these
executives themselves say they do:
To increase the rate of successful projects,
organizations can focus on training and
developing the communication skills of their
executive sponsors and project managers.
Active Listening
of project managers say
that sponsors frequently
listen actively.
of executive
sponsors say they
do so frequently.
Effective Communication
of project managers say
that sponsors frequently
communicate effectively.
of executive
sponsors say they
do so frequently.
Motivation
of project managers say
that sponsors frequently
motivate the team.
of executive
sponsors say they
do so frequently.
42%
88%
47%
92%
34%
82%
24. 22 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
Ricardo Viana Vargas, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMP, a past
PMI chair, is the director of the Infrastructure and
Project Management Group at the United Nations
Office for Project Services in Copenhagen, Denmark.
T
Look for three traits to determine who
has the potential to take charge.
BY RICARDO VIANA VARGAS, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, PMP
HOW TO
IDENTIFY
LEADERS
There is no science in the world that will identify
leaders in your team. There is, however, a pattern
of behavior you can recognize that will increase
your chances of finding a person who can moti-
vate, inspire and lead.
I do not believe one size fits all, but the
following three general pillars help me iden-
tify leadership:
1. COMMITMENT
People with exceptional levels of commitment strive
to push the envelope, surpass their own boundaries
and motivate others. I believe it’s impossible to be a
true leader by working 9 to 5. Think about the people
you admire the most and why. Be it a project man-
ager, an actor, a musician or an athlete, they are all
committed to what they do and all go the extra mile.
2. PERSONAL DRIVE
People with a clear professional objective not only
get the job done, they also inspire and lead the
group to follow suit. Their drive is not limited: They
have personal and professional goals that move
them forward, and they bring the team with them.
How did Usain Bolt beat the 100-meter Olympic
record in 2012? It was his drive.
3. TRUST
If people see you as honest, reliable and trustwor-
thy, you will motivate them to follow. If what you
are saying and doing does not come from an honest
place, it will be hard to inspire others and have
them recognize your leadership.
I have been able to trust these pillars to help
identify key players in my team. For example,
when I first met one of the managers currently
on my team, she was working for an office that
had rejected a technical component of one
of my proposed projects. She was assigned to
discuss the case with me. I did not agree with
the reasons behind the rejection, but she was
so assertive and committed to her decision that
I understood I was dealing with someone with
strong leadership skills. She had a sense of pur-
pose and drive, and I trusted her judgment.
Of course, sometimes your instincts might be
wrong. A trait that has tricked me in the past
is charisma. Being nice, popular or likable does
not make you a leader. If you are charismatic
but fail to set direction, the team will not be
inspired. Confusing charisma with leadership is
especially tricky in the interview process. I was
recently looking for a manager to lead a work
stream. One candidate seemed a perfect match,
but as soon as he joined the team and I saw him
in action, I realized we had made a mistake.
His charisma did not translate to commitment,
drive and trust.
Leaders inspire people to follow in their foot-
steps. Project managers need to understand the
type of team they are managing and look for the
proper leadership to inspire them. PM
Leadership
25. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 23
can assess and implement an appropriate redoing
of the project plan.
DON’T SHY AWAY
If there is to be unhappy or unpleasant news, it’s
always best for sponsors to hear it directly from
the project manager rather than through another
stakeholder. Giving the sponsors the details up
front allows them
to reflect and ready
themselves before
responding; it pro-
vides a chance to act,
rather than react.
When bad news
rears its ugly head,
think about the ad-
age of “forewarned
is fore-armed.” Or
consider a quote
from the late (and
amazing) Randy
Pausch in The Last
Lecture: “One thing
that makes it possible
to be an optimist is if
you have a contin-
gency plan for when
all hell breaks loose.
There are a lot of
things I don’t worry
about, because I have
a plan in place if
they do.” PM
B
Sheilina Somani, RPP, FAPM, PMP, is the owner
of the U.K.-based consultancy Positively Project
Management, a senior project manager, a speaker
and a mentor.
