Even consultancies can learn from the discipline of project
management. Donnie MacNicol and Martin O’Neill explain
how they developed a professional project approach at Watson
Wyatt (now Willis Towers Watson) to boost performance.
CGS serves as a trusted partner, enabling some of the world's largest global enterprises with their technology rollouts, process adoption and culture transformations. We help clients to Inspire, Collaborate, Empower and Deliver.
PMO of the Year Award 2011 eBook, profiling Dell's HCLS, and the PMOs of all three finalists (34 pages). Presented by PM Solutions and PMO CoP, the award salutes a Project Management Office that has demonstrated excellence and innovation in developing and maturing an organizational structure to support the effective management of projects.
Business Agility: Accelerating Business Innovation & TransformationCory Smith
Business Agility focuses on finding holistic
solutions to complex business problems; linking innovation
and transformation to outcomes the business cares about and
creating a rich picture of the problem(s) to be solved,
collaboratively.
CGS serves as a trusted partner, enabling some of the world's largest global enterprises with their technology rollouts, process adoption and culture transformations. We help clients to Inspire, Collaborate, Empower and Deliver.
PMO of the Year Award 2011 eBook, profiling Dell's HCLS, and the PMOs of all three finalists (34 pages). Presented by PM Solutions and PMO CoP, the award salutes a Project Management Office that has demonstrated excellence and innovation in developing and maturing an organizational structure to support the effective management of projects.
Business Agility: Accelerating Business Innovation & TransformationCory Smith
Business Agility focuses on finding holistic
solutions to complex business problems; linking innovation
and transformation to outcomes the business cares about and
creating a rich picture of the problem(s) to be solved,
collaboratively.
With our PMP® training and certification, which is a globally-recognized credential in project management, you will have the technical know-how to apply proven principles that will not only ensure the success of a project but also how to overcome tough challenges.
Viewing projects as a business tool changes how you go about them and what you expect as results. It can dramatically increase the value, results and levels of success.
It requires taking a different perspective—a business perspective and ignoring many of the project-based myths.
If there is one simple step you can take to improve project performance it is this—see projects as a business tool to be directed, controlled and managed by the business. It really is that simple.
FuturePMO 2017 - Peter Taylor, The Lazy Project Manager - How to Get Fired at...Wellingtone
Leading executives, it seems, sometimes do too little about strategy implementation, do not apply the appropriate level of attention to such critical organisational change, and often relegate sponsorship and leadership to lower management; whilst they get on with their ‘day jobs’.
This is further stressed but the fact that many organisations are facing rapidly changing and disruptive times, with an urgent need for each strategic decision to be based on fact and not hope.
This presentation will explore this challenge, and consider the ways that a strategic PMO can influence this project success, be the custodians of strategic change, and perhaps keep those C-Level executives gainfully employed.
All the above is based on Peter Taylor’s new and excitingly challenging book – How to Get Fired at the C-Level.
How to Successfully Manage High Risk, High Reward Learning Projects!Tatainteractive1
http://tatainteractive.com/ - Tata Interactive Systems provides more detail on best practices that help you learn how to manage projects which involves high risk and making it high rewarding initiative at the same time. Any initiative that starts out with a limited timeline automatically increases the risk of achieving a successful outcome. Learn more on how you can manage your valuable projects!
This Toolkit was created by ex-McKinsey, Deloitte and BCG Management Consultants after more than 3,000 hours of work. It shares our combined 100+ years of experience advising executive teams around the world. It includes all the Frameworks, Best Practices & Templates required to successfully implement an operating model and organization design initiative, and make your strategy happen.
Complete Business Frameworks Toolkit - Strategy, Marketing, Operations, Consu...Flevy.com Best Practices
Download this primer now from slideshare.
Full version here:
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/complete-consulting-frameworks-toolkit-644
This is a very comprehensive document with over 350+ slides--covering 51 common management consulting frameworks and methodologies (listed below in alphabetical order). A detailed summary is provided for each business framework. The frameworks in this deck span across Corporate Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Organization, Change Management, and Finance.
