Pmnetwork201108 DL

PM
AUGUST 2011 VOLUME 25, NUMBER 8
NETWORK
MAKING PROJECT MANAGEMENT INDISPENSABLE FOR BUSINESS RESULTS.
> Selling the

value of a PMO
> How to increase
your portfolios profit
IT success rate
on the rise
Did You
Choose
This
Career?
The phenomenon of the accidental project manager
If your team looked like this, any PPM solution would work.
Daptiv, on the other hand, is a PPM solution designed for

human beings. It is easily configured so that you can introduce powerful
new PPM capabilities when and where your organization is ready for them.
To learn more about the PPM solution that adapts to
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Designed
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>>>OPENING
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We have to conduct thorough [research]

on ecological and environmental factors, as well as on impacts on countries
in the lower reaches of the river.
Bai Enpei, Secretary of the Communist Party of China Yunnan

Committee, in China Daily
Nujiang
River,
Yunnan,
China
he last free-flowing river in China

could soon be dammed as part of
an ambitious hydropower program
to boost the countrys non-fossil
fuel energy output to 15 percent by 2020.
Hydropower has no carbon emissions, a
powerful counterpoint to the highly polluting coal plants in the region. Yet the plans
for a reservoir and four dams on the Nujiang
River could mean displacing up to 60,000
human residents as well as more than 7,000
plant and animal species in the area.
There are also questions of whether the
damsto be located in a seismically active
regioncould withstand an earthquake or

other natural disasters like those that sparked
Japans recent nuclear plant emergency.
Project developers should bear in mind
that these geological conditions also pose
business risks to them, said Zhang Xingsheng, managing director of The Nature
Conservancys North Asia division, in China
Daily.
No dam projects in the region should be
approved without scientific appraisal, Mr.
Zhang told the newspaperbut he added
that the process is next to nonexistent in
the current dam-building sprees.
26%
Average business improvement

because of project management
training initiatives.*
Project management
training is worth the
investment.
*Our latest research report, The State
of Project Management Training,
proves it. So how are firms achieving
these business results?
Instructor-led classroom training is by
far the most used and most effective
method of project management training.
Contact us at PM College to learn more
about developing a successful training
program for your organization.
Download your copy at

www.pmcollege.com/
trainingresearch.
The State of Project Management Training

A PM SOLUTIONS RESEARCH REPORT
FREE REPORT
pmcollege
pmcollege.com I 888.619.2819
PM College provides corporate

project management training for
clients around the world.
2011 Professional Development Solutions, Inc.
Sponsored by
pg.
44
Rapid Adaptation
We knew there would be some modifications

during
execution but still had to be able to run it
as a fast-track project. Traditional approaches to
project management with well-defined periods
for all steps couldnt be followed strictly.
Petri Jokinen, Neste Oil, Singapore
contents
aug11
features
28
34
44
50
56
career track
The accidental project manager
Even as the profession grows, many are still thrust into it. Learning
from peers is the way to go. by Kelley Hunsberger
The PMO: Something of value
The key to securing ongoing stakeholder support for a project management office? Relentlessly measure progress and
broadcast its success. by Sarah Fister Gale
Staying Power
A Finnish company branches out to Singapore and discovers

a high-level talent pool to fast-track a biodiesel refinery
megaproject. by Manuela S. Zoninsein
Boosting the bottom line
Benefits realization and business cases all add up to increased profits.

by Sandra A. Swanson
Special section: Education and training
Team Spirit
Although people are unpredictable, with the right training, team

members will embrace collaboration. by Cindy Waxer
pg.
a closer
look:
Siemens,
Munich,
Germany
Two-year
stints help an
engineering
conglomerates
thousands
of project
management
offices constantly prove
measurable
bottom-line
results.
40
Its Time to
Get Agile!
Collaborate. Adapt. Iterate.
Don't get left behind! Discover what all of the buzz is about in the Agile
development world. IIL offers two new courses that explore Agile approaches:
Agile Development and Project Management
Learn the who, what, when and how of Agile IT projects and find out which practices
translate into a more flexible approach to managing projects. Find out how Agile
development relates to project management and get an overview of common
practices across a range of Agile methodologies.
Implementing Scrum for Agile Software Development
Get serious about Agile development using the fastest growing specific methodology.
Learn how to plan and run a sprint, how to estimate and prioritize user stories and
how to introduce Scrum to your organization.
To register for these classes or to view our digital catalogue please visit:
www.iil.com.
INTELLIGENCE, INTEGRITY AND INNOVATION

Project, Program and Portfolio Management
Microsoft Project and Project Server
Lean Six Sigma
Business Analysis
PRINCE2
ITIL
Leadership and Interpersonal Skills
Training, Consulting, Coaching and Mentoring
Customized Course Development
Assessments
IIL Companies All Over the World

Bangalore Beijing Budapest Dubai Frankfurt Helsinki Hong Kong London Madrid Mexico City New York Paris So Paulo Seoul Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto
International Institute for Learning, Inc. 110 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022-1380 USA Phone: +1-800-325-1533 or +1-212-758-0177
pg.
10
Turning a Corner
Companies today are adopting the principles of project

management
much more readily than they were in the past.
Jim H. Johnson, The Standish Group, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
aug11
viewpoints
18 From the Top
A New Prescription
Joel Verinder, PMP, Texas Health
Resources, Arlington, Texas, USA
20 Thinking Positive
The Enthusiasm Factor

by Alfonso Bucero, MSc, PMP, Contributing Editor
21 The Agile Project Manager
3 Solutions for Your Offshore Problem

by Jesse Fewell, CST, PMP
22 Career Q&A
Climbing the Ladder

by Lindsay Scott
24 Voices on Project Management

From the Bottom Up
by Phil Patrick, PMP
also in this issue

01 Opening Shot
08 Feedback
09 In Memoriam
10 The Buzz
26 In This Issue
66 Help Desk
68 Featured eBooks
71 Services Directory
72 Metrics
on the cover
10
28
34
50
IT Success Rates on the Rise

Did You Choose This Career?
Selling the Value of a PMO
How to Increase Your Portfolios Profit
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2011North America, Dallas/Fort Worth,
Texas, USA.
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August
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25-26 4th Pernambuco Project
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Conference 2011, Bangalore, India.
www.pmi.org.in/conference2011
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FEEDBACK
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
VOICES ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT BLOG
A Swan by Any Other Name
Project Managers in the C-Suite

Jim De Piante, PMP, writes:
For me, career growth means managing projects that are more
important, more valuable, more interesting or just more fun. Often,
this can mean bigger teams and bigger budgets, but for me, that
doesnt necessarily translate into bigger thrills. Career growth
does not mean at all that I need to become an executive to feel
fulfilled. I see project management and executive management as
complementary, but very different, skills. To me, that means that
the two fields will appeal to two very different kinds of people,
depending on individual temperament.
The cover story in the April issue of PM Network (Controlling Chaos) promised to tell us how to protect our projects
against a flock of black swans. While much of the advice
is useful, it has little to do with the true black swan idea.
Events or circumstances with extremely low probability
and extremely high impact are in fact just risks, and they
can and should be tackled through
the normal risk process. There
is no useful reason to give them
the special name of black swans.
Unfortunately, the risk process
cannot address these unpredictable
events.
The black swan is a valuable
concept that warns us to expect
the unexpected. We should be
careful to use the term properly and not dilute it through misuse or laziness. If we
mistakenly think that risks with very low probability and
very high impact are black swans, then we are likely to
remain blind to the existence of truly unpredictable shocks.
Instead, we should use the risk process to address known
unknowns, and rely on business continuity and resilience
techniques to protect us from the attack of the black swan.
David Hillson, PMP, PMI Fellow
Petersfield, Hampshire, England
Whats your take? Continue this discussion in the Project
Risk Management Community of Practice.
>> Visit risk.vc.pmi.org for more information.
Saira Karim, PMP, commented:

It would be fantastic if executives had more project management
training, but I do believe each role needs its own set of personalities
and skills. Project managers are doers/constructors, whereas the
executives are more of the painters and creators. Both need each
other and are complementary roles, and there should be some project management representation in executive management.
Matt Kirchman, PMP, commented:
Project managers, through ensuring that their projects are strategically aligned, are more tactically oriented. I think of accomplished project managers as the non-commissioned officers in the military. They
are the ones that help a unit (or team) accomplish a particular goal,
and their effectiveness is based on respect for what they can do, not
for their rank. I think it will continue to be rare for project managers to
move to the upper echelon of management, and Im OK with that.
PMI members can access a related research report, Project Managers as Senior Executives: Volumes 1 and 2, at www.PMI.org/
Knowledge-Center/Research-Completed-Research.aspx
>> Join the discussion at PMI.org/Voices.
LINKEDIN
Daniel Hill, PMP, asks: What is a project

managers most important personality trait?
NK Shrivastava, PMI-RMP, PMP, responds: Listening
and communicating is the most important personality trait
for a project manager. Remember what the PMBOK Guide
says More than 90 percent of a project managers time
goes into communication. To be a good communicator,
you need to be a good listener first.
>> Join the discussion in the PMI Career Central group.
Which of the following social media

vehicles do you use to support your
profession and/or career?
LinkedIn: 63%
Facebook: 12%
Twitter: 4%
Other: 2%
All of the above: 19%
From the Voices on Project Management blog at PMI.org
We love to hear from you! Write us an email at pmnetwork@imaginepub.com.

>> FOLLOW US on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PMInstitute.
In Memoriam
b y S a njee v G u pt a
Eliyahu M. Goldratt, PhD

1947 2011
Eliyahu M. Goldratt, PhD, author of The Goal and

creator of the theory of constraints and critical chain
project management, passed away at his home in Israel
on 11 June. He was an iconoclast who also established
new methods for managing manufacturing, supply chains and projects.
After obtaining a doctorate in philosophy from Bar-Ilan University, Dr.
Goldratt left the academic world to
pursue a career in business. He joined
Creative Output in 1979, which became
the number-six company on the Inc. 500
list in 1984. Its optimized production
technology software was the precursor to
manufacturing and supply chain optimization, which became a multibillion-dollar
industry in the late 1990s.
Dr. Goldratt became recognized as
a business thought leader with his 1984
bestseller, The Goal, which introduced the
world to the theory of constraints (TOC).
It is among Forbes list of business bestsellers and is required reading in almost every
master of business administration program,
though the books influence is best captured
in a quote from The Economist: A survey
of the reading habits of managers found
that though they buy books by the likes of
Tom Peters for display purposes, the one management
book they have actually read from cover to cover is The
Goal. Even though it was privately published, it has
sold more than 5 million copies in 35 languages.
The underlying principle of TOC is that optimizing
local efficiencies creates artificial constraints that prevent
an organization from realizing its full potential. Dr.
Goldratt famously proclaimed that cost accounting is the
enemy number one of productivity. By keeping the
focus on the ultimate goal, organizations can increase their
speed and throughput. TOC has been adopted in a wide
array of private and public organizations worldwide.
In 1997, Dr. Goldratt expanded TOC in his book

Critical Chain, which provides the basis for critical
chain project management. Critical chain project management emphasizes resources rather than scheduling
or cost. This methodology is claimed to enable 10 to

50 percent improvement in project speed. Seven of the
eight largest U.S. military air depots reportedly have
used its techniques to improve fleet availability while
cutting costs.
One cannot overstate Dr. Goldratts influence on
thousands of managers around the world, and it will
only grow with time.
Sanjeev Gupta is CEO of Realization, a critical chain

project management software and services provider in
San Jose, California, USA.
august 2011 PM NETWORK
in these pages
12 Project Managers Like This
14 Mass Destruction
16 Building a New Africa
10
The report card for IT projects is inand things are looking

up as companies step up their project
management maturity to better handle
scope, risk and change.
After years of abysmal failure rates,
the number of projects delivered on
time and on budget is increasing,
according to Chaos Manifesto 2011, a
new report by The Standish Group.
The survey of 10,000 projects
conducted in 2010 around the world
revealed:
n 3
7 percent of IT projects were successful, coming in on time and on
budget.
n 4
2 percent were challenged, arriving over budget, late, or with lessthan-required features and functions.
n 2
1 percent failed completely, canceled prior to completion or delivered but never used.
Those numbers compare favorably on all fronts to the 2008 survey
results, which showed that only 32
percent of IT projects succeeded,
while 44 percent were challenged and
24 percent failed.
The 2011 results represent the
highest success rate in the history of the
See the latest news about project, program and
portfolio management online at www.PMI.org/PMport.
PM NETWORK May 2008 WWW.PMI.ORG
Submit news to pmnetwork@imaginepub.com. All monetary figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.
Failure
Rates
Finally
Drop
illustration by keith negley
thebuzz
Chaos survey, which The Standish Group has been

conducting biannually since 1994. After years of
poor showingsin 2004 only 28 percent of projects
were considered a successthe recent uptick indicates that the IT world may have turned a corner.
Ahead of the Curve
One of the most obvious reasons for the increase

in successful projects is the economic recovery taking root in many markets, says Jim H. Johnson,
chairman of The Standish Group, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. That shift, albeit slow, means fewer
projects are being shut down or failing due to financial constraints.
But its more than that. Organizations are
approaching IT projects in a new way. Companies today are adopting the principles of project
management much more readily than they were in
the past, Mr. Johnson says. Tasks such as estimating and risk management are more thoughtfully
addressed earlier on, reducing errors and improving
on-time delivery rates throughout the project life
cycle. More companies are also developing project
management offices (PMOs), which drive project
management maturity.
IT project teams, in particular, tend to be ahead
of the curve because they work in a much more
dynamic environment and need to be able to deal
with problems and turn things around more quickly
than in other fields, says Ricardo Viana Vargas,
PMP, a past chair of the PMI Board of Directors
and CEO of Macrosolutions, a management consulting firm in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Because IT projects are shorter and more
time-sensitive, IT project managers are adept at
making faster decisions and using smarter teamwork, he says.
Certain IT project management concepts, such
as Agile, may not be a good fit for sectors outside of
IT. But Mr. Vargas says other industries can pick
up some tips on preventing project failure by using
hallmark IT approaches such as prompt decisionmaking and straightforward communications.
Make precise decisions quickly and be ready
to change directions if need be, he says. The one
who moves fastest to market gets a huge advantage.
Small Scope, Big Payoff
No doubt the increasing maturity is helping, but
>TIP
Bridge the divide. Despite the growing