MANAGING Relationships
Project managers and sponsors must work
together to limit damage from unwanted surprises.
BY SHEILINA SOMANI, RPP, FAPM, PMP, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
PREPARE FOR THE WORST
Bad things can happen on any project: Your major
stakeholders fail to respond to project queries in
a timely manner; a solution doesn’t appear to be
shaping up as you’d anticipated; a major decision
maker suddenly leaves the organization; suppli-
ers are delivering late or substandard equipment,
materials or products. In all these cases and more,
the project manager can be burdened with a sense
of dread or futility.
But inaction is rarely an option. The project
manager has to instead find a way to respond amid
pressure or threats. Dynamic project managers are
proactive when bad news hits. They aim to take
the swiftest route to get the project back on track.
Seeking counsel, testing project assumptions and
pre-empting escalation by engaging senior stake-
holders are all key to success.
Standard practices to achieve this level of open-
ness and trust include:
n Honest planning and accurate forecasting
n Informal, often unplanned, 5- to 10-minute
ad hoc catch-up sessions with stakeholders
n Communicating potential concerns early
❍ If the concern becomes an issue, it can be
readily escalated.
❍ If the concern dissipates, no one is affected.
n Ownership of the issue and presentation
of practical solutions
n Stepping back from emotion to assess multiple
perspectives
n Focusing on business benefits and
project objectives
n Remaining outcome-oriented and positive
n Seeking guidance to confirm appropriate solutions
Forging positive communication channels (both
formal and informal) with sponsors helps actively
manage impending crises, and the project manager
26. 24 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
Q
SELF HELP
out on other sessions. The speaker likely will be
wandering around afterward with no one crowd-
ing around him or her. Take that opportunity to
introduce yourself, congratulate him or her on
the presentation and ask your quick question.
PMI events are also about learning through oth-
ers. Networking doesn’t have to be about making
long-term connections or winning business. Here
are pointers on how to get more out of networking
at events:
n Think about questions to ask project manage-
ment vendors. Sure, you want to know more
about their product or service, but you will get
so much more out of the conversation if you can
relate what they do to your current challenges
at work.
n Ask about their views on the project manage-
ment marketplace today. This will give you some
great insights. Also find out what other events
they exhibit at and which ones are good for
them and why. This will give you other options
for future events to attend.
n Make the most of lunch breaks and excursions to
meet your peers. The best advice I ever received
about networking is be yourself, ask questions
and listen. It’s relatively easy to start conversa-
tions at events because you have project man-
agement and the event in common.
Q: I’m attending a few PMI
events this year. How can I get
the most out of them?
A: Attending these types of project
management events can be useful
in your career development. It’s not
just an opportunity to learn through presentations
and seminars but also a chance to brush up on your
networking skills, learn about new products and ser-
vices from project management firms, find out what
peers are working on and reflect.
With a small amount of planning, you can
come away with knowledge that sticks. Here are a
few pointers:
n For larger events like a PMI global congress, plan
what you want to see and listen to. Find out
where all these sessions are so you can arrive
with plenty of time.
n Network while you wait for the presentation to
start. Ask peers in neighboring seats how the
event is going for them.
n Take notes on the presentation regardless of
how well you think you know a subject. Con-
sider using a smartphone or tablet. Imagine
you’re writing an article on the presentation.
With this in mind, your notes will be more
useful for reading later.
n Capture your thoughts throughout the presenta-
tion. Each talk should make you think about
your current work or where you want to be
in the future. I use a light bulb symbol next to
these points so I can easily find them later.
n Don’t join the queue to talk to the speaker
straight after the presentation. You might miss
CAREER Q&A
To advance on your career path, seek out
the right knowledge and connections.
BY LINDSAY SCOTT
Consider
Your Career
Don’t travel down
your career path
alone. Find advice
and direction here.
Send job questions
to pmnetwork@
imaginepub.com.
27. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 25
Lindsay Scott is the director of program and
project management recruitment at Arras People
in London, England.
n If you don’t have business cards from your orga-
nization, consider having inexpensive ones made
up yourself. Alternatively, use the LinkedIn app
on your smartphone to make an instant connec-
tion to the person you’re talking with.
n Go further with LinkedIn and categorize your
connections into how and where you met. This
is a useful feature that allows you to adopt some
customer relationship management principles to
manage your connections going forward.
An event is just as valuable as any training course
because you ultimately learn a lot about yourself
too. Time away at events gives you time for reflec-
tion, not just on current work challenges but also
about where your career is heading or where you’d
like it to be heading.
Q: I want to have more control over what pro-
fessional courses I attend rather than just tak-
ing direction from my manager. How can I go
about this?
A: As a project manager, you should feel comfort-
able putting together a case for certain types of
development options that will benefit both you and
the organization.
The business case should cover the three main
areas of development for project managers: techni-
cal (tools, techniques, processes, methods-based
training), behavioral (communications, relation-
ships, leadership) and organizational (financial,
commercial, strategy). For a strong business case,
consider the benefits, value or any other positive
return for the organization for each development
option you’re proposing.
A strong case will include development that clearly
addresses some of your weaker areas, so it is impera-
tive that you undertake an competency assessment
such as the PMI Project Manager Competency
Development Framework. Referencing an industry
standard in your proposal will strengthen your case.
Also include development options that don’t
cost your firm much time or money, if possible.
For example, breakfast seminars or online training
courses require time more than anything else.
Q: In interviews, my mind goes blank while I
think about how to answer a question. Is there a
tried-and-true method to overcome this?
A: To gain more control in interviews, you need to
create a system for remembering everything you
planned for during the actual interview.
Think of five or six really good stories from your
career so far. When I say “story,” I mean something
worth telling that has a beginning, middle and end.
For example, how you managed to turn a nega-
tive stakeholder into one of the biggest champions
of the project, or how you saved your customer
money because of a certain action.
Write down each example, then categorize the
story. Think about the elements that make up the
story: What components of project management
does it include? Does it highlight leadership or
managing others? What behavioral skills were
needed? What business acumen does it show?
You should end up with a good example to share
regardless of the question you receive. Then re-
search mnemonic devices that will help you recall
those examples. PM
Time away at
events gives
you time for
reflection,
not just on
current work
challenges
but also
about where
your career
is heading or
where you’d
like it to be
heading.
28. 26 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
THE BUSINESS of Projects
W
Gary R. Heerkens, MBA, CBM, PMP, president of
Management Solutions Group Inc., is a consultant,
trainer, speaker, and author and has 25 years of
project management experience. His latest book is
The Business-Savvy Project Manager.
When the time comes for organizations to iden-
tify new project opportunities, many tend to start
with the solution rather than the problem, need or
opportunity.
Quite a few organizations, for example, engage
in the practice of soliciting responses from various
people to this question—typically posed as budgets
for the next year are being drafted: “What projects
do you think we should pursue next year?” Even
worse, they ask: “What projects would you like to
work on next year?”
This approach tends to produce a list of
projects that people in the organization want
to work on rather than projects that they need
to work on. This, in turn, can lead to significant
waste. Time and money are spent investigating
projects that might solve problems but are not
financially justifiable—because the problem was
not really important, or a cost-effective solution
cannot be identified.
To prevent this, it’s vital to first quantify the
potential benefits stream of any particular proj-
ect’s effort.
START WITH BENEFITS
The chief objective of projects is to address the
strategic and operational needs of the firm. When-
ever needs are met, benefits will result. That’s why
it’s such a logical starting point.
Many organizations, however, do not think
about articulating and quantifying benefits until
they have identified specific projects. Although I’m
speculating, I believe that what they are thinking is:
“Now that we have specified an action (a proposed
project), we can begin building a case for the proj-
ect by listing, then estimating, the benefits it brings to
bear for our organization.”
In reality, you do not need to know the answer (a
proposed project solution) to get started; you only
need to understand how much it’s worth to your
organization to fix its problems.