These frameworks and templates are the same used by top tier consulting firms. With this comprehensive document in your back pocket, you can find a way to address just about any problem that can arise in your organization.
The level of detail varies by framework, depending on the nature of the management model. Examples, templates, and case studies are provided.
FULL LIST OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FRAMEWORKS & METHODOLOGIES:
1. ABC Analysis
2. Adoption Cycle ( Consumer Adoption Curve)
3. Ansoff Market Strategies
4. Balanced Scorecard
5. BCG Growth-Share Matrix
6. Benchmarking
7. Blue Ocean Strategy
8. Break-even Analysis
9. Business Unit Profitability
10. Economics of Scale
11. Environmental Analysis
12. Experience Curve
13. Cluster Analysis
14. Company & Competitor Analysis
15. Consumer Decision Journey ( McKinsey Consumer Decision Journey)
16. Core Competence Analysis
17. Cost Structure Analysis
18. Customer Experience
19. Customer Satisfaction Analysis
20. Customer Value Proposition
21. Fiaccabrino Selection Process
22. Financial Ratios Analysis
23. Gap Analysis
24. Industry Attractiveness & Business Strength Assessment
25. Key Purchase Criteria
26. Key Success Factors (KSF)
27. Market Sizing & Share
28. McKinsey 7-S
29. Net Present Value
30. PEST Analysis
31. Porter Competition Strategies
32. Porter's Five Forces
33. Portfolio Strategies
34. Price Elasticity
35. Product Life Cycle
36. Product Substitution
37. Relative Cost Positioning
38. Rogers' Five Factors
39. Scenario Techniques
40. Scoring Models
41. Segment Attractiveness
42. Segmentation & Targeting
43. Six Thinking Hats
44. Stakeholder Analysis
45. Strengths & Weaknesses Analysis
46. Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP)
47. SWOT Analysis
48. SWOT Strategies
49. Treacy / Wiersema Market Positioning
50. Value Chain Analysis
51. Venkat Matrix
Lessons learned launching and scaling capability management november 2020Steven Forth
Lessons learned in launching and scaling capability management projects. Big bang or start small. One large model or many linked models. The roles of leadership. Delivering value to employees first.
This is a vocational, hands-on training that is rarely seen in the Middle East. Participants spend 2 days full of role playing and hands on practice. They get exposed to sales situations, call on customers, do needs analysis, present their solutions and finally get their customer commitment to close the sale.
A short overview of how Gordon & McCallum helps Market Research agencies improve their research offer and grow more profitably. It covers help with designing and implementing unique, cut-through research solutions; support to improve business and sales focus and our approach to developing more effective and productive research organizations.
Why outsource at all, why Scrum and how to find a perfect candidate to do the job?
What are the advantages of reading the e-book?
#Better understanding of basic Scrum, Agile and outsourcing method,
#Understanding of the importance of group work and consequences of that approach,
#Understanding of business value that comes with getting project done in Scrum,
#Better understanding and need of preparedness for making a project in Scrum.
This is a sample of a strategic planning session to align your PMO with your organizations strategic goals. I have purposely left out some of the content so that you can contact me directly for more information or to use this content for your own organization. Although some content is missing, this does provide you with a broad view of how to do planning in your own organization.
With our PMP® training and certification, which is a globally-recognized credential in project management, you will have the technical know-how to apply proven principles that will not only ensure the success of a project but also how to overcome tough challenges.
Viewing projects as a business tool changes how you go about them and what you expect as results. It can dramatically increase the value, results and levels of success.
It requires taking a different perspective—a business perspective and ignoring many of the project-based myths.
If there is one simple step you can take to improve project performance it is this—see projects as a business tool to be directed, controlled and managed by the business. It really is that simple.
FuturePMO 2017 - Peter Taylor, The Lazy Project Manager - How to Get Fired at...Wellingtone
Leading executives, it seems, sometimes do too little about strategy implementation, do not apply the appropriate level of attention to such critical organisational change, and often relegate sponsorship and leadership to lower management; whilst they get on with their ‘day jobs’.
This is further stressed but the fact that many organisations are facing rapidly changing and disruptive times, with an urgent need for each strategic decision to be based on fact and not hope.