adoption of project management in IT, there remains a disconnect between project managers and senior management. Executive sponsors dont always understand the strategic impact that
effective project management can have at an organizational level
and dont always see the value of critical project management
processes, says Jim Johnson, The Standish Group, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. And project managers dont always do the best
job of conveying that value. Executive sponsors need training on
project management, and project managers need training on how to
communicate with executives, he says.
the rising success rate also stems from the types
of projects being launched. The Standish research
found fewer big organization-wide enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system rollouts in the last
two years. We saw a lot more moderate projects,
with companies revamping or upgrading existing
systems, Mr. Johnson says. Those projects are
smaller and easier to deliver.
And those companies that did roll out new ERP
system projects in 2010 fared poorly, according
to the 2011 ERP Report by Panorama Consulting
Group. The survey of 185 organizations from 57
countries revealed 61 percent of ERP projects in
small and mid-sized companies took longer than
expectedcompared to 36 percent in 2009. And
nearly three-quarters exceeded their budgets, up
from to 51 percent in 2009. On the plus side, the
data shows an increase in the number of companies that realized significant business benefits from
the project investments, indicating that companies
prioritized results over maintaining budget or
schedule.
Such life-cycle management is vital for projects
to deliver bottom-line value, and is a sign of the
increasing complexity that project managers face in
managing risks on big IT projects.
Most project managers still look at risk as a
problem to avoid, but there are types of risks that
add value, Mr. Johnson says. You have to look at
risk and value together to increase the ROI.
Otherwise, those IT project success rates may
start to slide back. Sarah Fister Gale
37%
The portion
of successful
IT projects in
2010, coming
in on time and
on budget
32%
The portion
that was
successful in
2008
28%
The portion
that was
successful in
2004
Source: The
Standish Group
11
thebuzz
Project Managers Like This
FACEBOOK, TWITTER, BLOGS, WIKIS
and other social media tools havent quite
reached the exalted status of Gantt charts and
work breakdown structures in the project management profession.
But theyre gaining ground.
More than 75 percent of project managers
said social media improves the way they manage
projects, according to the 2011 Social Media in a
Project Environment survey by London, Englandbased Elizabeth Harrin, author of Social Media
for Project Managers [PMI, 2010]. No on-thesidelines observer, Ms. Harrin is also author of
the blog A Girls Guide to Project Management,
a founding member of the PMI New Media
Council and head of IT program delivery at Spire
Healthcare.
The survey, which included 181 respondents from more than 30 countries, found that
LinkedIn ranked as the most popular tool for
business use among project professionals. That
was followed by instant messaging, blogs, Twitter and wikis.
Wikis have a very low barrier to entry in that
they are very easy to set up. Wikis are also easy
to use, and they are excellent for capturing lessons learned and project information, says Ms.
Harrin. At the end of the project, a wiki can
be passed on to the operational team as a great
source of organizational knowledge.
Podcasts and video podcasts (vodcasts) were
among the least-used tools, according to the survey. But Ms. Harrin sees a missed opportunity for
project management office professionals looking
for training and education tools.
Nearly half of all respondents employed social
media tools for document sharing, while 27 percent used them for project status updates, and a
quarter said they actively used them for managing
their teams. By far, though, the most popular use

of social media was to stay in touch with friends
and colleagues, cited by 85 percent of the respondents. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they
used social media to communicate with team
members, and 24 percent said they used it to
reach stakeholders. That conversation, however,
should be one with give-and-take.
Social media is not just a tool to blast your
message, but to really understand what it is that
people want to talk about, what gets them most
engaged, says Vickie Smith-Siculiano, PMP, an
Internet marketing and search engine optimization specialist at Marketview Research Group,
Edgewater, New Jersey, USA.
Before project managers start tapping into
social networks, she recommends defining the
most influential stakeholders so the right content
reaches the right channels.
SOCIAL BOUNDARIES
Simply declaring that social media has hit critical

mass doesnt begin to capture its true reach.
More than 500 million people actively use
Facebook, logging more than 700 billion minutes
per month on the website. Twitter sees an average
of 140 million messages sent out per day, adding
up to 1 billion tweets per week. More than 100
million people use LinkedIn to network with colleagues past and present. And more than 80,000
companiesup from 10,000 just a year agouse
the corporate social network Chatter.
With that kind of adoption, its hard for any
organization to resist social medias pull. Yet
extolling the wonders of social media and actually implementing these tools to benefit a project
team are two entirely different things.
Many organizations jump into the fray with
no clear strategy, which can be detrimental in
How Project Managers Use Social Media

project status updates
stay in touch with friends and colleagues
document sharing
85%
SOURCE: Social Media in a Project Environment
12
PM NETWORK AUGUST 2011 WWW.PMI.ORG
48%
communicate with team members
36%
27%
managing teams
communicate with
stakeholders
25%
24%
thebuzz
Most popular social networking tools
LinkedIn
Instant Messaging
Wikis
Least popular
Podcasts
Video Podcasts
Source: Social Media in a Project Environment
the long run. Just because the whole team is

on Facebook and Foursquare doesnt mean that
they will know how to get the best out of these
tools in the workplace, says Ms. Harrin. What
is appropriate for personal use is not necessarily appropriate for work. We need to get this bit
right to see the growth in the use of social media
tools on projects.
That means setting standardswhich most
companies have failed to do thus far. Almost 39
percent of 1,038 U.K. employees said their organization had no social media policy, according to
the 2011 Social Media Survey, a new report commissioned by consulting group Protiviti. Twentyfour percent said they were simply unaware of
whether there was a policy or not.
Its extremely worrying that only a quarter
of workers have been provided with any real
guidance regarding the use of social media sites,
Jonathan Wyatt, Protiviti managing director, said
in a press release.
Many senior managers assume that their
less-experienced colleagues would not post inappropriate comments online and that they would
think about the risks involved, but time and time
again they are proven wrong, he added. Were
seeing a growing number of cases where firms
have vague or out-of-date social media policies
that are unenforceable if inappropriate activity
takes place.
Mr. Wyatt suggested establishing clear

policies tailored to each network. For example,
project managers and their teams need to know
when it isand isntappropriate to share photos of a project on Flickr or discuss its progress
on Twitter.
The New Socialites
One of the most common concerns with adopting social media comes from senior managers and
project team members fretting it will mean more
work. The best way to tackle this is to do what
you can to manage stakeholder expectations, Ms.
Harrin says. Try to find out what people believe
about social media and address any myths.
From there, she suggests starting small. Introduce new functionality slowly and take the time
to train people properly, Ms. Harrin says. Consider how, if at all, you are going to track the
benefit of your social media implementation.
Having a social media champion on the team
can help, too. This person can show the way by
demonstrating the tools to their full capacity and coaching other team members on
the dos and donts of social behavior. I
would like to hope that usage will be selfregulating, with team members managing
their own interactions, she says. However,
if that doesnt work, an alternative is for the
Twitter sees
champion to step in to ensure that guidean average of
lines and policies are adhered to.
140 million
Security also needs to be addressed from
messages
the start. Organizations must treat social
media as they would any other business
sent out per
toolwith the proper access controls and
day, adding
protocols in place. It helps to have a frank
up to 1 billion
discussion with the IT department about
what your team is trying to achieve by using
tweets per
social media, Ms. Harrin says.
week.
People of all ages rely on social media,
of course. Yet as younger people weaned on
Facebook and Twitter make their mark in
the workplace, many of the barriers slowing down
social medias full integration will be broken
down. It will be a gradual shift, however, Ms.
Harrin predicts. And until we have confidence
and policies supporting the use of these tools
from the IT departments, we wont see wide-scale
adoption. Kelley Hunsberger
13
thebuzz
Mass Destruction
Missed Deadlines
Neither Russia nor the United Stateswhich

together possessed 90 percent of the worlds
stockpile of chemical weapons at one timewill meet
the 2012 deadline.
As of May, more than
For Russia, money has
been the biggest obstacle.
of the
The implementation of the
[chemical weapons destruction] program has been
of declared existing chemical
hampered by the global
weapons had been destroyed
financial crisis, which threw
it back two to three years,
Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the State
Duma, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti in
June. The country now predicts a 2015 close.
65 percent
71,000 tonnes
14
PM NETWORK august 2011 WWW.PMI.ORG
The Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant, Pueblo, Colorado, USA
In the United States, progress has slowed in

part due to the strict regulatory environment.
Although the country is currently constructing
two facilities to destroy its remaining supply,
those projects arent anticipated to be complete, with the plants decommissioned, until
possibly 2021.
Neither country is being punished for missing the deadline because of the sheer complexity involved in delivering the projects. The
reason why the United States and Russia
couldnt ... make it by April 2012 is not bad
will, Sergey Batsanov, director of the Geneva
office for the Pugwash Conferences on Science
and World Affairs, told Global Security Newswire in April. Simply, the process turned out
to be much more complicated, much more
resource-intensive.
That teams are dealing with highly sensitive materials has to be foremost in every decision, says Douglas Omichinski, engineering
giant Bechtels project manager for the design,
construction, systemization, operation and
closure of the Pueblo, Colorado, USA-based
Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant
(PCAPP). With construction of the plant more
than 77 percent complete as of July, destruction
of chemical weapons stored at the U.S. Army
Pueblo Chemical Depot is slated to begin in
early 2015.
Images Courtesy of Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives
The race to build chemical weapons once

drove countries apart. But projects to destroy
the leftover stockpiles are now bringing governments together as they share knowledge
across the global community.
Political leaders around the world agreed
to ban chemical weapons from the battlefield in 1997. Under the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC), no new chemical weapons would be created, and all existing stores
would be destroyed by 2012. Angola, North
Korea, Egypt, Somalia and Syria were the
only holdouts.
In the 14 years since, teams worked to
develop project plans, facilities, tools and technologies to safely eliminate the deadly agents.
Theyve made impressive progress: As of
May, more than 65 percent of the 71,000
tonnes of declared existing chemical weapons
had been destroyed, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW), the independent organization that
oversees the convention. Albania, South Korea
and India have already completed destruction
of their chemical weapons. The Russian Federation has destroyed more than half of its stockpile (20,000 tonnes), and the United States has
destroyed more than 84 percent of its supply
(23,406 tonnes).
But theres still a long way to go.
thebuzz
Its one of the last two remaining U.S. projweapons destruction programs. The United
ects, but the team knows it cant be rushed.
States began with a much larger stockpile than
With projects like these, safety, quality and
most other countries, but weve been successful in
environmental compliance come well ahead of
attaining nearly all international treaty milestone
budget and schedule, Mr. Omichinski says.
dates, Mr. Levi says.
As part of the CWC guidelines, OPCW has
We have benefited from a work force with
treaty personnel at the Pueblo plant monitoring
a great deal of chemical weapon demilitarization
compliance. Tracking by various international,
experience, historical knowledge and practical lesfederal, state and county regulators, coupled
sons learned on our team, says Mr. Levi.
with the strict regulations associated with the
Along with delivering their own projects,
construction and operations of a hazardous wasteBechtel and the U.S. government have worked
treatment facility, means every aspect of the
closely with project teams in other nations, proproject is carefully scrutinized. From a project
viding technologies, processes and funding.
management perspective, it adds a lot of time to
The U.S. government, for example, is participatthe overall process as compared to commercial
ing in a technology transfer with Russian teams overconstruction, Mr. Omichinski says.
seeing projects to destroy chemical weapons facilities,
Adding to the challenge is the vast array of
according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
stakeholders involved in these projects, says WalEven after all the weapons are wiped out,
ton Levi, the U.S. governments
acting site project manager. Government officials, local community
members, environmental activists,
and the international community
are all closely watching project
progress, requiring transparency and
regular feedback. The best lesson
weve learned is the importance of
communication, Mr. Levi says.
To keep the public informed,
the Pueblo team sends its message through a variety of channels.
Along with hosting monthly project
update meetings with community
stakeholders, it produces videos
explaining how the technology
works and shares that information
via YouTube, social networking
sites, newsletters and other media
outlets. We want to be sure they
At the Pueblo plant, one of three distillate carbon filters is being staged on site to await
understand why we choose the
permanent placement.
equipment or processes we do and
to show them that we have the
documentation to support our decisions, Mr.
many team members will be able to tap into their
Omichinski says.
experience and move into other complex projects
at nuclear facility construction and utility comCrossing Borders
panies, says Mr. Omichinski. When you work
Even with all the scrutiny, the experience gained
in such a highly regulated procedure-driven enviat Pueblo and other sites has helped the United
ronment, there are a lot of places you can go.
States safely ramp up its position in international
Sarah Fister Gale
15
thebuzz
Building a New Africa
16
Bringing in Expertiseand Money
PPPs create new avenues for financing while

providing governments with much-needed
project management knowledge. The influx of
private-sector money and expertise drives more
cost-efficient projects, reduces risks and fosters
best practices while developing the skill sets of
the local population.
That added project management capability
is particularly valuable on large cross-border
projects that face increased structural and regulatory complexities, says Adama Deen, head
of infrastructure programs and projects at the
Johannesburg, South Africa-based New Partnership for Africas Developments Planning
and Coordinating Agency.
PPPs give these countries the capacity they
need to manage and implement cross-border
infrastructure projects, he says. It is the way
forward for Africa.
The Kenyan government, for example, is
looking to finance as much as 80 percent of its
infrastructure projects through PPPs by 2030.
Nigeria estimates it will need between $12 billion to $15 billion annually for the next six years
to meet its infrastructure demands. To reach
those numbers, the Urban Development Bank
of Nigeria plc (UDBN) and the Development
Image Courtesy of Bombardier
Africas
woefully
inadequate
infrastructure continues to hinder the
continents great economic promise. And
its clear the SubSaharan nations cant
do it on their own
paving the way for
new alliances with
the private sector.
Looking to
improve the dire
traffic jams in its
commerce capital of
Lagos, Nigeria joined
forces with local
African Development Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, South Africa
Bank. The resulting
$400 million project to rehabilitate and widen
the citys expressway marks the countrys first
public-private partnership (PPP).
And in South Africa, which has implemented
many successful PPPs over the past decade, the
Gauteng provincial government teamed up with
Bombela, a Canadian-French consortium, for an
80-kilometer (50-mile) rapid-rail link to connect
Johannesburg, Pretoria and Johannesburgs OR
Tambo International Airport. The nearly $4 billion
project, which began construction in 2006, was
slated to debut in July.
The simple truth is that without adequate
roads, telecommunications lines and other primary infrastructure, the Sub-Saharan region
cant build its industrial base and lure future
investors.
Yet most African nations lack the financial
resources and expertise to close this yawning
gap. Even after spending nearly 12 percent of
its collective GDP on infrastructure, the continent requires nearly $93.3 billion more to meet
current needs, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria, reported at
the West Africa Global Trade and Investment
Forum in June.
Enter the private sectoralways on the prowl
to stake a claim in new markets.
thebuzz
Bank of Southern Africa signed an agreement
in March with the express goal of improving the capacities of both public and private
sectors to deliver infrastructure, said UDBN
managing director Adekunle AbdulRazaq
Oyinloye in a press release. They will share
ideas and technical expertise for infrastructure
development, including guidance for project
structuring, financing options, funds mobilization, bid management, and evaluation and
negotiations.
Overcoming Roadblocks
Although PPPs bring the promise of muchneeded development and investment in Africa,
they also add complexitiesand complications.
To begin with, Africas public sector leaders
must define the optimal amount of privatesector participation in any project, Andr Pottas, infrastructure advisory leader for Africa at
Deloitte, wrote in an article for Independent
Online, a South African news outlet. One of
the biggest challenges facing project leaders is
deciding which partner takes on the responsibilities and associated risks of each project
phase, including design, finance, construction,
operation and maintenance.
The shape of that risk allocation determines the structure of the partnership and
the costs, he wrote. Agreeing [on] this risksharing allocation has often been a stumbling
block.
Governments also struggle to bring fundamental project planning and execution capabilities to a point at which the private sector has
the confidence to invest, says Mr. Deen.
Many projects are not ready for PPPs
because they have not achieved bankability,
he says. The risks are elevated for the private
sector when a country cant provide security
guarantees.
Assuming teams can get a project off the
ground, a lack of local project management
and technical expertise can still hinder their
progressor force private companies to bring
in talent to take on leadership roles.
The result is often a vehicle which is topheavy with international advisers and perhaps
more complex structures, often impacting negatively on

implementation,
according to a
>> After spending nearly
report from the
12 percent of its collective
online busiGDP on infrastructure, Africa
ness publication
requires
How We Made
nearly $93.3
It in Africa. A fair
amount of education
billion more
and communication in both the
to meet
public and private sector must be
current
encouraged.
needs
For the PPP project model to
flourish in the long term, governments need their own project management experts to help guide the
process. That will ensure they understand their responsibilities and risks as
they move forward on projects that can take
years or even decades to
bring to financial close.
Project plans also
Fog City Consulting
need to account for infrastructure operation once
construction is complete,
said George Mahlalela,
www.fogcityconsulting.com
director-general of the
Online PMP Exam
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august 2011 PM1NETWORK