LIST PROBLEMS, NOT PROJECTS
Although the temptation is to put together a list of
projects to work on next year, I would suggest that you
start by preparing a list of issues facing the organization.
Once the list has been prepared, go back through it,
item by item, asking the following question: How much
would it be worth to us to solve this problem, address
this need, or pursue this opportunity? Construct a
multiyear cash flow model of the benefits. By doing this,
you have accomplished two things: (1) You are now able
to fully understand the economic gain in addressing
each problem; (2) You have constructed the benefits
stream, which can be used to conduct a formal financial
analysis, once a project solution has been identified
(refer to my columns from May 2010 and August 2010
for a description of the financial analysis process).
This approach also has a third, and very useful,
byproduct. By working backward through the finan-
cial analysis process, you will be able to prepare an es-
timate of how much you can afford to spend on fixing
the problem. By doing this, you limit the number of
frivolous project proposals found to be unjustifiable
after a long and costly investigation. PM
FIRST
THINGS
FIRST
Start with the problem, not the project.
BY GARY R. HEERKENS, MBA, CBM, PMP, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
29. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 27
Yael Cohen, PMP, is a freelance program
manager in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Manners Matter
How merely being polite can help your projects run more smoothly.
By Yael Cohen, PMP
Once, after attending a meeting with an external
stakeholder, I sent a thank-you email on behalf
of my team. The stakeholder immediately wrote
back, thanking me for my note and saying that if
I needed any additional information, she would
be happy to supply it. A few weeks later, when
I had another request, she remembered me and
promptly followed up.
As project managers, we
often ask for and receive in-
formation, but rarely do we
address just how important
etiquette is within our
profession. In my experi-
ence, simple politeness
goes a long way toward
creating cordial dealings
with stakeholders and team
members—which also
helps projects run better.
Here are four key ways to
incorporate courtesy into
your projects:
Ask nicely. Using “please,”
while only an extra word,
is likely to score you extra
points. I’ve noticed I am more inclined to quickly
send requested information to courteous people
than to those who have been rude to me.
Be thankful. Even if you know you’re entitled to
the information, you should still be appreciative
of the person who provided it. Saying “thank you”
will make you stand out from others who don’t use
common courtesies.
Be respectful. Ignoring requests is not justifi-
able, even if deadlines are tight and you’re jug-
gling competing priorities. If you’re not mindful
of someone else’s time, others are likely to follow
suit. I’ve had team members ask why they have to
attend other groups’ meetings when people from
those groups don’t attend my team’s meetings. But
I still encourage my team members to attend in the
hopes that their respectful behavior will eventually
rub off on others.
Offer praise. Acknowl-
edge when you see or
hear politeness from
your team members. And
always try to end a meet-
ing on a praiseworthy
note. This can be difficult,
but even if the project is
going poorly there may
be an opportunity to
praise your team for con-
tinuing to work hard.
Being courteous can create
a commonality among
stakeholders in disparate
disciplines. In project
circles, sometimes the
functional and technical teams struggle to communi-
cate, but “please” and “thank you” are universal terms
that transcend this struggle. They can even help ease
tension within the team.
No matter where you are in your career or in
a project, it is never too late to employ etiquette
and cultivate a respectful and courteous envi-
ronment. PM
VOICES In theTrenches
In my
experience,
simple
politeness
goes a long
way toward
creating cordial
dealings with
stakeholders
and team
members—
which also
helps projects
run better.
ILLUSTRATIONBYJAMESSTEINBERG/WWW.THEISPOT.COM
30. 28 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
VOICES In theTrenches
Taking
MeasuresHow to assess your organization’s agility
transformation program.
By Mustafa Dülgerler, PMP
Organizations are spending significant amounts
of time and money trying to improve their agility.
But if project practitioners don’t properly mea-
sure the results of these transformation programs,
they’ll never know whether or not they succeeded.