This presentation will explore this challenge, and consider the ways that a strategic PMO can influence this project success, be the custodians of strategic change, and perhaps keep those C-Level executives gainfully employed.
All the above is based on Peter Taylor’s new and excitingly challenging book – How to Get Fired at the C-Level.
How to Successfully Manage High Risk, High Reward Learning Projects!Tatainteractive1
http://tatainteractive.com/ - Tata Interactive Systems provides more detail on best practices that help you learn how to manage projects which involves high risk and making it high rewarding initiative at the same time. Any initiative that starts out with a limited timeline automatically increases the risk of achieving a successful outcome. Learn more on how you can manage your valuable projects!
This Toolkit was created by ex-McKinsey, Deloitte and BCG Management Consultants after more than 3,000 hours of work. It shares our combined 100+ years of experience advising executive teams around the world. It includes all the Frameworks, Best Practices & Templates required to successfully implement an operating model and organization design initiative, and make your strategy happen.
Complete Business Frameworks Toolkit - Strategy, Marketing, Operations, Consu...Flevy.com Best Practices
Download this primer now from slideshare.
Full version here:
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/complete-consulting-frameworks-toolkit-644
This is a very comprehensive document with over 350+ slides--covering 51 common management consulting frameworks and methodologies (listed below in alphabetical order). A detailed summary is provided for each business framework. The frameworks in this deck span across Corporate Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Organization, Change Management, and Finance.
These frameworks and templates are the same used by top tier consulting firms. With this comprehensive document in your back pocket, you can find a way to address just about any problem that can arise in your organization.
The level of detail varies by framework, depending on the nature of the management model. Examples, templates, and case studies are provided.
FULL LIST OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FRAMEWORKS & METHODOLOGIES:
1. ABC Analysis
2. Adoption Cycle ( Consumer Adoption Curve)
3. Ansoff Market Strategies
4. Balanced Scorecard
5. BCG Growth-Share Matrix
6. Benchmarking
7. Blue Ocean Strategy
8. Break-even Analysis
9. Business Unit Profitability
10. Economics of Scale
11. Environmental Analysis
12. Experience Curve
13. Cluster Analysis
14. Company & Competitor Analysis
15. Consumer Decision Journey ( McKinsey Consumer Decision Journey)
16. Core Competence Analysis
17. Cost Structure Analysis
18. Customer Experience
19. Customer Satisfaction Analysis
20. Customer Value Proposition
21. Fiaccabrino Selection Process
22. Financial Ratios Analysis
23. Gap Analysis
24. Industry Attractiveness & Business Strength Assessment
25. Key Purchase Criteria
26. Key Success Factors (KSF)
27. Market Sizing & Share
28. McKinsey 7-S
29. Net Present Value
30. PEST Analysis
31. Porter Competition Strategies
32. Porter's Five Forces
33. Portfolio Strategies
34. Price Elasticity
35. Product Life Cycle
36. Product Substitution
37. Relative Cost Positioning
38. Rogers' Five Factors
39. Scenario Techniques
40. Scoring Models
41. Segment Attractiveness
42. Segmentation & Targeting
43. Six Thinking Hats
44. Stakeholder Analysis
45. Strengths & Weaknesses Analysis
46. Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP)
47. SWOT Analysis
48. SWOT Strategies
49. Treacy / Wiersema Market Positioning
50. Value Chain Analysis
51. Venkat Matrix
Lessons learned launching and scaling capability management november 2020Steven Forth
Lessons learned in launching and scaling capability management projects. Big bang or start small. One large model or many linked models. The roles of leadership. Delivering value to employees first.
This is a vocational, hands-on training that is rarely seen in the Middle East. Participants spend 2 days full of role playing and hands on practice. They get exposed to sales situations, call on customers, do needs analysis, present their solutions and finally get their customer commitment to close the sale.
A short overview of how Gordon & McCallum helps Market Research agencies improve their research offer and grow more profitably. It covers help with designing and implementing unique, cut-through research solutions; support to improve business and sales focus and our approach to developing more effective and productive research organizations.
Why outsource at all, why Scrum and how to find a perfect candidate to do the job?