12619_FOG CITY CONSULTING.indd
17
7/7/11 10:14:5
fromthetop
Joel Verinder, PMP, Texas Health Resources,

Arlington, Texas, USA
A New Prescription
>> As the PMO,

we provide
transparent data
to the executive
decision makers. This information validates
that the portfolio
is aligned with
the strategic
direction of the
organization,
while enabling
leaders to truly
run IT like a
business.
18
Some projects just

shouldnt make the cut, especially in an industry facing
severe financial restraints. But
at Texas Health Resources,
every project requested of
the IT department was
approveduntil Joel Verinder,
PMP, stepped in as portfolio
management office director.
Leveraging experience gained across sectors ranging from airlines to telecom, he has transformed the
existing portfolio management office (PMO) into
a business-driven one aimed squarely at helping
ensure each of the not-for-profits 14 hospitals benefits from the organizations limited IT resources.
How has the organizations approach to portfolio
management changed?
The PMOs initial charter focused on people,
process and tools, but the executive leadership
wanted increased adoption and business value.
When I came in, I swung it around to focus on
business needs first, and figure out how project
management processes and templates can help
solve problems. We got some quick wins early
on, which helped us gain momentum. Eventually
we evolved to focus on resource planning and
prioritization.
Why did the PMO focus on resource planning?
Texas Health supports 14 hospitals with a centralized PMO and a single IT group with 575 people.
Theres always a big need for our services, and we
were often overwhelmed with requests. The IT
team members had developed a just get it done
mentality, and they didnt feel like they had a
voice. It caused us to start asking questions about
whether we were working on the right projects and
whether we could do a better job.
We worked with the IT governance team to
create a prioritization model, which included the
PM NETWORK August 2011 WWW.PMI.ORG
refinement of a strategic IT council. The council

includes an executive representative from each hospital, along with several physicians, and a few other
IT representatives to provide technical direction
and answer questions.
Now, the council considers every project proposal and ranks it against the current portfolio and
existing resource constraints. The PMO also presents monthly data to the council about resource
availability. Before a project is approved, business
owners must bring their case to the council and
be able to define the anticipated ROI, whether its
financial, regulatory or patient safety. Every business case is expected to have metrics to define success. And six to nine months after implementation,
business owners must report back on the results to
the council.
What kinds of results have you seen?
Today, we support 85 projects, and overall IT
morale has improved. But it took some time. In
the first couple of council sessions, it was a struggle
to prioritize projects. Eventually, with all the talk
about healthcare reform and new reimbursement
models, people started to understand the resource
constraints we face.
Were taking a more holistic systems approach,
with the goal of meeting the needs of all the hospitals in the network. And because business owners
are now presenting project results to the council,
it gave visibility to some of the small projects that
have delivered tremendous ROI.
What lessons have you learned that might benefit
other PMO leaders?
The most important aspect of project management
revolves around change management and how you
communicate that change to your stakeholders and
project teams. If you cant translate your vision to
the organization, thats a risk. And if the business
owners dont see value in what you are doing, you
wont exist for long.
T h inking P o s iti v e
viewpoints
The Enthusiasm
Factor
You can go from apathy to eagerness with the right motivation.
b y A l f on s o B u c ero , M S c , P M P , Contri b u ting E d itor
hen I looked for ways to motivate myself

early in my career, I saw every project not
only as a learning opportunity but also an
opportunity to make people happier. And
the key to doing that was fostering enthusiasm.
As a project manager, theres a way to develop
enthusiasm so meaningful and profound that it will
not decline no matter what strain it is put under:
1. Decide what particular personal characteristic you
want to strengthen.
2. Develop it by acting as if you already possess the
desired characteristic.
3.
Believe and repeatedly affirm that youre in the
process of creating the quality youre working to
develop.
If you want to be a more enthusiastic, for example,
you must act with enthusiasm!
Another practice to foster an optimistic attitude is
that of mental ventilation. Clear your mind of the
gloomy, foreboding thoughts that prevent the cheerful
and spirited thinking that stimulates enthusiasm.
Getting up on the Right Side of the Bed

A vital element in developing enthusiasm as a project
manager is the manner in which you start the day.
Approaching each morning with enthusiasm can set
the tone for the entire daydespite any disappointing
news you may face.
I always read some positive sentences after having
my breakfast. Regardless of how busy my day is going
to be, for those few minutes, I dont permit any hurry
or haste, even in thought.
As you progress in your career, many things conspire
to dull your enthusiasm: disappointments, project failures, frustrated hopes, unmet ambitions and the inevitable energy drain. But such deterioration of your life
force happens only if you allow it. If you make a real
effort, you can remain an enthusiastic project manager.
To maintain enthusiasm, you must find your moti-
20
As a project manager, theres a

way to develop enthusiasm so
meaningful and profound that it
will not decline no matter what
strain it is put under.
vators. Im always looking for new projects and initiatives that help me feel alive and happy. Develop your
enthusiasm and apply your passion to managing the
people involved in your projects.
Start the day focused on your blessings, and you will
react to your issues with a more positive approach
and your enthusiasm will never die. PM
Alfonso Bucero, MSc, PMP, is an independent consultant who manages projects

throughout Europe and Asia. He is the
author of Today Is a Good Day!: Attitudes for Achieving Project Success.
3 solutions
for Your Offshore Problem

As distributed projects become the norm, Agile methods can help them run smoothly.
b y J e s s e F ewe l l , C S T , P M P
he honeymoon is over. Looking to deliver more

while spending less, just about every large company has engaged in distributed offshore projects over the last several years. But organizations
are discovering that outsourcing carries more pain than
was promised. More project managers are suffering from
quality issues, language gaps and woefully unmet expectations. So what can we do? Here are some ways that Agile
can help you overcome some of the side effects of running
offshore projects:
1. Stop emailing and start collaborating.

Agile project management places a strong emphasis on
collaborative colocated communication. Using written
English can sometimes mitigate language issues, but email
takes too long, and large documents can be stale the
moment theyre sent. Instead, we need to augment project
communications with modern online collaboration tools
such as Google Docs, instant messaging, discussion boards
and Skype. Some teams have always-on webcams so each
side can see whats happening on the other.
You cant have successful projects without some kind of
interaction. If time zones make that inconvenient, share
the pain, with each worksite taking a turn after-hours.
In short, work hard to communicate in real time. Youll
develop stronger collaboration, which will yield greater
understanding and more innovative results.
2. Get bad news early.
A mentor once told me, Never surprise your boss. Similarly, a good project manager wants bad news as early as possible. One of the greatest pain points for distributed projects
is unmet expectations. Sponsors can spend significant time
and money generating rigorous requirements, wait a year
to see any output and then receive a single large deliverable
that simply misses the mark. If iterative-incremental delivery is a good risk-management practice for local projects,
then its absolutely vital for distributed projects.
A monthly demo using a virtual meeting platform can
More project managers are

suffering from quality issues, language gaps and woefully unmet
expectations. So what can we do?
reveal problems and opportunities earlier in the game. If
it reveals a slew of defects, the sponsor can reprioritize
debugging over adding new features. If an incremental
deliverable is built to off-target specs, the sponsor still has
the opportunity to swap some of the pending features for
the needed refinements.
3. Waste some money.

The most successful teams build an additional 1 to 2 percent into their budgets for micro investments that yield
high strategic value. One example would be sponsoring
some advanced technical training for team leads at the
offshore site. Even if you have to use your own budget,
investing in better engineering practices can dramatically
reduce the quality risk on your deliverables. Many executives may yell at you for spending unnecessary funds
but US$10,000 out of a US$1 million budget is a small
price to pay for project success.
Projects are hard enough as it is without adding the extra
pain of coordinating teams across cultures, countries and
continents. But as global projects become more the rule
than the exception, the modern project manager needs
to be vigilant in improving communication, quality and
satisfaction. Agile can help achieve that. PM
Jesse Fewell, CST, PMP, is the managing

director for offshore Agile projects at RippleRock India and founder of the PMI Agile
Community of Practice. He can be reached
at jesse.fewell@vcleader.pmi.org.
21
t h e a g i l e project m a n a g er
viewpoints
career Q & A
viewpoints
Climbing the Ladd

To get ahead, build your business acumen and leverage your
social media connections.
by Lindsay Scott
q
A
Ive been a Project Management Professional (PMP)

certification holder for a number of years. However, I
want to ensure my career-development plans include
additional business skills useful in a senior role. What
should I be focusing on?
Your current experience, skills and certification in project management have provided a solid foundation for
your career so far. To take it to the next level, you need
to consider the wider business environment in which
you operate.
Business management, commercial awareness, financial
management, organizational
strategy and business change are
just some of the business areas
that directly relate to project
managers. Widening the focus
to include organizational and
human resources management,
marketing, operations, and
leadership will give you a wellrounded skill set. That, in turn,
boosts your chances for moving
up the career ladder.
All this may sound like the
blueprint for a masters degree
in business administration,
but your development doesnt
have to take such a formal (and
expensive) route. The key to
building additional business
skills is choosing the learning
that best suits you and your
industry. Here are some ways to
get started:
n E
ngage your manager and
explain your objectives.
n I
dentify target areas in which
youre looking to increase your
knowledge.
22
F
ind people in the business willing to mentor you in
their area of expertise.
A show of commitment to self-development may also
create wider opportunities for you as you come into contact with members of the business team. Your visibility
will almost certainly be raised, and that may put you in
a better position to practice your enhanced knowledge.
n
I recently signed up on LinkedIn to reconnect with people,

but how else can it help me in my career development?
With Facebook seen as a personal

channel, LinkedIn is widely recognized as the leading professional social networking tool.
Used proactively, three areas are
particularly valuable:
1. Networking: Keep in touch
with those with whom you already
have a working relationship
current and past team members,
peers, managers and vendors.
These are the people who may
someday be able to provide you
with new career opportunities.
Be sure to also use LinkedIn to
follow up with the project managers you encounter at meetings,
conferences and seminarsespecially if youre looking for a window into project management
careers in sectors and industries
other than your own.
Its worth noting that 80
percent of career opportunities
dont come through career or
corporate sites, but rather from
personal recommendations and
referrals. Make those connections work for you by staying
visible and proactive.
viewpoints
career Q & A
er
Want more career advice? Head
to Career Central at PMI.org or
check out the PMI Career Central
group on LinkedIn.
2. Groups: There are more than 3,000 project management-related groups on LinkedIn, covering a variety
of specializations, regions and industries. The groups are
an opportunity not only to connect to others in your
field but also to share knowledge.
Discussion boards and links to resources such as
webinars and conferences are excellent ways to seek specific advice from the enormous pool of knowledgeable
people within your chosen groups.
You can be a member of up to 50 groups at any one
time. That could lead to information overload, but you
can opt in or out of email alerts, allowing you to choose

your level of involvement in each group.
3. Job searches. LinkedIn has emerged as the recruitment tool of choice for many companies looking to
draw quality project professionals. That means even if
youre not seeking a job, you could receive new career
opportunities at any time based on your profile. If you
are actively looking for work, update your LinkedIn
profile both in the status and add a current position
fields. These are the main areas that organizations use to
search for new talent.
The LinkedIn setup also means youll see organizations that are recruiting. These targeted ads show up on
your page, and you only see opportunities that match
your profile. PM
Lindsay Scott is the director of program

and project management recruitment at
Arras People in London, England. Please
send your career questions to pmnetwork@
imaginepub.com.
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23
1/26/11 10:31 AM
v oi c e s on pro j e c t m a n a gement
viewpoints
From the Bo
How a team of individual contributors came up with a strategy that saved
millions and delighted executive management.
b y P h i l P a tri c k , P M P
t all began with a chance elevator pitch.

At the not-for-profit healthcare consortium Kaiser
Permanente, projects are evaluated at monthly meetings
to address the need for additional resources, funding and
the like. After a presentation in 2009, I ended up alongside
the senior vice president of the infrastructure management
group. I seized the opportunity to tell him about an idea that
could save substantial infrastructure operating costs. At the
organization, innovation and creative solutions have become
part of the culture, but its sheer size can make escalation and
implementation challenging.
That brief exchange blossomed into an action plan for a
multi-year, multimillion-dollar cost-savings initiative that is
helping achieve one of the organizations key strategies.
1. Align with the executive vision.

As in many industries, executives in healthcare are tasked with
doing more with less. Improving cost structure was a recurring theme in our CIOs message at town hall meetings. I saw
value in reducing operating expense tied to that visionand
therefore determined my idea would likely be welcomed by
the senior leaders governing project funding.
I began discussions with project team members about
details. There would be a high level of complexity and risk in
dismantling a large, restrictive-legacy, private wide-area network. It had been patched with hundreds of expansions spanning more than a decade and equipment made by a bankrupt
supplier. After preliminary analysis, we began to see scenarios
in which the network cost savings would indeed be substantial
and new patient care technologies could roll out much sooner.
With that preliminary analysis and an informal vote of
confidence from the senior vice president, we intensified the
effort.
2. Assemble a skilled exploratory team.

Leaders at the bottom of the org chart can be highly influential. You make the first move, and others gradually join
in. My team pulled a few people together for weekly strategy
meetings. I began by reminding everyone that our mission was
tied to the CIOs vision of reducing operating expense. Quantifying cost savings, scope of work, resource requirements and
24
schedule was our initial focus. Naturally, the teams enthusiasm

grew as we began to see how our work would improve the
organization. The initial scope was cost savings for one specific
region, but senior managers agreed to expand the scope to the
entire enterprise and requested an action plan.
3. Present a compelling action plan.