Agility is the ability of an organization to sense
change in its environment and respond quickly
and appropriately, according to PMI’s Pulse of the
Profession®: Capturing the Value of Project Man-
agement Through Organizational Agility. Because
changes around us never stop, project managers
have to closely monitor organizational agility pro-
grams. The measurement process can be broken
down into to three phases—before the agility
transformation program, during it and after. A
number of quantitative and qualitative measure-
ments can be used, in addition to the ones specific
to your industry:
Quantitative Methods
Return on agility ratios. These are ratios of the
after-agile to before-agile conditions. Examples
include how product delivery time, IT expenses
and operational expenses changed as a result of
the agility program.
Key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs to
measure agility progress could include num-
ber of units sold, length of production cycle or
number of people trained. The best practice is
to rank KPIs from different dimensions, such as
priority and criticality.
In the decision-making process, the KPIs can be
evaluated individually. However, it is better to con-
sider them in correlation with the other KPIs. For
instance, an organization could look at whether
employees who’ve undergone the training actually
sell more units.
Organizations should never consider the
selected KPIs as a static list, because business
requirements, customer demands and more will
change over time. Hence, the chosen KPIs should
be reviewed regularly to ensure their validity, pri-
ority and necessity. In some cases, additional KPIs
will need to be introduced.
Balanced scorecard (BSC). A BSC can measure
performance from four angles: customer, finan-
cial, internal business processes, and learning and
31. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 29
Mustafa Dülgerler, PMP, is senior enterprise
architect at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
growth. Using a BSC to identify the gaps in the
current organizational processes and improving
them will enhance the speed of achieving organi-
zational strategies, and also improve the level of
organizational agility.
Qualitative Methods
Two main qualitative methods can measure the
adoption of the new agile culture in an organization:
Interviews. These can generate both breadth
and depth of information about a topic. They can
lead to better understanding and rapport with
the interviewees in comparison to other methods
such as questionnaires. Because the interviews are
dynamic, interviewees can further clarify if the
question is unclear to them; similarly, the inter-
viewer can ask further questions to better under-
stand the interviewee’s feedback.
However, this method may fail to overcome
the issue of bias. Interviewees may not want
to reveal what they actually think about the
change. Defining the target audience for inter-
views is also generally a challenge, as interview-
ing the entire organization is expensive and
time-consuming. Therefore, the right audience
should be selected, and it should include the key
decision-makers and employees.
Surveys and questionnaires. These techniques
will help you access and get feedback from a
larger audience, but they require a deeper analy-
sis to formulate questions, which must be as
precise as possible.
Project managers have a great responsibility to
manage agility transformations successfully, and
this is only possible with right monitoring and
controlling tools and techniques. Only by properly
measuring can we bring our organizations to a
stage where they not only adopt change, but also
drive change. PM
Project managers have a great
responsibility to manage agility
transformations successfully,
and this is only possible with
right monitoring and controlling
tools and techniques.
Share Your
Thoughts
No one knows project
management better
than you, the practitio-
ners “in the trenches.”
So every month, PM
Network shares your
opinions on everything
from sustainability to
talent management,
and all project topics in
between. If you’re inter-
ested in contributing,
email pmnetwork@
imaginepub.com.
32. 2015 PMO
OF THE YEAR
AWARD
WINNER
Mission
Accomp
From left to right: Bill Hills, CIO;
Kristin Earley, PMP, assistant vice
president, PMO; Anthony Gallardy,
deputy CIO; Justin Brooks, assistant
vice president, IT performance and
optimization; Cindy Moore, vice
president, PMO
33. lished
The world’s largest credit union launched a PMO to bring order
to its IT portfolio—and gave U.S. military members better
access to their money, from anywhere in the world.
BY JEREMY GANTZ
PORTRAITS BY BRAD HOWELL
34. 32 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
U.S. military members need convenient and reliable access to financial services. With
256 branches near military bases around the world, Navy Federal Credit Union aims to
make it easier for its members to manage their money—wherever their next assignment
might take them.