What are the advantages of reading the e-book?
#Better understanding of basic Scrum, Agile and outsourcing method,
#Understanding of the importance of group work and consequences of that approach,
#Understanding of business value that comes with getting project done in Scrum,
#Better understanding and need of preparedness for making a project in Scrum.
This is a sample of a strategic planning session to align your PMO with your organizations strategic goals. I have purposely left out some of the content so that you can contact me directly for more information or to use this content for your own organization. Although some content is missing, this does provide you with a broad view of how to do planning in your own organization.
Client case studies: Where will your company find top talent? Look to the cloudPwC
A large entertainment, media & communications company found that its five semi-autonomous divisions each had its own vastly different talent management needs and processes, and that was a problem when it came to identifying and retaining top talent across all the operating units. Although the enterprise technically owned the core HR solution for four of the divisions, the support model was handled at the division level and did not use a Shared Services model, leading to inefficiencies and redundant efforts. The company wanted to develop standardized processes, procedures, and technologies across the divisions to create a cross-divisional view of talent focusing on operational excellence and employee engagement.
Enabling Step Change in your PPM Maturity | Wellingtone PPMWellingtone
A presentation from Wellingtone PPM; a Microsoft Gold Partner. The event at the Microsoft office in Dublin on 11th October 2018 saw delegates being shown how they can increase their PPM Maturity and leverage Microsoft Project Online to improve their project & resource management approach. Presented by Vince Hines, Managing Director and Baz Khinda, Director at Wellingtone
Pearson HND BTEC Level 5 HNDManaging a Successful Business Pr.docxAASTHA76
Pearson HND BTEC Level 5 HND
Managing a Successful Business Project (MSBP)
LO 1
[email protected]
Managing a Successful Business Project
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module you will be able to:
Establish project aims, objectives and timeframes based on the chosen theme.
Conduct small-scale research, information gathering and data collection to generate knowledge to support your project.
Present your project and communicate appropriate recommendations based on meaningful conclusions drawn from the evidence findings and/or analysis.
Reflect on the value you have gained from conducting a project and its usefulness to support sustainable organisational performance.
LO1 : Establish project aims, objectives and timeframes based on the chosen theme.
P1 - Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario.
P2 - Produce a project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality, communication, risk and resources.
P3 - Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt Chart to provide timeframes and stages for completion.
What is project management and what does it involve?
What is project management and what does it involve?
Most firms day to day operations serve customers through a network of inter connecting business processes, as business volumes change, the loading on these processes can increase or decrease (Nokes et. al. 2003) and there is often a need for some adaption in each process.
There may be a cumulative effect of many adaptions just to change of one of the processes, and as markets are subject to rapid change firms cannot afford to wait for gradual adaptions to take effect, therefore projects are required to provide a structure for making changes at a faster rate.
Nokes et al suggests that “ as markets increase and product cycles shorten the importance of projects will increase”. Projects are required to replace old and inefficient ways of doing things to methods better suited to modern market conditions.
Projects and the management of projects may be needed to tackle new problems.
Benefit of using case studies
In the aftermath of a series of acquisitions and mergers, a large financial services firm found itself attempting to operate with nearly seven hundred job titles for many similar positions due to the continued use of multiple legacy HR systems. The organization wanted to develop and implement a common set of job families and titles that could be used across the entire organization. Realizing the complexity of the task as well as a lack of internal expertise, they decided to seek external resources to carry out the work (Kaplan & Norton, 1996).
In order to begin developing a general overview of the project’s scope and cost, it is often helpful to collect information about how others have approached the same issue. This can be done through informal benchmarking efforts, consulting with colleagues.
Improving project outcomes is a continual journey for customer focused project managers and organizations alike. Improving this one key ingredient is a critical success factor.
In a competitive global economy, project managers can't survive without leaning efficient Project Management. So here’s a presentation giving an insight into the different components of project management. Discover more about Project Management and what benefits it offers, and choose understand its related concepts.
The key to successful Digital TransformationMegan Hunter
Many companies see technology as the key to delivering transformation and whilst technology plays a vital role in enabling business change, it is only one piece of the jigsaw.