When the time came to put the enterprise-wide action plan
in front of management, the goal was to cover all bases. I
didnt expect many follow-up opportunities to impress. The
action plan targeted senior management in all relevant departments and included material for finance management and
customers. Senior managers had to have a firm enough grasp
of the activities and benefits to be able to convey the value
proposition to others. As a practical matter, they also needed
to understand how the benefits (e.g., cost savings, increased
productivity, improved quality, etc.) would be measured and
statuses tracked.
I used my understanding of governance processes and
interdepartmental relationships to develop a resource model
encompassing project team members throughout the organization. The IT structure was dynamic, so I continued to share
the resource plan with team members to ensure accuracy.
The action plan was developed with three principal goals:
1. Provide sufficient background to understand what was
required to complete the key milestones and demonstrate command of the technical tasks
2. Explain the total quantitative and qualitative benefits
3. Specify the resources required
We developed an easy-to-follow, leave-behind document
after each meeting with management to facilitate their communication with others.
4. Obtain organizational buy-in.

Theres an old saying that goes, If its to be, its up to me.
But while leading change as an individual contributor in a
large organization, that couldnt have been further from the
truth. For example, I relied heavily on the vice president of
network services to lead a coalition of senior managers over
vital engineering resources. I struggled with how and when
to follow up with executives to whom I rarely had exposure.
viewpoints
Review meetings with senior managers in other departments

sailed along smoothly, though.
Buy-in from the finance department was a whole different matter. Like most successful companies, my organization
requires solid financial justification before bringing on additional resources.
Because of the scale, developing the spreadsheets with
finance to validate the short- and long-term financial benefits
took an enormous amount of time. The scope of this program
impacted more than 1,000 locations in eight regions of the
country, and the resources to support the work were spread
throughout 10 departments.
5. Build high-performance project teams.

Once the business case was finally approved, it was as if a
party that started in my garage had morphed into a full-blown
ballroom gala. The project management office (PMO) was
brought on board to track the financial benefits. Eventually,
we welcomed its tracking and reporting because it was an
independent validation of millions of dollars in savings.
The first challenge in the execution phase was how to
structure more than 20 project managers into manageable
teams so that hundreds of planning and analysis meetings with
specialized technical resources were conducted in an organized
fashion. Looking at the entire organization, we created focus
groups, and established regular status and planning meetings
with project managers in different regions to discuss schedule,
budget and change requests for more funding when necessary.
Furthermore, if project managers were going to replicate
this effort and build support, they needed to be trained to
present the project objectives and key milestones to their team
members, business partners and

customers.
I also chaired weekly analysis
meetings with technical resources
to discuss schedule issues and
review network analysis proposals
to maximize savings.
In the first year, our customers began expressing approval as
they began to see cost benefits.
Monthly commitments were
consistently met or exceeded. The
annual savings commitment was
exceeded two-and-a-half months
early by 155 percent, translating
into additional savings of several
millions of dollarsconfirmed
by the PMO.
vo i c es on pro j e c t m a n a g ement
ttom Up
Phil Patrick, PMP,
leads a network strategy team at Kaiser
Permanente Information Technology in
Pleasanton, California, USA. He can be
reached through his
blog at leadfromthebottom.blogspot.com.
Competitive Forces
Without leaders at every level, organizational transformation becomes impossible. Rapidly changing market
conditions and fierce competition pose unprecedented
challenges to an organizations market standingand
perhaps survival. Action plans and strategies from
organization-savvy workers paying attention to executive
vision enable energies to be channeled into projects with
the most benefit.
Sometimes the great ideas come from a project manager at
the bottom. Such opportunities are rareso when a promising idea comes your way, be ready to start the party. PM
Raise Your Voice
No one knows project management better than you, the practitioners in the trenches. So PM Network launched its Voices on Project Management column.
Every month, project managers will share ideas, experiences and opinions on everything from
sustainability to talent management, and all points in between. If youre interested in contributing,
please send your idea to pmnetwork@imaginepub.com.
25
<In This Is
key takeaways
the accidental project
manager pg. 28
>> The phenomenon of the accidental project manager doesnt seem to be going
anywhere anytime soon.
>> Those thrust into project management roles must quickly develop the necessary skills, including how to effectively identify and communicate with sponsors and stakeholders.
The pmo: something of value pg. 34

>> Quantifiable metrics can help persuade skeptical executives to support the
project management office (PMO) model.
40
>> Communicating results in simple reports will demonstrate a PMOs value to the
organization and the bottom line.
Without delivering
tangible
demonstrable
staying power pg. 44
return on investment,
you arent doing what
you need to do to
achieve success.
>> Governmental partnerships and incentives persuaded an energy company to launch

a biodiesel refinery project in Singapore.
>> A well-established talent pool allowed the project team to fast-track the initiative,
while meeting the desired certification standards.
Boosting the bottom line pg. 50

>> By building a compelling business case based on metrics, portfolio decision-makers
can convince finance managers that the potential for profit outweighs the risks.
>> From the first planning session to the harvesting of end results (sometimes years
after project close), benefits realization reveals just how profitable an endeavor was.
TEam spirit pg. 56

>> Without team collaboration, projects wont run smoothly.
>> Training in effective listening, expected behaviors, conflict resolution and cooperation can get teams working well together.
Steve Clark, Siemens, Norcross,

Georgia, USA
More than 50
The percentage of
Siemens annual
revenues that come
from managing and
delivering customerfacing projects
sue>
>>Project
professionals
need to work to
create an environment
where accidental
project managers can
recognize the change
in their role and openly
seek assistance.
James Bosak, PMP, CA Technologies,
Cary, North Carolina, USA
PG. 28
I have seen very

positive relationships
with the finance
department when
the project manager
or PMO establishes,
manages and tracks
the project and the
business decision
throughout the
project life cycle.
Caroline Leies, Morgan Franklin,

Washington, D.C., USA
PG. 50
august 2011
people page
people page
James Bosak, PMP, CA Technologies............. 30
Tammy Lenski, Ed.D., Tammy Lenski LLC...... 59
Steve Clark, Siemens..........................................40
Craig J. Letavec, PMP, PgMP, Siemens IT

Solutions and Services.......................................40
Michael Cooch, PwC............................................ 36

Neil Denny, The Wilsher Group......................... 58
Clive Enoch, PhD, PMP, Standard Bank......... 52
Patricia Ensworth, Harborlight Management
Services................................................................. 30
Shoshana Faire, Professional Facilitators
International........................................................... 59
Gary Furlong, Agree Dispute Resolution........ 58
Joe Gartrell, PMP, USAA................................... 33
Martina Huemann, WU (Wirtschaftsuniversitt
Wien), Vienna University of Economics and
Business.................................................................. 31
Petri Jokinen, Neste Oil...................................... 45
Edwin Kapinus, PMP, DM Petroleum
Operations Company........................................... 36
Denise Keller, Benchmark Email...................... 54
Caroline Leies, MorganFranklin......................... 53
Matti Lievonen, Neste Oil.................................... 46

Kevin McDevitt, Siemens....................................40
Eric Morfin, PMP, Pfizer..................................... 37
Diego Nei, CEACRE (Centro Evanglico de
Apoio e Acolhimento).......................................... 32
Yvan Petit, PMP, Universit du Qubec
Montral...................................................................51
Matt Rawson, Practicus...................................... 53
Steven Romero, PMP, CA Technologies..........51
Raed Skaf, PMP, Deloitte.................................... 36
Jen L. Skrabak, PMP, WellPoint........................51
Terry Tanner, City and County of Denver....... 38
Joel Verinder, PMP, Texas Health Resources,
Arlington, Texas, USA..........................................18
Todd Williams, eCameron Inc.............................53
organizations page
organizations page
Agree Dispute Resolution, Dundas, Ontario,

Canada......................................................................... 58
Professional Facilitators International, Sydney,

Australia........................................................................59
Benchmark Email, Los Alamitos, California,

USA............................................................................... 54
PwC, London, England............................................ 36
CA Technologies, San Francisco, California,

USA............................................................................... 30
Siemens, Norcross, Georgia, USA.......................40

Siemens, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA....... 26
CEACRE (Centro Evanglico de Apoio e

Acolhimento), Salvador, Brazil.............................. 32
Siemens IT Solutions and Services,

Waynesville, Ohio, USA...........................................40
City and County of Denver, Colorado, USA........37
Standard Bank, Johannesburg, South

Africa............................................................................ 52
Deloitte, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia............................... 36

DM Petroleum Operations Company, New
Orleans, Louisiana, USA......................................... 36
eCameron Inc., Camas, Washington, USA...53
Harborlight Management Services, New York, New
York, USA...31
MorganFranklin, Washington, D.C., USA............ 53
Neste Oil, Espoo, Finland........................................ 45
Pfizer, La Jolla, California, USA.............................37
Practicus, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire,
England........................................................................ 53
Tammy Lenski LLC, Peterborough, New

Hampshire, USA.........................................................59
Universit du Qubec Montral, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada......................................................... 51
USAA, San Antonio, Texas, USA......................... 33
WellPoint, Los Angeles, California, USA.............. 51
The Wilsher Group, Monkton Combe, Bath,
Avon, England............................................................ 58
WU (Wirtschaftsuniversitt Wien), Vienna
University of Economics and Business, Vienna,
Austria........................................................................... 31
27
careertrack
accidental
the
project manager
by Kelley Hunsberger // illustration by Otto Steininger
Even as the
profession grows,
many are still thrust
into it. Learning
from peers is the
way to go.
28
29
When I grow up, I want to be a project

manager.
Thats not a line you hear too often.
Most kids tend to dream of one day
being a firefighter, actress or football star.
But the project management profession is growing exponentially worldwide, and more and more institutions
of higher education are offering courses
covering its processes.
Despite this, many professionals
still find themselves working as project
managerswithout ever having applied
for the position.
At the beginning of their careers,
typically people dont have a burning
desire to become project managers, says
Patricia Ensworth, author of The Accidental Project Manager: Surviving the
Transition from Techie to Manager [John
Wiley & Sons, 2001]. They start out
doing something elsemarketing, social
work, biochemical engineeringand
after acquiring subject matter expertise
and leadership skills, they are promoted
into the role of project manager. Some
accidental project managers accept their
new responsibilities enthusiastically,
some reluctantly.
Whether enthusiastic or not, socalled accidental project managers find
themselves with a host of new responsibilities as part of their workloadand
that means they need to get up to speed
as quickly as possible.
Welcome to the
wonderful world of
project management
James Bosak, PMP, fell into managing projects while working as an out-
>TIP
side plant supervisor for a telephone

company where he was responsible for
complex installations. While he had the
technical expertise for the position, he
lacked any formal project management
training. There are too many organizations that expect people with technical
expertise to just know how to formally
manage a project, he says.
The hardest part about moving from
delivering a technical solution to managing a project is accepting that there
may be a better way of doing things,
says Mr. Bosak, director of program
management at the IT management
software giant CA Technologies in
Cary, North Carolina, USA. People
want to believe that they have been
doing a good job. And they may have
beenbut that does not mean that it
cant be improved, he says. There is
always room for improvement. Introspection takes time and a willingness to
change once you see a better way, and
that is not always easy for people or
organizations.
It wasnt until he began reading project management books and speaking
with successful colleagues that Mr. Bosak
discovered he hadnt put enough importance on documenting, tracking and
estimating. When I realized all of the
elements that I had always glossed over
in my projects, I was stunned, he says.
Accidental project managers are
often able to achieve a technically perfect result that is not what the sponsor
had in mind, he adds. Or they may
not meet the budget or timeline. The
trained project manager understands
that knowing how to deliver the result
Join your local PMI chapter. No matter where you are in the
world, chances are theres one nearby. Its one of the best ways to connect with your peers
face-to-face and gain valuable knowledge of the profession.
PMI also offers virtual communities of practice for a variety of industries and topics. When
something stumps you at work, post a query on the community siteand gain insights from
more experienced project professionals.
30
is only important if the result

supports the requirements and is
delivered when needed. There is a
direct line from the requirements
to the activities to the result to
customer satisfaction.
Mr. Bosak then took his project management career to the
next level by acquiring the Project
Management Professional (PMP)
credential.
The trick is finding a good balance between your old and new
job responsibilities. I am still in
a technical field, getting projects
delivered but managing different
aspects, such as project selection
and funding priorities, he says. I
enjoy the challenge as well as the
advancements in technology.
The Players
Often, the background of an accidental project manager is loaded
with technical experience and
expertise, says Martina Huemann,
associate professor of project management at WU (Wirtschaftsuniversitt Wien), Vienna University
of Economics and Business,
Vienna, Austria. So they might
be used to thinking very much
in detail, providing expertise and
concentrating on their technical
task, she says.
In their new role, however,
these employees will need to start
considering the big picture. That
includes leading others, designing
collaboration processes and understanding how the project fits into the larger
organizational landscape.
One of the first things new project
managers need to learn are the different
roles people play in the project. I think
accidental project managers know that
they are doing the project for someone, but they dont have a solid concept
of sponsor versus stakeholder, and they
always miss some stakeholders, Mr.
Bosak says. This results in incomplete
requirements and rework. A trained
Accidents Will Happen

As project management continues to gain in popularity at
organizations around the globe, will this trend of the accidental
project manager begin to wane?
Dont count on it, says Patricia Ensworth, author of The Accidental Project
Manager. Accidental project managers are not only here to stay, but also
tend to increase in numbers when an organization formalizes project management as a core competency. She says these accidental project managers
will continue to head up small efforts where they can transition more easily
into the role and learn about the position.
A lot of it comes down to where you live.
The profession of project management is in very different stages in different countries, says Martina Huemann, WU (Wirtschaftsuniversitt Wien),
Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria. In countries
where there are education programs established and universities that offer
project management programs, there is a higher likelihood that the career of
a project manager is a planned rather than accidental one.
Expect to see an increase in accidental project managers for internal
projects, such as development or change efforts, which are often done on
an ad hoc basis, Ms. Huemann says. Thats the case even in industries who
utilize project management and have professional project managers established for external projects.
The accidental project managers future depends on how sponsors view
the role, says James Bosak, CA Technologies, Cary, North Carolina, USA.
There will always be accidental project managers, and certified project
managers need to recognize that fact. Project professionals need to work to
create an environment where accidental project managers can recognize the
change in their role and openly seek assistance.
Organizations must understand that when they assign a resource to
deliver a project, they are creating a project management position. As such,
they need to train their resources appropriately, he says. That way they are
creating project managersand not of the accidental variety.
Companies can also benefit from the establishment of a PMO (program
management office). There will still be accidental project managers, but there
would be a resource to reach out to them and assist them, Mr. Bosak says.
project manger knows to find the sponsor and get requirements in writing,
and hold sponsors accountable for the
final decisions on things. And they also
know to make a list of stakeholders and
actually search for other stakeholders.
Then its time to communicate effectively with the various constituencies.
Sometimes that means taking on the
role of entrepreneur when dealing with
the sponsor and other senior managers,
says Ms. Ensworth, president of Harborlight Management Services, a project management consultancy in New
31
Is the accidental project

manager a relic of the past?
We posed that question on the PMI Career Central group on LinkedIn.
Heres how project professionals responded:
As long as organizations want to embrace change, they will have to
initiate projectswhether they call them that or not. And since experienced project managers are always in short supply, there will always
be people with no direct authority, who never expected to be placed in
that position, managing projects. For many of them, it will be a once- or
twice-in-a-lifetime experience; for others, it will be the beginning of a
new career. Dave Gordon, USA
My background has been identified as a good fit for project management. Ive been a web developer, technical business analyst and
an executive officer for a state agency. Those experiences have been
invaluable with being able to communicate well with both technical and nontechnical people. Brent Laning, PMP, USA
I became a project manager by accident. I was in estimation and tendering
and I submitted a tender. After the contract was awarded, I got involved in
the project initiation, and the client approached our top management for me
to continue as a project manager until the end of the project. Since then, I
am on two boats (i.e., estimation and tendering, and project management).
Sometimes I feel it is good for me. But when I am overloaded, I feel I should
choose a single boat. Nadeem Arshad, PMP, Qatar
York, New York, USA. Sometimes one

must make a sales pitch for the project
to obtain approval and initial funding, she says. And always, throughout
the project life cycle, it is necessary
to gather high-level information about
the political and financial climate and
to reassure senior stakeholders that the
project is a good investment.
The Learning Process