With the proliferation of mobile technologies and a fast-growing membership, the orga-
nization knew it had to invest in IT projects to meet members’ evolving needs. In order to
do so, it had to upgrade how projects were managed.
“We needed to be able to handle more complex projects,” says Bill Hills, CIO, Navy Fed-
eral Credit Union, Vienna, Virginia, USA. “And we needed to be able to deliver them with a
frequency and consistency that inspired ongoing confidence that we would get products out
the door when our business and members needed them.”
But that was going to take some work.
BOOT CAMP
Navy Federal had no clear method for prioritizing projects or ensuring they were in sync
with strategy. Project execution processes were decentralized and ad hoc. Delivery metrics
weren’t being tracked. Doomed projects lingered, with no one willing to hit the kill switch.
Whether they’re
deployedoverseas
or training close
to home,
35. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 33
So in 2010, Navy Federal began developing a team of project practitioners that could
advocate for standardized, centralized project delivery, as well as strategic alignment
practices. In 2014, the IT department launched its project management office (PMO).
From boosting on-time deliveries to delivering more projects according to plan, the
PMO has transformed Navy Federal’s project environment. Its staff—which has grown
to 120 practitioners from just five in 2010—has spearheaded change while the portfolio
reached US$205 million in 2015.
“With its integrated capabilities of project management, analysis and planning, the
PMO really enables us to deliver on time, very precisely, on a regular basis,” Mr. Hills
says. The PMO’s expertise is “just critical in the information age for financial institutions.”
Yet, not everyone initially saw it that way. When the PMO was formed, the team
had to work to avoid the perception that it was a documentation engine or a need-
less bureaucracy.
“Throughout our journey, we’ve certainly faced some challenges in terms of buy-in and
acceptance of project management,” says Kristin Earley, PMP, assistant vice president of
the PMO. “We started with small wins. We had to highlight the demonstrated value that
we brought in terms of consistent, repeatable delivery of projects.”
“We needed to be able
to handle more complex
projects, and we needed
to be able to deliver them
with a frequency and
consistency that inspired
ongoing confidence.”
—Bill Hills, Navy Federal Credit Union
PHOTOCOURTESYOFNAVYFEDERALCREDITUNION
36. 34 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
FALL IN LINE
From its inception, the PMO’s mission has encompassed more than just project and program
delivery optimization. The PMO also provides reporting and data to drive decisions and
trade-offs across multiple portfolios, including the enterprise strategic portfolio. PMO leaders
are part of the project prioritization team, which feeds into the IT governance and strategic
planning committees. Together, they translate the organization’s five-year strategic plan into
the optimal IT portfolio. The prioritization team sets the IT project agenda annually, oversees
portfolio analysis and meets biweekly to approve scope changes.
The PMO’s ongoing monitoring of projects’ health, emerging risks and benefits realization
has a direct line to senior management.
“Once a project’s been activated, we work with our business partners to help understand
what the benefits are. We track cost, quality and schedule to understand how the project is
keeping pace when different benefits and values were supposed to be delivered,” says Cindy
Moore, vice president of the PMO. “And then we report on those outcomes to the two govern-
ing bodies.”
The process also helps build buy-in across the enterprise. Business unit heads now under-
stand all projects must flow out of strategy to be approved.
“Every project has been approved from a cross-organizational representation of executive
management,” Ms. Moore says. “Every business unit has a project on our list of corporate pri-
orities. So they all have a vested interest in the success of the projects.”
The PMO also enables flexibility in the portfolio. In the IT world, new compliance concerns
and technologies emerge all the time. It’s the PMO’s job to figure out whether teams have the
ability to handle new requirements—and help the organization make tough decisions.
“Every project has been approved
from a cross-organizational
representation of executive
management. Every business unit
has a project on our list of corporate
priorities.”
—Cindy Moore, Navy Federal Credit Union
37. DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 35
“We evaluate [requirements] from a skills perspective, a resource perspective and a capacity
perspective,” Ms. Moore says. “And then we bring that analysis back to the project prioritization
team so that they can make an evaluation and consider it in the context of the other projects.”