Implementing transformational solutions is something most companies do once or twice a generation, and it’s like performing open heart surgery. The decision to undertake these projects is not taken lightly, and the business world is plagued by examples of implementations that haven’t delivered the desired business outcomes, are late and exceed budget.
With contributions from key Microsoft partners, including IBM, QuantiQ, PwC, Avanade, KPMG Crimsonwing, and Hitachi Solutions, this White Paper discusses the common features that differentiate the successful business transformation programmes from the failures, and why all programmes must address the following: clarity; having the right team; securing talent; selecting the right partner; adopt, not adapt; strong governance; external assurance.
Improve the quality of relationships using the iMA DiagnosticDonnie MacNicol
We are all facing new and unexpected challenges which can only be overcome by working effectively as individuals, with
others, in teams and as part of organisations. Understanding our own and other people’s strengths and working styles
and then adapting to suit will be critical to improving relationships. To help we would like to offer you the following.
Thinking differently – Introducing the concept of the energised projects orga...Donnie MacNicol
Given the stream of bad news on public and private sectors projects, we suggest that it is time for the project community to think differently. The recent shift in emphasis from failure to success paradigm is a step in the right direction but we still need to know how to create a sustainable, high-‐performing organisation that is capable of meeting APM's vision that 'all projects succeed'. We began our ' thinking differently' project by looking beyond the conventional project management literature. The notion of energy in organisations as an important and renewable resource attracted our attention. Previous research has shown that successful organisations are those that can channel the collective energy to create an organisational ' can-‐do ' climate. We have designed an energy diagnostic that will help us identify energy ' hot spots ' within organisations. These can be significant positive or negative energy states. The idea is that, with understanding, we can do more to promote positive energies and do even more to address the sources and causes of negative energies.
This short guide provides you with an insight into your own communication style and how you can use this to engage effectively with others. We then include guidance on its application in improving the performance of teams and delivery of change. www.ima-pm.co.uk
This short guide provides you with an insight into your own communication style and how you can use this to engage effectively with others. We then include guidance on its application in improving the performance of teams and delivery of change.
This short guide provides you with an insight into your own communication style and how you can use this to engage effectively with others. We then include guidance on its application in improving the performance of teams and delivery of change.
This short guide provides you with an insight into your own communication style and how you can use this to engage effectively with others. We then include guidance on its application in improving the performance of teams and delivery of change.
Adapting project management to suit personal stylesDonnie MacNicol
In this article, Donnie MacNicol and Adrian Dooley look at something that has been taken for granted for many years but may help explain why the proliferation of ‘best practice’ advice and guidance has made little impact on the success rate of projects, programmes and portfolios.
How to be a Good Project Manager - Advice from top influencers in Project Man...Donnie MacNicol
Delighted to have had the opportunity to contribute to the The Project Management Academy eBook together with 29 other great influencers. Please take time to have a flick through - they are short pieces.
The art of building a winning team - Construction Manager ArticleDonnie MacNicol
Donnie MacNicol and Keith Robinson explain how management models can help build productive relationships and manage conflicts effectively. The article can be viewed at the CM magazine site at http://www.constructionmanagermagazine.com/construction-professional/cpd-art-building-winning-team/
Also quoted in an article on Project Leadership development programmes at http://www.constructionmanagermagazine.com/agenda/cm-drops-vincis-empower-training-programme/
Implementing a Project Management approach in a multi-national - PM Today Art...Donnie MacNicol
Describes work done with NDS (prior to them becoming part of Cisco) on developing a Project Management Code of Practice and the individual leadership development of the global Project Manager community using Strengths Deployment Inventory.
Overview of developments in project management - ICE MPL ProceedingsDonnie MacNicol
Members of the Management, Procurement and Law editorial advisory panel provide overviews of their areas of expertise, highlighting recent and forthcoming developments likely to affect engineers and others working in the fields of management, procurement and law.
What is the future for Project leadership? - APM Project ArticleDonnie MacNicol
Donnie MacNicol is director of Team Animation Ltd. He is sought after for his expertise on the leadership and organisational aspects of deploying and leveraging business benefit from project, programme and portfolio management. Here he discusses some key areas of focus for project leaders.