Your boss pats you on the back and
says, Congratulations! Youre managing this project. Now what?
Dont just stand there wide-eyed and
panicked. Learn from your peers by networking with other project managers
inside and outside of your organization,
suggests Ms. Huemann, adjunct professor of project management at SKEMA
Business School in Paris, France, and a
project management trainer and consultant at Roland Gareis Consulting
in Vienna, Austria. Ask them what
32
methods have and havent worked for

them and any tips for successfully leading teams.
Talk to veteran project professionals not only about the appropriate
tools and techniques, but also about
the informal network of political
influence and the unwritten rules that
determine how things actually get
done, she says.
Take their adviceand dont view
suggestions for improvement as a sign
of mistrust in your ability, says Diego
Nei, project manager at CEACRE
(Centro Evanglico de Apoio e Acolhimento), an orphanage in Salvador, Brazil. People can unintentionally sound
as if they are bragging or complaining
when actually they are just trying to
pass along information about what has
worked in their experience.
Help from peers will only take new
project managers so far, however. You
must also learn skills that can be paired
with your technical expertise.

Take a PMBOK Guide project
management course, take an Agile project management course, then decide
where on the spectrum of formal methods the project lies, Ms. Ensworth
advises. Obtain a project management
software tool and learn how to use it
to create a work breakdown structure,
a network diagram with a critical path
and a Gantt chart.
Courses on negotiation, presentation skills and public speaking can also
be beneficial.
Once you have educated yourself
and sought the counsel of more experienced professionals, the next step is
to garner as much in the field experience as possible, says Joe Gartrell, PMP,
San Antonio, Texas, USA-based process
engineer at USAA, a financial services
company for those who have served
in the U.S. military and their families. Keep going, get as many projects
under your belt as possible and start
down the route to earning your PMP
credential, he says. Experience is paramount. However, most employers use
the PMP credential as an initial screen,
especially in todays difficult economy
where you may be competing against
hundreds, if not thousands, of other
project managers. Detail your accomplishments with measurable results and
develop the ability to translate your
experience into any industry. In essence,
how does your experience transfer to
the job youre applying for?
Making these strides will help
impress your team members and senior
managers, Mr. Nei says. If new project managers can show people how
dedicated they are and that they can
perform as wellif not betterthan
anyone, they will earn their peers
respect soon enough.
When seeking educational opportunities inside the organization, start with
the project management office (PMO).
If there isnt one, see what lessons
learned have been documented by more
experienced project managers.
The organization should also be

involved in educating accidental project
managers on their new responsibilities
and how to carry them out. To do so,
project management processes should
be ingrained in the corporate culture.
Accidental project managers are
more likely to hit their stride and stay
in the race when their organizations
take project management seriously as a
profession, a body of knowledge and a
skill set, Ms. Ensworth says.
That means defining project management as a human resources job category, as well as developing clear criteria
for evaluating the roles competencies.
In addition, project status should be
reported to, and monitored and controlled by, executives at the managing
director level and above.
Most important, she notes, project managers should feel that they
belong to a community of practice. A
formal PMO can establish this structure, but it can also be created through
peer-to-peer centers of excellence.
Should You Stay or

Should You Go?
Not everyone who falls into the role of
project manager will remain there. A lot
of it depends on personality.
All types of management require one
to accomplish things through the efforts
of other people, so accidental project
managers who want to be in the spotlight or to take pride in the craftsmanship of their own work products might
not enjoy the role, Ms. Ensworth says.
Moreover, project managers often need
to accomplish things through borrowed
resources, so accidental project managers
who prefer ticking off checkboxes over
hustling for favors will become frustrated
by their lack of results.
However, those who do stick with
the career path may find themselves
becoming more visible and more influential within their organizationand as
a result, their stars can rise faster than
those of managers who remain in purely
operational roles. PM
Accidental project
managers are more
likely to hit their
stride and stay in
the race when their
organizations take
project management
seriously as a
profession, a body
of knowledge and a
skill set.
Patricia Ensworth, Harborlight Management
Services, New York, New York, USA
33
The
PMO:
Something
by Sarah Fister Gale :: illustration by matt kenyon
of Value
The key to securing ongoing stakeholder support

Relentlessly measure progress and broadc
34
for a project management office?

ast its success.
35
For
Fifty percent of
PMOs fail the first
time around. To
reduce that level
of failure, PMOs
need a business
case that is
underpinned by
solid measures
and metrics.
Michael Cooch, PwC, London, England
36
years the project management office

(PMO) has struggled to be taken seriously. In the early days, many PMOs
failed due to lack of executive support,
vision or expertise. And even though the
model has matured and more PMOs
are proving their value as critical drivers
of business improvement, fighting the
history of failure makes it that much
harder to secure buy-in and resources
from wary executives. To overcome this
skepticism, PMO directors need to be
certain from the start that they have
the tools, resources and plan to achieve
their goals.
Fifty percent of PMOs fail the
first time around, says Michael Cooch,
director of global project and portfolio
management propositions at the consulting giant PwC in London, England.
That alarming statistic is backed up
by research performed by Gartner at its
2010 ITxpo, as well as PM Solutions
The State of the PMO 2010 report.
To reduce that level of failure,
PMOs need a business case that is
underpinned by solid measures and
metrics, Mr. Cooch advises.
The best PMO business case has
a clear vision for what it will accomplish, and aligns its goals with the
broader goals of the business, says
Raed Skaf, PMP, consulting manager
at the accounting and consulting firm
Deloitte in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A
PMO has to address specific problems
that the organization is facing to be
relevant, he says.
PMOs are not one-size-fits-all,
agrees Mr. Cooch. If you dont match
your mission with the objectives of the
organization, the likelihood of PMO
failure increases significantly.
Whether an organization has trouble

meeting schedules, staying on budget
or managing unanticipated risks, these
issues should set the framework for
a PMOs charter and be a primary
measure of progress, Mr. Skaf says.
Measuring the current situation and
maturity gives the PMO a baseline for
goal-setting, and helps in choosing the
right PMO model and proving results.
SWOT Team
A baseline is just the beginning, though.
PMO leaders need a plan to prove
they are delivering results, says Edwin
Kapinus, PMP, PMO manager for DM
Petroleum Operations Company, the
management and operations contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) on the strategic petroleum
reserve project headquartered in New
Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
In 2008, Mr. Kapinus created a
PMO for the organization, based
upon the results from an enterprisewide SWOT analysisassessing the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats in the organization.
An emerging theme from the
SWOT analysis was a need for better planning, control and execution of
projects through the utilization of project management principles and techniques, he says. Thus, the PMO was
created to begin the process of creating
that vehicle towards better project and
corporate performance.
The results suggested that more rigorous project management principles
on all projects would help reduce risks
and unexpected costs, as well as add
efficiencies to the operation through
better communication and more formal
processes and methodologies.
The DOE relies on our company to
have a vision for the successful integration of projects where cost, schedule,
quality, safety, operability, security and
environmental effectiveness are all key
considerations of the project plans,
Mr. Kapinus says. We see the PMO
as a hub to establish policies and proce-
dures, to act as a single point of contact

for the planning and support of project
execution, to mentor new project managers and to assist project managers
with the recovery of troubled projects.
Mr. Kapinus and his team created a
more formal project management governance process, set stage gate reviews
and are building a lessons-learned process for issues and best practices that
arise in projects. The PMO also implemented bi-weekly team meetings on
major projects to update everyone on
progress, and to address any problems
as soon as they arise.
Without frequent discussions,
problems might not get resolved and
it could easily become chaotic, resulting with impacts to the project, he
says. All of these processes will help
create the desired disciplined approach
required to effectively manage projects
as well as deepen the roots of a culture
change for using project management
principles.
The PMO is already seeing improved
results, thanks to more formal key
milestone reviews. On a current engineering project, a separate contractor was hired to create the detailed
designs. First, though, the PMO and
the assigned project team conducted a
review of the project scope statement
and discovered it contained several
incomplete and non-compliant items
that did not align with project objectives. These inconsistencies were then
logged and tracked to resolution to
avert a potentially large impact to subsequent project phases.
If we hadnt done that review, it
could have cost a lot of money in claims
and procurement issues down the line,
Mr. Kapinus says. But by being proactive, we solved the problems before we
put it out to bid.
Mr. Kapinus is currently tracking
the success of that and another big
project at DM Petroleum Operations,
which he will use as an example to
showcase the value the PMO brings to
the organization.
>>Proving Its Worth

Its not enough to just be successful as a project management
office (PMO). To win stakeholder support and secure the budget and
resources necessary for the organization to mature, PMO leaders
have to set goals, measure results and communicate those results
relentlessly across the organization.
Here are five tips to make your PMO value statement heard:
Define quantifiable measurements to prove what youve accomplished. Like every business unit, the PMO must set a baseline
for the current state, define goals for improvement and measure
results, says Eric Morfin, PMP, Pfizer, La Jolla, California, USA.

When you can back up your value statement with factual data, youll
win stakeholder support.
Set a realistic time frame for results. When Terry Tanner took
over as head of the PMO for the City and County of Denver,
Colorado, USA, he made it clear to the CIO that it would take
18 months before he could make a positive impact. Leadership needs

to be disabused of preconceived notions that progress will happen
right away, he says. Even if one or two projects succeed early on,
you need sustained delivery to prove the change will be consistent.
Be sure you have the resources necessary to achieve your

goals. When the leadership team doesnt understand the value
proposition of a PMO, it wont provide the necessary budget,
support and talent it needs to succeed, says Michael Cooch, PwC,

London, England. This lack of investment ultimately increases the
chances of PMO failure, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Establish credibility throughout the organization. If you rely

on the support of one or two stakeholders to keep your PMO
going and they leave the organization, youll be in trouble, Mr.
Tanner says. As a city employee, his leadership team changes with

every election, so he knows he must have a broad support base to
remain relevant. Building advocacy at the workplace level for the
PMO buys dividends with new leadership.
Get the best people on your team. You can have the best
methods, standards and practices in the world, Mr. Tanner
says, but without quality project managers, a PMO wont
deliver value.
37
Overcoming a Legacy
of Failure
>>True
Value
PMOs contribute directly to
the following performance
improvements:
Decrease in failed projects:
31%
Projects delivered
under budget:
30%
Improvement in productivity:
21%
Projects delivered ahead

of schedule:
19%
Cost savings per project:
17%
Increase in resource
capacity:
13%
US$
567,000
The cost savings per
project a PMO provides
Source: The State of the PMO 2010, PM Solutions
38
Even when a PMO has a solid plan

for success that includes quantifiable
measures, though, it can falter early on
without committed support from the
executive team.
Having a champion is especially
important if you are trying to get past
the notion that PMOs tend to fail,
says Terry Tanner, IT services PMO
director for the City and County of
Denver, Colorado, USA. Mr. Tanner
joined the governmental agency in
2009 after it had triedand failed
to implement a similar PMO a few
years before.
Denver initially had small IT shops
set up in every agency across the city
and county, with no centralized office
to oversee them. In 2003, the new
CIO consolidated them all under one
PMO, with the goal of creating a
homogenous system and interface for
IT services.
The PMO was put in place as a
response to the next big thing syndrome, Mr. Tanner says. By that I
mean the next solution that will fix
all that ails an organization or agency,
without understanding anything about
the solution, what it takes to implement, the timeline before results can be
expected, etc.
As a result, the executive team had
unreasonable expectations concerning
the time it would take before results
could be delivered, and did not understand what would be required from a
leadership perspective at the PMO level
as well as their own involvement and
support.
If management is not fully committed to the PMO and providing active
support and guidance, then I believe
its doomed to mediocrity at best, and
failure at worst, he adds. That PMO
lasted two years.
A couple of years later, another CIO
was appointedand this one understood the value a strong PMO could
bring to the organization, he says. The
>TIP
When
launching a PMO,
start with the OPM3
ProductSuite, recommends
Raed Skaf, PMP, Deloitte,

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Frequent
assessments are essential to
measure the project management
processes maturity, the
organizations improvement and
alignment with business strategy.
office was resurrected, and Mr. Tanner

was brought in to help make sure it
avoided the mistakes of the past.
When I arrived, the organization
was chaotic, he says. Though there
were many professional project managers on staff, they had no repeatable
processes, and every project leader measured progress in his or her own way
based on personal experiences.
Mr. Tanners team members established formal project planning and
implementation processes for all IT
projects, created standardized methodologies, rules and regulations, and
developed a charter and road map for
improvements that included key performance indicators for the coming 18
months. They also implemented tools
to measure overall portfolio progress,
and created a centralized database for
project information, enabling the PMO
staff to run reports that communicate
measurable value in terms of time saved
and resources used.
Today Mr. Tanner can show that 95
percent of the projects over which his
staff has control meet their schedule
goals; schedules controlled by thirdparty vendors are less consistent, he
admits. He has also reined in control of
scope creep and cost overruns, which,
he says, enabled the IT group to deliver

30 more projects in 2010 compared to
2009with fewer staffers and a smaller
budget.
These measures show definitively
that we add value to the organization,
Mr. Tanner says.
The Best Measures

Being able to demonstrate tangible
measures of success through reports
and project case studies is vital to
winning over skeptical executives who
question the value of the PMO. But
these tools only work if those measures
align with the organizations goals, says
Eric Morfin, PMP, senior director of
the oncology business unit at the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in La Jolla,
California, USA.
The key is determining what leadership values the most right now, and
recognizing that the things it values will
change along with the business.
A lot of PMOs make the mistake
of thinking time is the most important
driver, when its often more valuable to
focus on resource allocation, he says.
Figuring out ways to work smarter
through more efficient processes can
lead to better on-time delivery while
managing costs. This, in turn, creates a
more appealing business case for executive leadership.
Recently, Mr. Morfin helped the
National Cancer Institute develop a
PMO. In his evaluation of its project
management process, he found that
teams working on early-phase drugdevelopment projects start from scratch
with each project plan, even though
80 percent of what they do is fairly
standard: recruiting staff, developing
protocols and identifying data. Mr.
Morfin helped develop a work breakdown structure template to streamline
this process.
In the old system, teams would
participate in 16 four-hour meetings to
create a project plan, he says. With the
new template, it now takes only four
meetings. By focusing on resource use,
6-9 November
PMO Symposium 2011,

Orlando, Florida, USA
Presented by the PMI Program Management Office Community of Practice, this
four-day event is the largest international
conference devoted to the topic. More
than 30 presentations, workshops and
networking opportunities will be offered.
>>For more information, visit
www.pmosymposium.org.
we reduced the time it takes to develop

a clinical plan by 75 percent.
Hes currently working on a PMO
project at Pfizer, focusing on achieving
similar capacity improvements across
the oncology project portfolio.
If he had tried to sell resource allocation as a model for PMO success a few
years ago, it would have fallen flat, he
says, because at that time quality output
and compliance were the driving focus.
You always have to ask yourself what it
is that the executive team values today,
and how you can demonstrate that
value through the PMO.
Once you have determined organizational goals and achieved results, make
sure senior management knows what
has been accomplished, Mr. Morfin
says. Those in charge of the PMO must
generate regular reports that demonstrate their successes. Those reports
must be in the language of the executive suiteusing simple clear measures
that show the impact of the PMO to
the business. Mr. Morfin confines his
reports to one-page summaries with
sharp graphics that tell a story at a
glance. Keep it short and simple, he
advises.
PMO directors should also encourage key stakeholders to talk up their
successes to other executives, Mr. Skaf
advises. Its easier to build support for
a PMO when its championed by senior
management, he says. People listen to
those whom they trust. PM
A lot of PMOs
make the mistake
of thinking time
is the most
important driver,
when its often
more valuable to
focus on resource
allocation.
Eric Morfin, PMP, Pfizer, La Jolla,
California, USA
39
a closer lo
Siemens, Munich, Germany
IF
If only it were always this easy.