RISE FROM THE RANKS
Navy Federal’s membership has skyrocketed from 3.4 million in 2009 to 5.8 million members in
2015. And the IT portfolio has followed suit, growing from about 20 projects in 2010 to more
than 150 today. PMO leaders know successful execution in such a dynamic environment takes
mature project management practices and processes, as well as a keen understanding of each
project’s business value.
“The PMO has helped improve project performance specifically around consistent, repeatable
delivery,” says Ms. Earley. “Previously we had a lot of challenges with bringing the right people
together on the projects, understanding which processes we needed to follow and not having a
clear understanding of the business objectives.”
PMO leaders rely on standardized processes drawn from PMI’s A Guide to the Project Man-
agement Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). And to ensure the PMO’s team of practitioners
has the right skills, the PMO built a four-step career ladder that either recommends or requires
PMI credentials at each stage.
“More than 95 percent of our team has PMI credentials,” Ms. Earley says. “That reduces the
need to focus on how we deliver the projects, and lets us concentrate on the value that the
project will deliver.”
With a common project planning and execution vocabulary in place, the PMO ramped up
From the
Ground Up
2010
Assets: US$39.6 billion
Membership: 3.4 million
Projects in portfolio: 20
Project staff: 5
2015
Assets: US$71 billion
Membership: 5.8 million
Projects in portfolio: 153
Project staff: 120
38. 36 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
its monitoring efforts to increase accountability. It rolled out a reporting framework with
weekly, monthly and quarterly updates designed to keep projects on track.
From a monitoring and controlling perspective, “the project management group has
really become the backbone,” Ms. Earley says. “What we’ve seen is very open dialogue with
our business partners. This helps us address issues as they surface so that we can get ahead
of them before they impact project schedules, budgets or different factors.”
The effort is paying off. In 2014 and 2015, 95 percent of projects had a green status, with
the proportion of red-status projects tumbling to just 1 percent of the portfolio—a drop
of 65 percent from 2014 to 2015. Reflecting the PMO’s thorough resource and estimation
management efforts, the percentage of projects that closed according to plan jumped from
55 percent in 2014 to 88 percent in 2015.
SPECIAL OPS
Even with a push to standardization, the Navy Federal PMO understands not all projects
are alike—and some may benefit from less traditional delivery methods.
“The PMO started with a one-size fits all approach to project delivery. We realized this
really wasn’t the most effective way to work with our business partners to deliver value
frequently throughout the project life cycle,” Ms. Earley says. “We’ve since tailored our
delivery practices to introduce both agile and incremental delivery practices, and that’s
really helped us improve our delivery within the portfolio.”
The PMO relied on alternative delivery approaches for 35 percent of the entire project
portfolio, which is a key driver to the 200 deployments slated to close by the end of 2015.
PMO leaders aim to increase that figure in coming years.
Other areas of focus going forward include a skills inventory initiative to help improve
talent management, and a more robust focus on benefits tracking and delivery.
Mr. Hills, the PMO’s sponsor, says he’s most proud of how staff across Navy Federal
accept the PMO as an integral part of the organization and rely on its capabilities.
“Time and time again, this organization has demonstrated its value, to the point where
people are asking for the PMO. They will not start projects unless there’s somebody from
the PMO actively engaged in the delivery of their project.” PM
Navy Federal’s IT projects included
mobile applications, debit-card usage and
access at branches around the world.
Reflecting the PMO’s
thorough resource
and estimation
management efforts,
the percentage of
projects that closed
according to plan
jumped from 55
percent in 2014 to
88%in 2015.
39. Lights, Camera,
Action!
Check out behind-the-
scenes videos of this
year’s PMO of the Year
winner and finalists on
PMI’s YouTube channel.
Call for Awards
Nominations
Honor project and PMO
excellence in 2016. Visit
PMI.org/Awards
Instant Handoff
A major win for both Navy Federal Credit Union
and its project management office was the
worldwide release in 2014 of an instant access
debit card. Navy Federal customers can walk out
of their local branch with a debit card in hand—
no need to wait for it to arrive in the mail.