Do we really listen to what people tell us, and do we offer an environment where people will tell the truth? Taking into account another’s perspective is essential to navigate through the communications minefields. Brenda Hales, with contributions from Donnie MacNicol, explores the complex world of words.
Project communication breakdown - APM Project ArticleDonnie MacNicol
Communication can be a dangerous word – seemingly positive and action-orientated, but potentially laden with misunderstanding if used without thinking, writes Donnie MacNicol.
Understanding success for project organisations - APM Project ArticleDonnie MacNicol
Bob Newman of Insight Consulting (pictured below) has
benchmarked data from over 1,000 in-depth stakeholder
interviews across 250 organisations worldwide. Together with Donnie MacNicol at Team Animation, he highlights what is really important to stakeholders and what project management organisations should focus on if they want to strengthen their brand.
Enactus and project management - APM Project ArticleDonnie MacNicol
Students and business leaders have come together to bring about change in some of the world’s poorest communities. Project reports on a unique initiative with professional project management at its heart. Including interviews with Jo Blundy and Donnie MacNicol.
In difficult times it is the people with leadership skills who can
engage all around them to create success; as success becomes harder to achieve so the demand for more such capable leaders inevitably grows. Brenda Hales of Team Animation discusses the phenomenon, assisted by Donnie MacNicol.
The Team Member and Guest Experience - Lead and Take Care of your restaurant team. They are the people closest to and delivering Hospitality to your paying Guests!
Make the call, and we can assist you.
408-784-7371
Foodservice Consulting + Design
The case study discusses the potential of drone delivery and the challenges that need to be addressed before it becomes widespread.
Key takeaways:
Drone delivery is in its early stages: Amazon's trial in the UK demonstrates the potential for faster deliveries, but it's still limited by regulations and technology.
Regulations are a major hurdle: Safety concerns around drone collisions with airplanes and people have led to restrictions on flight height and location.
Other challenges exist: Who will use drone delivery the most? Is it cost-effective compared to traditional delivery trucks?
Discussion questions:
Managerial challenges: Integrating drones requires planning for new infrastructure, training staff, and navigating regulations. There are also marketing and recruitment considerations specific to this technology.
External forces vary by country: Regulations, consumer acceptance, and infrastructure all differ between countries.
Demographics matter: Younger generations might be more receptive to drone delivery, while older populations might have concerns.
Stakeholders for Amazon: Customers, regulators, aviation authorities, and competitors are all stakeholders. Regulators likely hold the greatest influence as they determine the feasibility of drone delivery.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers new opportunities to radically reinvent the way we do business. This study explores how CEOs and top decision makers around the world are responding to the transformative potential of AI.
Oprah Winfrey: A Leader in Media, Philanthropy, and Empowerment | CIO Women M...CIOWomenMagazine
This person is none other than Oprah Winfrey, a highly influential figure whose impact extends beyond television. This article will delve into the remarkable life and lasting legacy of Oprah. Her story serves as a reminder of the importance of perseverance, compassion, and firm determination.
Senior Project and Engineering Leader Jim Smith.pdfJim Smith
I am a Project and Engineering Leader with extensive experience as a Business Operations Leader, Technical Project Manager, Engineering Manager and Operations Experience for Domestic and International companies such as Electrolux, Carrier, and Deutz. I have developed new products using Stage Gate development/MS Project/JIRA, for the pro-duction of Medical Equipment, Large Commercial Refrigeration Systems, Appliances, HVAC, and Diesel engines.
My experience includes:
Managed customized engineered refrigeration system projects with high voltage power panels from quote to ship, coordinating actions between electrical engineering, mechanical design and application engineering, purchasing, production, test, quality assurance and field installation. Managed projects $25k to $1M per project; 4-8 per month. (Hussmann refrigeration)
Successfully developed the $15-20M yearly corporate capital strategy for manufacturing, with the Executive Team and key stakeholders. Created project scope and specifications, business case, ROI, managed project plans with key personnel for nine consumer product manufacturing and distribution sites; to support the company’s strategic sales plan.