The project management offices (PMOs) at
Siemens, the global engineering and electronics
powerhouse, have little trouble gaining stakeholder support for their endeavors. At any given
time, the organization has several thousand
PMOs doing everything from overseeing massive
programs to establishing enterprise-level standards and best practices for project management
in individual business units and across the entire
company.
Project management is a core competency at
Siemens, says Kevin McDevitt, senior program
manager of enterprise processes, and project and
risk management at Siemens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He notes that more than 50 percent
of the companys annual revenues come from
managing and delivering customer-facing projects.
But more than just offering a project management framework, PMOs at Siemens enable
the company to advance its methodologies and
strategic management maturity, says Craig J.
Letavec, PMP, PgMP, Waynesville, Ohio, USAbased director of the North America solutions
PMO for Siemens IT Solutions and Services,
which was acquired by Atos Origin.
Many PMOs get mired in the tactical management of projects and programs, says Mr.
Letavec, author of The Program Management
Office: Establishing, Managing and Growing the
Value of a PMO [J. Ross Publishing, 2006]. While
that may be a fine place for a PMO to start, its
not a sustainable long-term model for most
large organizations. Youve got to elevate what
you do so that the PMO structure is seen as
continually driving value across the business,
he says. Youve got to get your arms around
the tactical issues, then move on to the more
strategic goals.
40
Steve Clark, Siemens,

Norcross, Georgia, USA
ok
Two-year stints help an engineering

conglomerates thousands of project
management offices constantly prove
measurable bottom-line results.
photo b y stan kaady
>TIP
Create case studies

that will help future
PMOs define their own
charters, goals and
measures of success,
suggests Steve Clark,
Siemens, Norcross,
Virginia, USA. It helps
other divisions see the
benefit of going down
this path.
42
PMOs at Siemens begin with standardized principles and guidelines that are the
same across the organization. However,
PMO directors are encouraged to tailor their
processes to meet their groups unique
needs. Siemens provides the framework,
and we implement it in a way that makes
sense for our organizational needs, Mr.
Letavec says.
But with that freedom comes responsibility and accountability. Every PMO must
be able to demonstrate the value it brings
to the organization through measurable
results based on the goals laid out in its
charter. If you dont have measures, you
dont know your value, Mr. McDevitt says.
That value must be delivered in a set
time frame. At Siemens, its recommended
that every PMO be chartered for two years.
At that point, executives reevaluate the
PMOs mission to be sure it has delivered
the benefits it set out to provide, and that it
continues to drive value.
Most of our PMO leaders go in understanding they have about 24 months to
deliver benefits, Mr. McDevitt says.
If the reviews show that the PMO has
met its goals, senior management then
decides to either disband the office, or set
new goals and expectations for the next 24
months.
It keeps the PMOs aggressive, so they
are always going after new benefits, Mr.
McDevitt says. That may mean focusing
on Six Sigma training or lean principles,
or continuing to make its business units

processes more efficient.
Our PMO model is dynamic, and it is
driven by continued process improvement,
he adds.
A Course in Finance
When the organizations project management methodologies arent followed, nonconformance costs accrue.
Mr. Letavec came up with a strategy to
combat this: He puts his project managers
through financial lessons.
Many of our project managers have
bottom-line responsibility for executing
projects to schedule and profit targets, so
they have to understand their costs and
what will impact those costs, he says.
Finance lessons help them make the
connection between project decisions and
bottom-line results. Mr. Latavec also partners project leaders with a financial professional and/or a quality manager on major
initiatives, so that together they can make
decisions that balance quality, cost and
schedule goals.
The PMO also tracks historic occurrences of issues that cause nonconformance
on projects, and the costs of those issues.
Then it creates process-improvement strategies to avoid repeating those mistakes.
Having that baseline enables the PMO to
identify opportunities for improvement that
will deliver the most value, and track the
actual monetary value of those efforts.
For example, the IT teams had a recurring issue with an online interface, leading
to project delays. By identifying the cause,
Mr. Letavecs team members identified
technology as the driver of the problems
and updated it to eliminate the problem on
future projects.
Then they tracked the trend over time,
showing the history of nonconformance
costs before and after the solution was
implemented.
When you have that kind of data, its
easy to see the value of the PMO, Mr.
Letavec says.
Filling in the Gaps
>
Over in its industrial automation division,

Siemens launched a PMO in 2008 to deliver
three benefits:
n Improved customer satisfaction
n Managed growth of profit margins
n
Standardized processes for reliable project delivery
The PMO started with a staff of one fulltime employee and one half-time, as well as
team members in each business unit within
the division. That lean operation oversaw a
range of projects, from small US$100,000
equipment installations to US$100 million
multi-year custom plant operation systems.
Despite limited resources, in the first 18
months, projects supervised by the PMO
measured a 6.5 percent improvement in
gross margins.
That translated to a nine-to-one return
on the improvement program to create
the PMO, says Mr. McDevitt, who acts
as a coordinator and mentor over the U.S.
network of PMOs at Siemens. Ongoing
measures show that the industrial automation division has maintained an average of
5 percent improvement on 2008 project
margin baselines for the last 12 quarters.
The improvements came through systematically identifying gaps in the project
planning, delivery and risk-assessment processes that led to problems and nonconformance costs down the line, says Steve
Clark, the Norcross, Georgia, USA-based
manager of the industry automation division PMO.

For example, an issue arose when a
customer chose a business interface solution within its price range but inadequate
for its facility. Because the Siemens team
agreed to the choice without determining
whether the solution would work properly,
it was held accountable when the solution
didnt meet the clients needs.
It cost US$175,000 to fix that problem,
which came right out of our bottom line,
Mr. Clark says.
Those nonconformance cost items are
managed in a common tool and loaded
into the lessons-learned database. Now all
project team members in the division can
review the database, see if they are dealing
with a similar situation and receive help in
determining whether a solution is the right
fit. They can also make clear to customers exactly what the technology can do for
themall before an agreement is signed. By
tracking similar projects before and after
the new processes were implemented, Mr.
Clarks team can show reductions of these
kinds of problems, which ties directly to
improved profit margins.
The good news is that we hear fewer
and fewer of these stories, Mr. Clark says.
Weve seen a steady reduction of nonconformance costs, improved reliability and
improved project delivery thanks to better
communication and process improvements.
Spreading the Word

Mr. Clarks PMO went through its two-year
renewal in 2010, and the charter remains
the same going forward.
Our vision is benefits-based, but we are
continually looking for ways to refine our
processes as we achieve greater project
management maturity, he says.
And at Siemens, benefits realization is the
driving principle for each and every one of its
PMOs. Without delivering tangible demonstrable return on investment, Mr. Clark says,
you arent doing what you need to do to
achieve success. Sarah Fister Gale
Despite limited
resources, in
the first 18
months, projects
supervised by
an industrial
automation
PMO measured
a 6.5 percent
improvement
in gross
margins.
43
staying
POWER
by Manuela S. Zoninsein
* photos by Jonathan Danker/PixSync Photography
A Finnish company
branches out to
Singapore and discovers
a high-level talent pool
to fast-track a biodiesel
refinery megaproject.
Petri Jokinen,
Neste Oil, Singapore
4,800
At its peak,
the number of
construction team
members working
on the project,
hailing from 13
countries
13.8
million
The total hours

spent on the
construction portion
of the project
46
For the city-state of Singapore, innovation and enterprise are key components
of national government policy. From
enticing the Fdration Internationale
de lAutomobile to set up its first nighttime Formula 1 racecourse along its
shores to embracing foreign venture
start-ups, the island nation welcomes
top-notch know-how from all over the
globe. It has also demonstrated a commitment to environmentally sustainable technology, including clean water
projects, LED (light-emitting diode)
lighting experimentation and solar cell
production facilities.
These factors, combined with the
fact that Singapore is a major oil refining center, put the nation on Neste Oils
radar when the Finnish refining and
marketing company looked to expand
its renewable fuels business abroad.
The government played an important role in promoting our investment,
says Matti Lievonen, president and CEO
of Neste Oil, Espoo, Finland. Singapore
has fulfilled all our expectations.
The 550 million megaprojects
plan consisted of designing and constructing a renewable diesel production
plant, including a process plant, a utilities system, a tank farm, an operations
center, and maintenance and administration buildings.
Internal studies for the project began
in 2006, and by November 2007, the
companys board of directors greenlit
the investment.
One of the projects first steps was
to partner with a local governmental
agency. Neste Oil worked closely with
the Singapore Economic Development
Board (EDB), which helps companies
establish operations domestically.
This cooperation provided excellent support for us in finding a suitable
plant location, all permitting activities, recruitment and training of local
personnel, says Petri Jokinen, managing director of Neste Oils Singapore
subsidiary.
The EDB, for example, helped the
company find a suitable plot of land
free of any local opposition to the plant,

so the process went smoothly, he
says. The project team broke ground in
March 2008 at a greenfield site in Tuas,
an undeveloped part of the island.
Creating a Clean Fuel

To reach the plants desired capacity of 800 million kilograms (881,849
tons) of renewable diesel per year, the
organization relied upon its proprietary
and newly developed NExBTL (nextgeneration biomass-to-liquid) process
technology. The plant converts a variety
of renewable feedstocks, in particular
vegetable oils and waste animal fats,
into renewable diesel. Because it essentially creates a sulfur- and aromaticsfree fuel, its one of the cleanest diesels
in existence.
The first part of the project was
aimed at perfecting the NExBTL
processmaking certain that it met
stringent demands of each particular
market in which the company operates
or plans to operate.
The biofuels legislation is fragmented at the moment in Europe, as
it is around the world, Mr. Jokinen
explains.
The company needed to address
two main categories: greenhouse gas
reductions and feedstock sustainability
requirements. Both of these have been
confirmed by performing life cycle calculations according to methodologies
required by regulators, Mr. Jokinen says.
In addition, NExBTL technology
development focused on product quality and feedstock flexibilitytwo factors that differentiate it from other fuel
production.
The biodiesel is produced by
hydrotreating vegetable or waste oils
by removing sulfur. The end result is
a product the company says combusts
efficiently, keeps engines clean and
reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 40
to 80 percent. It can be used in modern
diesel engines without modification,
works in airplanes and is available to be
used as part of a fuel blend.
In January, the refinery received

International Sustainability & Carbon
Certification, confirming that the plant
meets the sustainability criteria of the
European Unions Renewable Energy
Directive and the product is suitable for
meeting Germanys bio-content mandates. Given that Europe is a key market for the company, and that Germany
in particular is a major consumer of
biofuel, Neste Oil focused on attaining
this certification.
Same Same but Different

Neste Oil already operates two renewable diesel plants that came on stream in
Porvoo, Finland in 2007 and 2009. But
launching a project in a new part of the
world required significant groundwork
to develop contact with local authorities,
talent and partner organizations.
The two Finland plants were our
first commercial NExBTL plants, so of
course there was a lot of learning, he
says. Those lessons proved vital when
the project team drafted its plan, especially concerning process equipment
and plant operations requirements.
The previous experience didnt translate 100 percent to the Asian initiative,
though.
Some solutions in the earlier plants
were not repeated in the same way in the
larger, scaled-up facility, Mr. Jokinen says.
While the process technology is

the same, there were differences in its
implementation. The project team had
to adapt to a whole new set of challenges, including a different business
culture and new regulations, legislation and governance. Permitting for the
facility in Singapore required nominating various independent professional
engineers who had to perform reviews
of the structural designs and conduct
verifications during the construction
phase. Though this requirement necessitated additional quality-control steps,
it also helped assure that the construction conforms to the design requirements, Mr. Jokinen says.
Additionally, the entire project had
to be accomplished within a tight threeyear schedule. Neste Oil management
had put in place an aggressive growth
strategy for increasing production
capacity of NExBTL renewable diesel.
We knew there would be some
modifications during execution but still
had to be able to run it as a fast-track
project, Mr. Jokinen says. Traditional
approaches to project management
with well-defined periods for all steps
couldnt be followed strictly.
So Neste Oil established key criteria
and relied heavily on a skilled project
team, most of whom had been involved
in the previous two refinery projects.
2006
Research phase
initiated
November 2007
Project greenlit by
board of directors
March 2008
Construction started
November 2010
Operations began
47
Adding Fuel
to the Fire
Prior to launching the refinery megaproject in Singapore, Neste Oil had established
cooperative agreements with suppliers
to source feedstocks for its home-base
plants in Finland.
On the new, larger initiative, the company had to expand that operation, and
further develop the sustainability practices
to meet the most stringent regulatory
requirements.
That process was all the more important because the cultivation practices of
palm oil, one of the main ingredients in
NExBTL creation, have caused controversy among environmentalists worldwide.
The vast majority of the worlds palm oil
comes from Southeast Asiabut the same
lowland forests that provide palm oil for
production are the only remaining orangutan habitat.
Managing this outspoken group of
stakeholders has been eased by the creation of the Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil, a not-for-profit organization with
the objective to develop and implement
global standards for sustainable palm oil.
Now, Indonesia, as the worlds largest
palm oil producer, is becoming a benchmark for emerging markets to adopt sustainable practices, with new regulatory and
legal certifications passing into protocol.
Project team members had