“This was a huge benefit to our members,
those who are being deployed and those who
have already been deployed,” says Kristin
Earley, PMP, Navy Federal Credit Union. “They
were able to get these cards at the times they
needed them.”
But before the new system could go live, the
PMO had to reach deep into its toolbox.The
project called for introducing new hardware at
more than 250 Navy Federal branches world-
wide and training over 3,000 branch employ-
ees on its use. Rather than dive straight in and
risk glitches on launch day, the PMO’s project
lead opted for a different approach.
“We had a pilot that deployed the system
to only nine branches so that we mitigated
the risks before we sent it out to all of the
branches,” Ms. Earley says. “This allowed
us to address issues with the [branch]
integration and rollout activities.”
With lessons learned from the pilot
phase in hand, the PMO supported the six-
month full deployment phase, acting as the
glue that brought vendors and business units
together. That took some serious collabora-
tion and communication.
“We had stakeholders across the world,”
Ms. Earley says. “We needed to get them the
right information at the right time so they
were prepared not only to train their staffs,
but also to receive everything necessary for
the deployment to be successful.”
Standardized processes, a detailed organi-
zational change management plan and clearly
communicated business requirements all
helped keep logistical, technical and training
activities on schedule.
Since the project was completed in Decem-
ber 2014, over 1 million cards have been issued
around the world. And the benefits are clear:
Members receiving instantly issued cards at
branches tend to use them five days faster—
and seven times more often in a month, says
Cindy Moore, vice president of the PMO.
“There have been some solid business
benefits. We like to think of the project as a
strategic differentiator.”
“This organization
has demonstrated
its value to the
point where
people are asking
for the PMO. They
will not start
projects unless
there’s somebody
from the PMO
actively engaged
in the delivery of
their project.”
—Bill Hills
DECEMBER 2015 PM NETWORK 37
PHOTOSCOURTESYOFNAVYFEDERALCREDITUNION
40. 38 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
The world changes fast, and so must organizations. To ensure projects and programs
remain strategically aligned and on track to deliver the right benefits at the right time,
organizations turn to portfolio management. For this 24-page special section, portfolio
management professionals from around the world explain why what they do is indispensable
and how best practices are evolving. Because in an age of volatility, nothing is static.
Universal
Picture
ILLUSTRATIONBYJAMESSTEINBERG
Bird’s Eye View
In this roundtable,
four practitioners
discuss how portfolio
management fuels
business results.
By Matt Alderton
Taking the Lead
It’s no secret: Portfolio
management enables
organizations to
strategically align
projects and programs
and deliver value.
By Donovan Burba
Ready for
Volatility
To navigate
a turbulent
marketplace,
organizations must
master portfolio
management.
By Sarah Fister Gale
Agile
Command
Portfolio managers
can nurture—and
hasten—agility
as organizations
transition to a new
framework.
By Steve Butler
Change
From the Top
When the portfolio
has to rapidly
evolve, there’s
no substitute for
C-suite support.
By Vidyadhar Kusur
40 48 50 58 60
42. 40 PM NETWORK DECEMBER 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
O
rganizations looking to improve their overall
performance are working to mature their
portfolio management practices—and the
investments are paying off. According to
PMI’s 2015 Pulse of the Profession®: Captur-
ing the Value of Project Management report, 35 percent of
high-performing organizations have high portfolio management
maturity, compared to just 8 percent of low-performing orga-
nizations. Likewise, 76 percent of projects executed with a high
level of portfolio management maturity are successful, compared
to 56 percent of projects executed without.
But how exactly does portfolio management deliver business
results? How do portfolio managers ensure strategic alignment
of projects and programs, and balance the need for innovation
with the organization’s risk appetite? And how are portfolio
Bird’s
Eye View
In this roundtable, four
practitioners discuss how
portfolio management
fuels business results.
BY MATT ALDERTON