Over 15 years of experience managing and developing cost improvement projects with key Stakeholders, site Manufacturing Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Maintenance, and facility support personnel to optimize pro-duction operations, safety, EHS, and new product development. (BioLab, Deutz, Caire)
Experience working as a Technical Manager developing new products with chemical engineers and packaging engineers to enhance and reduce the cost of retail products. I have led the activities of multiple engineering groups with diverse backgrounds.
Great experience managing the product development of products which utilize complex electrical controls, high voltage power panels, product testing, and commissioning.
Created project scope, business case, ROI for multiple capital projects to support electrotechnical assembly and CPG goods. Identified project cost, risk, success criteria, and performed equipment qualifications. (Carrier, Electrolux, Biolab, Price, Hussmann)
Created detailed projects plans using MS Project, Gant charts in excel, and updated new product development in Jira for stakeholders and project team members including critical path.
Great knowledge of ISO9001, NFPA, OSHA regulations.
User level knowledge of MRP/SAP, MS Project, Powerpoint, Visio, Mastercontrol, JIRA, Power BI and Tableau.
I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to discussing this role with you, and how I can lead your company’s growth and profitability. I can be contacted via LinkedIn via phone or E Mail.
Jim Smith
678-993-7195
jimsmith30024@gmail.com
Senior Project and Engineering Leader Jim Smith.pdf
Embedding a project approach - APM Project Article
1. The voice of project management 15May 2008
Organisational Challenge
Embedding
a project
approachEven consultancies can learn from the discipline of project
management. Donnie MacNicol and Martin O’Neill explain
how they developed a professional project approach at Watson
Wyatt to boost performance.
PROFESSIONAL services companies have
traditionally relied on the technical competence
of their consultants to deliver value to their
customers through assignments, engagements and
commissions. But the past few years has seen ever
increasing pressure on these companies caused
by the need to: be competitive, utilise scarce top
consultant resources wisely, communicate effectively
with customers and stakeholders across the larger
work assignments now being undertaken, and
defend themselves in an increasingly litigious
environment.
Recognising that adoption of the ‘right kind’
of project management could meet these needs,
Martin O’Neill, leader of learning and development
at Watson Wyatt, Europe, invited Donnie MacNicol
of Team Animation to work with him. The aim was
to create and implement a project management
development programme that would enhance the
firm’s consultancy success.
Unwilling to stick to ‘the usual suite of training’
they explored how they would:
n develop a contextualised and pragmatic project
management framework suited to this industry,
n work in partnership with the internal project
management department to add both technical
depth and breadth,
n create inspiring learning that would encourage
consultants to take advantage of the benefits of this
new project management approach,
n reduce risks through planning and control,
n and apply learning methods not typically applied
in this kind of organisation, such as e-learning.
Watson Wyatt advises many of the world’s
leading companies on people and financial issues.
With 7,000 associates in 32 countries, it had much
to consider before embarking on this course
of action. So three years ago, O’Neill and
MacNicol pulled the case for the investment
together.
Through independent customer
satisfaction benchmarking work carried
out across their sector, it soon became
clear that, while customers valued the
technical skills of the consultants, the
perception of Watson Wyatt and their
peers was that they needed to improve
their project management. In particular,
focus was needed on cost estimating,
customer communication and relationship
management. It was also identified that
customer expectations of how projects
are delivered are rising as they increasingly
adopt project management across their own
businesses.
Also, project management
must be structured and
presented as a beneficial
enhancement to the
existing way of working,
not something else
to do as project
management can
be branded,
wrongly, as
bureaucratic.
CUTTING EDGE: Martin O’Neill
recognises that the right kind of
project management could meet
many needs.
2. 16
Organisational Challenge
The benchmarking also concluded that project
management must focus on the core business
metric of profitability (it was therefore able to be
seen by the associates as ‘a good thing to do’), and
that terminology is consistent with what is already
valued and does not pose an added hurdle.
Historically, the role of the project manager has
not been defined in professional services companies.
The role has been split between the lead consultants
and account managers or their equivalents. One reason
for this is that few projects can justify a dedicated
project manager.