good access to detailed information about the technology and the kind of solutions
that are available, as well as
those elements to be avoided,
Mr. Jokinen says. This was
accomplished through the
establishment of a process
licensor team that provided
all required support and background information for the
technical and project management team during design, construction, commissioning and
facility start-up.
Singapores Got
Talent
While Neste Oil owns the

process technology, it sought
a contractor for developing an
engineering package.
The organization sent out
an RFP (request for proposal),
and following a competitive
bidding process, the Italian
company Technip was chosen
as the EPCM (engineering,
procurement and construction
management) contractor.
As for operations and
maintenance, Neste Oils project leaders chose to recruit
and build that team using Singapore
residents. Technip also dipped into the
local talent pool for its construction
contractors.
A skilled worker base cemented
Neste Oils decision to build up a
permanent division in Singapore, Mr.
Jokinen says. As the country has a
significant amount of oil refining
and petrochemical industry, there are
already a lot of professionals with the
right type of education and industrial
experience, he explains. In other
places in the world, not having that
kind of established industry in place
would mean the company would have
to invest much more in training personnel.
48
In Singapore, rather than worrying

about building up appropriate technological and managerial competencies,
we were able to do hiring in a marketplace where the right kind of personnel
exists, Mr. Jokinen says.
The talent pool in Singapore is
absolutely first-class, Mr. Lievonen
agrees.
Forward Motion
The project team addressed safety with
execution design reviews of the plants
hazards and operability. Safety requirements were included in contracts, and
contractors received specialized training. A behavior-based safety system was
also implemented, covering all safety
concerns and procedures that could
arise, with the goal of decreasing the
number of work-related injuries. Those
results were discussed monthly by
senior management, and all recordable
safety incidents were investigated formally. Technip and other contractors
were then required to propose actions
to rectify problems.
IT systems needed during the construction phase fell under Technips
domain. Neste Oil ran a parallel subproject to define and implement all
telecommunications, IT network infrastructure and business applications
according to the organizations corporate practices.
The construction team discovered
that different methods had to be used
compared to projects in Europe, for
example. Much less pre-cast concrete
structures were used, while more activities were performed with manual labor.
Construction completed on schedule and on budget last year, and commercial operations began in November.
Today, the Tuas refinery produces
1 billion liters (2 trillion gallons) of
diesel fuel per annum.
Next up for the company is a similarsized facility in Rotterdam, Netherlands
as well as a change in the variety of
feedstocks used in the biodiesel creation
process. PM
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50
Benefits realization and business cases

all add up to increased profits.
osting
the
by Sandra A. Swanson
bottom
line
n tough economic timesand the world has seen

its fair share of latemany organizations knee-jerk
reaction to maintaining profits is to cut underperforming projects (and the teams running them).
But thats hardly the only path to profitability.
Its just as important to define the right projects based on a holistic vision as it is to kill projects
that dont demonstrate measurable value, says Jen L.
Skrabak, PMP, Los Angeles, California, USA-based
committee chair to update The Standard for Portfolio
Management. Shes also the director of operational excellence at the healthcare company WellPoint.
Although profitability is a highly desirable outcome,
it represents a complicated issue for project professionals.
As a project management office (PMO) director, I

had little exposure to the profitability of projects once
they were completed and handed over to a receiving
organization, says Yvan Petit, PMP, associate professor
in the management and technology department of the
Universit du Qubec Montral, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada. The focus, he says, was primarily on keeping
the project cost within the approved budget.
The best way to ensure the highest profitability
of portfolios is through the decision-making process,
says Steven Romero, PMP, IT governance and portfolio project management evangelist at the software
company CA Technologies in San Francisco, California, USA.
51
CFOs are there to

stop money from
being spent. Persuade them otherwise by speaking
their language at
the end of each
project phase.
Demonstrable milestones are key.
Matt Rawson, Practicus, Henley-onThames, Oxfordshire, England
Innovation projects are some of the

most profitable, but they can also carry
the most risk. In the midst of economic
turmoil, organizations tend to be wary
of these initiatives. But by using metrics
to build a compelling business case,
project decision-makers can convince
finance managers that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Most steering committee and investment governance committees do a
decent job of vetting projects and programs best aligned with enterprise strategy, Mr. Romero attestsbut they fail
to pose other critical questions:
n Can

we? Does the organization have
the time, money, resources and motivation to undertake an innovative,
potentially profitable initiative?
n Are

we? Is the project on track to
deliver the profit that prompted its
approval in the first placeor are
potential benefits eroding?
n Did

we? Did the project lead to the
envisioned profitability?
Executives must use portfolio management processes to conduct benefits realizationand not just after
the fact. To some degree, this should
be achieved through project execution
oversight. The best committees assign

one of their members or another highranking executive as the value monitor of the project, Mr. Romero says.
While the effort is underway, this
executive is responsible for working
with the portfolio manager and PMO
director to ensure the project is on
track to deliver value.
The leadership team should continue to monitor results, including
post-implementation one year lateror
even two to three years laterbecause
thats how long it may take to determine whether the project was profitable, he says.
This benefits realization is rare,
and neglecting it contributes greatly
to enterprise inability to monitor
previous investment decisions, Mr.
Romero says. As a result, those organizations miss the opportunity to learn
from past projects and improve decision-making. This is a great way to
ensure the profitability of innovation
efforts, he says.
The Case of the

Multiplying Margins
Organizations that want their project
A Time for Peace

At many organizations, project man-
To help strengthen that working
agers regularly clash with the finance
often due to their differing perceptions
relationship, project and program
department. Is there a way to improve
of time, says Yvan Petit, PMP, Univer-
managers should learn to speak the
that rocky relationship so the two
sit du Qubec Montral, Montreal,
finance departments language when
groups can work together with more
Quebec, Canada. Project managers
proposing projects. Knowing how to
harmony and less head-butting?
think of a project as an endeavor with
calculate ROI, net present value, pay-
a start date and end date. Financial
back and internal rate of return will do
managers see the world very differ-
departments tend to conceive of time
more than determine the right finan-
ently, says Clive Enoch, PhD, PMP,
as being cyclical, with yearly budgets
cial calculations to support the busi-
Standard Bank, Johannesburg, South
and reporting periods.
ness case and obtain funding, says
Project managers and financial
Africa. One is focused on execution
52
Friction between the two groups is
In their dialogue with the project
Jen L. Skrabak, PMP, WellPoint, Los
and the other is focused on assess-
manager, finance departments are
Angeles, California, USA: It will help
ing performance retrospectively. As a
likely to require forecasts for each
design the right approach and value
result, the one will always believe that
calendar year, he says. Such infor-
drivers to initiate the right project.
the other doesnt know what they are
mation is typically not relevant for the
talking about, he attests.
project manager.
Finance managers typically ask

probing questions to determine the
portfolio to play a bigger role in driving profits should require their project
managers to create robust, fact-based
business cases for all endeavors, suggests Caroline Leies, managing director
at MorganFranklin, an IT consulting
firm in Washington, D.C., USA.
Many times projects only come
up with subjective or qualitative benefits, she says. Its all too easy to focus
exclusively on timelines and risks, and
forget about the numbers behind the
business decision.
I have seen very positive relationships with the finance department when the project manager or
PMO establishes, manages and tracks
the project and the business decision
throughout the project life cycle, Ms.
Leies says.
Avoid the pitfall of rushing the
planning phase. Organizations that
force the creation of a business case
before the true scope and level of
effort for the initiative are known end
up with meaningless numbers.
In her experience, the PMOs that
played an important role in increasing
profits have adhered to the following
processes:
Business cases were developed to

obtain project approval and included
a timeline for benefits realization.
n After

the business requirements
were finalized, a stage-gate decision
was made regarding how to proceed
with the project. This required the
business case to be updated and
approved before the initiative moved
into technical design and build.
n After

implementation, benefits were
tracked and reported to executives
for eight quarters.
n The

project manager and the project
leads from business and IT had their
bonus compensation tied to the realization of the project benefits.
As the sponsor of a project to redesign a provider portal, Ms. Skrabak
ensured that the key project objectives were translatable into metrics
that added the most project value,
and ones that we can book hard savings for.
n
Seemingly Small
Mistakes Cost Big
Although finance managers and project
managers have different perspectives
(and pressures) within an organization,
>TIP
Monitor
projects from concept to
cash, suggests Caroline
Leies, MorganFranklin,
Washington, D.C., USA.
Benefits realization after
the project is completed
is not only a program
management best practice but also establishes a
culture of accountability.
hard benefits the organization can
requiring them to justify them, he
from being spent, he says. Per-
book savings against, she adds. That
says. In addition, it frees up the
suade them otherwise by speaking
means project managers should be
project managers time to manage
their language at the end of each
armed with background informa-
the people on the project rather than
project phase. Demonstrable mile-
tion and prepared to substantiate all
build a series of reports, and fosters
stones are key.
assumptions about a project.
a cooperative relationship between
When significant financial reporting is required, the best option is to
the project team and finance.

Above all, try to get the chief
The way data are conveyed is

just as vital, Mr. Rawson emphasizes. The project manager has to
allocate a representative with the
financial officer on your side,
get out from behind the computer
appropriate expertise and charge his
advises Matt Rawson, director
and remember that communication
or her time to the project, says Todd
of program, project and change
cannot take place via spreadsheet,
Williams, president of eCameron
management at Practicus, a Hen-
he says. Project managers must
Inc., a project audit and turnaround
ley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, Eng-
engage with financial staff, and
company in Camas, Washington,
land-based consulting firm focused
understand what data and informa-
USA. This allows executives to see
on change management. Remem-
tion they need, in what format and
the actual cost of these functions,
ber, CFOs are there to stop money
by when.
53
The Four Cs of
Communication
When approaching the finance department about projects, Jen L. Skrabak,
PMP, WellPoint, Los Angeles, California, USA, suggests that you ensure
your business case is:
Clear. The project scope and
approach should be in laymans terms,
without acronyms and technical terms
that may be unfamiliar to your audience.
Concise. Prepare an elevator
speech on the what, when, where, why
and how of the project.
Concrete. Make your case based
on facts and data, not guesses and
theories.
Compelling. The ROI should speak
for itself.
they do share overarching goals when

it comes to the organizations health.
To increase profit and productivity,
both disciplines must start by establishing clear strategies and objectives,
says Clive Enoch, PhD, PMP, head of
the enterprise portfolio management
office at Standard Bank, Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Without this, any initiatives run in
the organization will be misdirected,
he says. Even if the organization does
increase profit, it will not be as much
as it could have been if the initiatives
were strategically aligned and the strategy was clearly directed toward increasing profit.
Due to the recent credit crunch, his
organization has had to consider its
strategy carefully, and make a concerted
effort through the definition of its
strategic objectives to reduce cost and
increase productivity.
Project management practitioners
can help contribute to the bottom line
by finding ways to improve efficiency.
Time is money, says Denise Keller,
COO and founding partner of Benchmark Email, a small-business email
marketing company in Los Alamitos,
California, USA. The longer it takes
Easier Said Than Done

Benefits realization management is an elusive ideal that Ive never seen
completely successfully applied, says Calum Roberston in the PMI Program Management Office Community of Practice:
The three main challenges I come across are:
1. Governance. Who is responsible for realization of business benefits?
The project manager? The project sponsor? The PMO? Of course its the
sponsor, but they often seek to avoid this accountability.
2. How do you manage realization of benefits? When a project go live
has been achieved and the team disbanded, the spotlight moves to other
projects. The project manager is usually redeployed to other projects and
no one is driving the benefits.
3. How do you ensure benefits are delivered? The only way I have found
is to transfer expected business outcomes into the project sponsors personal
objectives. Failure to achieve benefits means no bonus. The added advantage
is that it encourages greater reality when stating business case benefits.
>> Join the discussion at pmo.vc.pmi.org.
54
for a project to be done or redone, the

more expensive it becomes. If completed on or ahead of schedule, there
can be significant dollars saved, which
hits the bottom line.
Her team members use a web-based
project management tool to see all
project-related communications and
updates in real time, as well as the status
of open tasks and milestones.
But when one individual recently
bypassed the system, the results were
costly. A server migration project
brought together programming teams
from three time zones. In the interest
of saving time, a team member emailed
instructions and updates directly,
rather than using the project management software.
As a critical piece of info was not
communicated to the entire team, we
missed our window to migrate one
of our relay servers, Ms. Keller says.
This resulted in us having to extend
our contract for another month on
one of our servers, and it proved to be
an expensive bypass. The workaround
ended up costing us an additional
US$10,000.
Another common mistake organizations make is being too rigid.
The portfolio should not be
expected to remain static, but should
be modified when changes occur, Mr.
Petit says. It could actually be a good
thing to stop projects if this means
doing the right projects at a given point
in time.
PMO directors must closely monitor a given programs status so they
can respond rapidly to requests for
new projects, he says. This requires
constantly updated information on the
comparison of resource needs versus
availability, for example, and the dependencies between projects.
Failure to do so can lead to authorizing more projects than the organization
can handle, Mr. Petit warns.
And mistakes like that can mean the
difference between being in the black
or in the red. PM
Team
Spirit
by Cindy Waxer
Although people are unpredictable, with

the right training, team members will
embrace collaboration.
W
The group is often
able to identify for
itself behaviors that
assisted conflict resolution, such as
listening to others,
not talking over
people, not rushing
to conclusions and
asking questions.
Neil Denny, The Wilsher Group,
Monkton Combe, Bath, Avon, England
orld-class project managers

can deploy sophisticated strategies, organize scarce resources
and excel under tight deadlines.
But possessing the right skills
doesnt mean much if they cant
build a cohesive team.
A project manager isnt just
there to run a Gantt chart, says
Gary Furlong, partner at Agree Dispute Resolution, a consulting firm in
Dundas, Ontario, Canada. As a project
manager, you must get things done
through other people. Thats the definition of the role.
However, galvanizing the troops
requires a project manager to act simultaneously as army sergeant and amateur
psychologista no-nonsense leader
with an iron fist and a silver tongue.
Failure to create collaborative teams
can have a disastrous impact on a work
forces morale and an organizations bottom line.
There are four costs of conflict:
time, energy, money and reputation,
says Neil Denny, author of Conversational Riffs: Creating Meaning out of
Conflict [Sunmakers, 2010]. When we
encounter conflict in organizations, we
expend massive resources under all of
these headings, which leads to incompetent teamwork.
Class Is in Session
To prevent such losses, project managers who undergo training can become
true leaders, capable of clearing up
employee misunderstandings, more
effectively handling difficult team
members, negotiating sensitive issues,
assigning responsibilities and holding
people accountable.
Lesson One: Start with

communication skills.
Typically, team members are so worried about staying positive that they
avoid difficult or crucial conversations,
Mr. Furlong says.
When something unpleasant rears
its head, many team members arent
58
prepared. They get upset and often take

an adversarial approach. Conversations
to deal with the problem tend to go
badly.
One useful tool is reality testing.
This is often used by mediators to get
team members to question and challenge their perception of the problem or
the position they are taking. Training in
this technique helps people adjust their
position and become more flexible.
Some training in questioning skills
that engage people in problem solving,
along with effective listening and reality testing can minimize the adversarial
approach and keep everyone working
together, he adds.
Lesson Two: Brainstorm

behaviors.
Group brainstorming sessions can
explore the kinds of behavior that help
team members achieve greater collaboration.
In workshops, Mr. Denny has project managers and team members identify obstacles or challenges they are
facing. Next, he forms mixed teams that
select one challenge and discuss it for
10 minutes.
When it comes to the debrief, the
group is asked questions such as, How
did you approach and debate the issue?
rather than concentrating on the specific
issue itself. This focuses on the metaconversation or how we talk about what
we are talking about, he explains.
As a result, the group is often
able to identify for itself behaviors
that assisted conflict resolution, such
as listening to others, not talking over
people, not rushing to conclusions or
solutions and asking questions, says
Mr. Denny, who also serves as an associate at the training and coaching consultancy The Wilsher Group in Monkton
Combe, Bath, Avon, England.
Training can go one step further to
align and harmonize everyones expectations with a team-developed set of
team values or ground rules, Mr. Furlong says.
By doing so, project managers can

get their team members on the same
page and define what everyone means
by respectful behavior, as well as a clear
process for how issues will be resolved,
he adds.
Lesson Three: Break out the

board games.
Lessons on effective listening and group
brainstorming sessions often get tense.
Project professionals can lighten the
mood by employing some fun-filled
techniques to convey similar messages.
Theres a wide range of off-the-shelf
games available that concentrate on
cooperation and cooperative behaviors,
Mr. Denny says.
A particular favorite of his is Pandemic by Z-Man Games, which has
easy-to-grasp rules in which team members work together to save the human
race from deadly diseases.
To make the most of board games,
leave teams to read through the rules
themselves, Mr. Denny suggests. Even
then theres the need for teams to collaborate when deciding who is going
to read and explain the rules. See who
takes the lead. How are queries dealt
with and resolved? How does the team
commit to learning together?
Its Gonna Get Messy

Collaboration training should focus
on the relationship-building and effectivecommunication part of what it takes to
get people working together effectively,
says Shoshana Faire, director of Professional Facilitators International, a
conflict resolution consultancy and
coaching firm in Sydney, Australia.
Shes also coauthor of Everyone Can
Win: How to Resolve Conflict, now in
its second edition [Simon & Schuster, 2006].
Project managers shouldnt view
team-building training as a panacea,
thoughor assume that because theyve
participated in a group session that
teamwork will come easily.
In fact, collaboration is messy,
warns Tammy Lenski, Ed.D., founder

and principal of the conflict resolution
consultancy Tammy Lenski LLC in
Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA.
It requires the right amount of space
for people to make mistakes
and for the organization to be
forgiving of those mistakes.
Mr. Denny goes so far as
to suggest that some friction is
better than none in the workplace. We need to give permission for conflict to be spoken
about so that team members
It can be a bitter pill to swallow, but
can provide honest feedback,
sometimes project managers themhe states.
selves are inadvertently contributing to
And thats where a trainer,
the friction between feuding teammates.
mediator or third-party facilitaProject managers have to learn how
tor comes in handy. In addition
to manage their own emotions and reacto training project managers
tions to be able to best help others in
how to foster collaboration,
tense moments, says Tammy Lenski,
consultants can also create
Ed.D., Tammy Lenski LLC, Peterborough,
a safe place for project team
New Hampshire, USA. They have to be
members to air grievances.
able to maintain their own balance in
I dont want to imply
order to help others.
that mediators dont have
Some project professionals are
their own baggage, Dr. Lenscheduling masters or Agile whizzes
ski says. But mediators dont
but just dont have the knack for underhave baggage associated with
standing team dynamics.
your particular problem or the
Most people can develop teampeople involveda key factor
building competencies with the right
in why mediation can be so
training, though, attests Shoshana Faire,
useful. They bring a fresh set of
Professional Facilitators International,
ears and eyes. Plus, skilled orgaSydney, Australia. You can learn the
nizational mediators understand
skills for emotional intelligence, she says.
how the human brain works
Thats provided, of course, you have
and how conflict is caused in
patience, an eagerness to be trained
systems.
and a willingness to step outside your
An outside perspective
comfort zone.
could be just whats needed to
smooth tensions.
When people begin shutting off from each other and it gets a
bit too emotional, a mediator can get
a conversation happening between two
people, Ms. Faire says.
Project managers can have the methodologies down pat, but without a
cohesive team, a project wont meet its
goals. Team-building training can help
manage the always-complicated people
side of projects. PM
The Project
Manager in the
Mirror
59
> > > specia l ad v e r tisi n g sectio n
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60 | august 2011 | education & Training | www.pmi.org
> > > special a d v ertisi n g sectio n
PMP
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The University of Marylands Clark School offers one of a handful of programs

accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center for Project Management
Education Programs within an engineering school.
ow can professionals in project management set themselves apart from the crowd?
Their ranks are growing rapidly, and their ability to outlearn the competition is probably the only
sustainable advantage. They need to become masters
of project management knowledge. The A. James Clark
School of Engineerings project management program
offers technical professionals the chance to gain that
knowledge from anywhere in the world.
It was the sixth program worldwide accredited
by PMIs Global Accreditation Center. The program
is also designated by PMI as a Global Registered
Education Provider, and in 2004 it became a
founding member of the International Project
Management Educational Union.
The project management program at the
University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland,
USA offers courses on campus and online, and
strives to differentiate itself from other graduate
programs in project management.
1. The program is designed by and for engineers,
architects and other technical professionals.
It resides in the Clark School of Engineering,
while most other project management programs
are in business schools or continuing education
programs.
2. The program was designed in response to significant input from customers. The school also
evaluated:
n Other graduate-level programs
n
A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)
n
Literature reviews
n
Input from practicing professional project
managers
T he Clark School faculty.

3. The program has a continuous improvement
mechanism built into routine operating procedures.
4. The student population is from around the
world. Their diverse educations, backgrounds and
experiences contribute in a meaningful way to the
classroom discussions and team projects.
5. The faculty brings extensive real-world experience to the classes and is devoted to teaching
excellence, working with students and the pursuit
of knowledge through research.
n
Online Masters in Project Management

The professional master of engineering in project
management is available online. It is a practiceoriented, part-time graduate program designed to
assist engineers and technical professionals in their
career development and to provide the expertise
needed in the rapidly changing business, government and industrial environments.
Students in the program have the opportunity
to enhance their knowledge in their discipline and,
in some cases, launch a new career path.
The online program uses digital technology to
capture classes on campus and make them available
online. In addition, weekly teleconferences provide
live interaction between students and professors.
Core Courses
n
n
n
n
n
I ntroduction to project management

Management of project teams
Project cost accounting and finance
Project performance measurement
Legal aspects of engineering design
and construction
University of Maryland, A. James Clark School of Engineering

+1-301-405-0362
www.oaee.umd.edu/go-beyond.html
> > > s p e c ia l a d v e r tisi n g se c tio n
Applying Training in
the Workplace
An ESI study provides insight on how to turn hope into reality.
hile organizations may take the time

to prepare for, attend and even measure
the impact of training, many struggle
to ensure newly learned skills and knowledge are
applied on the job. Why? They are missing the fundamentals: an overall adoption plan, a strategy for
reinforcing the application of learning post-training,
a clear way to measure learning application, and
manager involvement pre- and post-learning.
According to ESI research, organizations start
out hopeful that they are fully committed and
engaged in the transfer of learning. But upon further
questioning, ESI found that hope and reality are two
very different things.
ESI 2011 global survey highlights:

n
T hree strategies identified as most important in

the transfer of learning: Trainees have the time,
resources and responsibility to apply learning;
their managers offer support; and the instruction
approach simulates the actual work environment.
One-third of respondents do not have a formal process/system for ensuring that training is applied
successfully within the organization. Although
two-thirds indicate that they do have a formal
process, subsequent answers cast doubt on that
figure.
For those who indicated they have a formal

process for learning, 60 percent say the primary
method for proving or measuring this estimate
of learning transfer is either informal/anecdotal
feedback or simply a guess. These self-contradictory responses call into question their certitude
about having a formal learning transfer system and
its success rate.
more responsibility. Many indicate no rewards or

negative consequences as the motivation. Might
these incentives be out of line with todays work
force? Organizations may have to reexamine their
strategies for motivating an evolving work force.
Conclusion 2: Manager Engagement is

Critical
Securing manager support was the second-most
important strategy in the transfer of learningbut
managers must do more than simply endorse the
program. Managers must be expected to have concrete responsibilities and provide tactical support
every step of the way, including developing a plan
for learning transfer, holding formal pre- and posttraining discussions, and ensuring reinforcement.
Conclusion 3: a Formal, Proven Process

is Lacking for Transfer of Learning
While many say they have a systematic approach for
ensuring learning is applied on the job, this assessment is often highly anecdotal or simply a guess.
Organizations must formally assess, evaluate and
report on trainees success at applying learning to
the workplace.
Conclusion 4: Post-Training
Reinforcement is Leveraging New
Social, Informal Communities
Organizations are leveraging an expanding array of
tactics to recall trained knowledge and increasing
their use of just-in-time tools for its on the job
application, including more flexible, communitybased support such as communities of practice, peer
coaching and social networks.
Conclusion 1: Employees need to be

motivated the Right Way
For a full copy of the research report, visit www.esiintl.com/learningtransfer.

Survey responses downplay the role of financial
To learn how ESI can help your organization
incentives to motivate employees learning adoption, ensure learned skills are applied on the job, call +1
noting the greatest incentive is the possibility of (877) 766-3337.
ESI International
+1-877-766-3337
www.esi-intl.com/learningtransfer
Discover ESI in Booth #707 at

PMI Global Congress 2011 North America
of driving project results that

accelerate your career.
When economic patterns change, so do the
expectations for project leaders. Prepare yourself for
these new realities with ESIs learning programs. From
gathering better requirements, to solid risk analysis
to increasing your cross-functional capabilities, ESI
provides the assessments, online resources and
instructor expertise you need for your projects
and careerto thrive.
www.esi-intl.com
esi-info@esi-intl.com
+1 (703) 558-3000 Americas
+44 (0)20 7017 7100 EMEA
+65 6505 2040 APAC
+91 80 41141344 India
Discover how ESIs learning solutions can drive

your performance forward. Learn more today at
www.esi-intl.com/career.
HELPDESK
by Kelley Hunsberger
>>Streaming
Status
When software meets social media, the result is activity

streams with real-time updates and user-friendly interfaces.
No doubt about it: We live in a Facebook world. Social media channels, large
and small, have revolutionized communicationchanging the way we connect with others and transforming the very way organizations do business.
Project professionals are no exception, of course. So vendors are now incorporating
Facebook-like activity streams into their project management software.
If youre looking for ways to make your project management more social, here are
four tools tapping into the trend:
1
2
LiquidPlanner 3.0: The latest version of this
web-based project management tool adds social activity streams to its existing tracking, reporting, organizing
and scheduling features. Users can collaborate in real
time with features such as @replies, comment streams,
watched items and change notifications. The main
workspace for each project has a Facebook feel to it.
www.liquidplanner.com
Sprintr: Mendix, the company behind Sprintr, bills
it as a lightweight tool thats sort of Facebook meets

Microsoft Project. Recently introduced in beta, this collaboration software is designed for Agile teams, with the
name stemming from the short sprints of development
work. The home page is a general activity streameach
project gets its own equivalent of a Facebook wall. Users
can also create project stories, which their collaborators
can then comment on.
www.sprintr.com
66
3
4
Wrike: This online project management tool
added activity streams to its list of features last

year. The stream is similar to a Twitter feed and
can only be seen by a select group of users. When
a team member finishes a task or makes an update,
it automatically shows in the stream. The software
also integrates with outside tools such as RSS feeds,
Microsoft Outlook and Google Docs.
www.wrike.com
Goplan: Activity streams started showing up in
this online project management software more than

two years ago. The feature replaced the softwares
real-time chat functionality, which some people
found obtrusive. Users can check a teammates status by visiting the update page and can revise their
own status by using the form at the top of each page.
www.goplanapp.com
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PM

AUGUST 2011 VOLUME 25, NUMBER 8

> Selling the

The phenomenon of the accidental project manager

Daptiv, on the other hand, is a PPM solution designed for

We have to conduct thorough [research]

Bai Enpei, Secretary of the Communist Party of China Yunnan

he last free-flowing river in China

regioncould withstand an earthquake or

Average business improvement

Download your copy at

The State of Project Management Training

PM College provides corporate

2011 Professional Development Solutions, Inc.

We knew there would be some modifications

Petri Jokinen, Neste Oil, Singapore

The accidental project manager

The PMO: Something of value

A Finnish company branches out to Singapore and discovers

Boosting the bottom line

Benefits realization and business cases all add up to increased profits.

Special section: Education and training

Although people are unpredictable, with the right training, team

INTELLIGENCE, INTEGRITY AND INNOVATION

IIL Companies All Over the World

Companies today are adopting the principles of project

Jim H. Johnson, The Standish Group, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

18 From the Top

The Enthusiasm Factor

21 The Agile Project Manager

3 Solutions for Your Offshore Problem

Climbing the Ladder

24 Voices on Project Management

also in this issue

IT Success Rates on the Rise

THE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

PMI Board of Directors

General E-mail: pmipub@pmi.org

Chair Beth Partleton, PMP

Reader Feedback: editorial@pmi.org

Publication & Membership

 roject Management Institute

Limited-Time Special Offer**

Pass In 5 Days or Your Money Back*!

FREE 35 contact hours course included!!

"PM Network", and the PMI Today logo are

For a comprehensive list of PMI marks,

Atlanta Boston Chicago Columbia Dallas Denver Detroit Fairfax

4-Day Boot Camp

Dubai Saudi Arabia

Kolkata Hyderabad Mumbai/Pune

VOICES ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT BLOG

A Swan by Any Other Name

Project Managers in the C-Suite

Saira Karim, PMP, commented:

Daniel Hill, PMP, asks: What is a project

Which of the following social media

We love to hear from you! Write us an email at pmnetwork@imaginepub.com.

Eliyahu M. Goldratt, PhD

Eliyahu M. Goldratt, PhD, author of The Goal and

In 1997, Dr. Goldratt expanded TOC in his book

or cost. This methodology is claimed to enable 10 to

Sanjeev Gupta is CEO of Realization, a critical chain

18 From the Top

21 The Agile Project Manager

24 Voices on Project Management

roject Management Institute

>> Governmental partnerships and incentives persuaded an energy company to launch