During the first year, a simplified and contextualised
project management framework including a
four-staged life cycle was developed to include:
definition, planning, execution and review. Processes
were also developed, equipping the organisation to
deliver even more consistently. This has now been
adopted globally with an update on the internal
knowledge management site so project management is
now easy to access.
The approach has focused on a number of
key principles, namely: clarifying customer
objectives including assumptions etc; developing a
comprehensive scope as a basis for all cost, time and
resource planning; involving the team as much as
possible in the planning; and carrying out reviews to
learn from previous projects.
These are underpinned by the beliefs that: only
things that remain to be done can be managed,
anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and, in
projects, nothing happens unless it is made to happen.
To realise the full value of the investment,
there are a number of functions that must be
aligned to project management. Customer and
account management helps make effective project
management a foundation for successful customer
relations, while financial management links to the
company’s systems and reporting structures to
enhance both.
There is also assignment management to ensure
associates’ work on projects makes best use of their
capability and provides personal development
opportunities. Commercial management is needed
to ensure that cost estimates are structured and
presented to the customer in an appropriate
manner. Finally, quality management, carried out
through an internal program called WorkExcellence
at Watson Wyatt, focuses on doing the right things
and doing them efficiently.
Project management can also provide
considerable value when looking to improve
repetitive or commoditised work. If a sound
scoping exercise is carried out, which is then
improved on through regular reviews, then a
robust, easily contextualised plan can be created,
together with an effective way of working.
A range of learning interventions have been
developed also at Watson Wyatt, fully bespoked
to the company’s needs. The overall objective is
always to encourage a desire in associates to want to
engage with the thinking, because it adds real value
to how they conduct the customers’ projects.
E-learning is a more recent innovation, with
Historically, the
role of the project
manager has
not been defined
in professional
services
companies.
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3. The voice of project management 17May 2008
Organisational Challenge
modules designed specifically to replicate real life
scenarios. They provoke thought and challenge the
participants’ understanding of their responsibilities
and judgements in typical situations. Here, the
modules are specifically designed to highlight
Watson Wyatt’s general project management
framework and principles. Aware of the time
pressures on all participants, all of the modules are
designed in bite-sized chunks, and at the end there
is a toolkit of guidelines, checklists and refresher
tutorials for guidance, ease of access and reference.
Relationship and behaviours are as important
to the successful delivery of projects as the
more technical project management skills, and
development programmes have proved to be an
effective approach in the two programmes that have
been running for the last two years.
Firstly, Working for Profitability, provides an
in-depth classroom development workshop with a
focus on the individual and how they can influence
project success and therefore profitability. Secondly,
Managing for Profitability is an intensive workshop
for teams to work on improving their effectiveness
in the context of project delivery.
Both programmes use a case study derived from
several real projects. This enables all involved to
learn about project management and immediately
apply it in their real world. The “not invented
here” syndrome has been successfully dealt with
through this approach. Watson Wyatt employs
highly talented and educated consultants. In this
kind of culture where intellect is highly valued,
discussion and consensus is also seen as key, thus
the programmes are highly interactive.
Future plans include developing a programme
that will focus on challenging senior managers to
create the climate, culture and environment that
will maximise project success. This programme
would also introduce the concept of programme
management.
But solving real problems can also be an
excellent way of demonstrating the value of
project management thinking. Watson Wyatt and
Team Animation now run bespoke workshops
across Europe, based around materials from the
above programmes. The objective is to take a
team with an issue, problem or transition they
are facing, and work through it, using project
management as the basis of the discussion. This
enables both content and process to be addressed,
and has proven to be a powerful catalyst for
change.
This programme started out as a response to
changes in the marketplace. Given the challenging
environment now faced by professional services
companies, can they be effective without
embracing these concepts?
• Donnie MacNicol is director of Team Animation, a
consultancy for project managers, and chair of the
People Specific Interest Group and member of the Policy
Unit. Martin O’Neill is head of learning and development
for Europe at Watson Wyatt and member of the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Customer
expectations of
how projects are
deliveredarerising
astheyincreasingly
adopt project
managementacross
theirownbusiness.
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