- Lack of upfront project planning can result in IT projects going over budget and time, resulting in poor stakeholder satisfaction and a widespread perception that IT is not delivering value.
- While getting better at project management is the key, it’s common for organizations to overshoot and adopt best practices that far exceed their current levels of process maturity. This results in an excessive overhead that time-strapped project managers and teams typically can’t sustain for very long.
- While it’s important that best practices be understood, it’s equally true that best practices aren’t always the best fit. These frameworks commonly set unrealistic expectations for resource-constrained IT departments, and in their clinical approach, fail to address the day-to-day challenges that project managers face on the frontlines.
- A right-sized approach to your project management processes works best. Take what you need from those formal frameworks, and then tailor a process that’s going to work for your organization and for the variety of projects that come your way
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Lightweight is often just right. A lightweight approach to project management process suffices for the vast majority of IT initiatives. Establish different tiers of PM rigor to ensure that you’re not weighing down potential quick wins in too much process and that you’re applying the right amount of rigor to more complex, high-risk initiatives.
- Apply the right tools to the job. Your project management processes will succeed or fail based on the quality of your artifacts and how they are applied. Build an actionable project management toolkit that can accommodate projects of all sizes and that will help facilitate optimized communications with project stakeholders.
- Put your processes in context. Project management doesn’t exist in a vacuum. If your project management practices don’t inform effective decision making, then your investments in process discipline will be all for nothing. Develop processes that provide a gateway to the “big picture” and help facilitate effective portfolio management practices.
Impact and Result
- The right amount of upfront planning is essential to improving project throughput and closure. Right-sized initiation and planning rigor will provide more reliable scope statements, more well-rounded requirements definition, and increased executive buy-in and engagement.
- Investing in formal project execution processes is critical for projects of all sizes. Rigorous project execution processes will result in more successful projects that deliver greater value to the organization at a lower cost.
- Consistent and repeatable processes will not only help reduce errors and inefficiencies during project planning and execution, but they will also improve collaboration and communication between project managers and IT decision makers. This will help facilitate better visibility into the big picture of all the organization’s project activity.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
9.6/10
Overall Impact
$80,039
Average $ Saved
31
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
County Of Rockdale
Guided Implementation
9/10
$4,110
5
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Workshop
10/10
$68,500
50
Best: Best practices for project management conveyed by highly knowledgeable facilitator, hands on experience in creating project management artifa... Read More
Oregon Public Defense Services Commission
Guided Implementation
10/10
$13,700
50
Excellent communication, valuable resources, helpful presenter. Long really helped us apply the different tools to our Benefits Management Plan doc... Read More
Regional Sanitation & Sacramento Area Sewer District
Workshop
10/10
$1.23M
110
It was a pleasure to work with Elvis and Mike on this effort. I have been with the District for almost 25 years now and this workshop has been and... Read More
CG Shared Services, LLC
Workshop
10/10
$28,085
5
Please note the above numbers are estimates PER PROJECT. This was a 100% positive experience. Asia was an outstanding facilitator for the exerc... Read More
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
Elvis is questioning our processes, templates and helped us to review what we need. Now we have a lot to implement this and tailor PM processes an... Read More
Government of Bermuda
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
Best: The ability of InfoTech team to listen to my scenarios, decompose and provide workable options that can be easily implemented. Makes my job e... Read More
Virginia Retirement System
Guided Implementation
10/10
$137K
20
The blueprint was super helpful. We are able to leverage the SOP and many of the templates with minimal customization saving us significant time an... Read More
University of Limpopo
Guided Implementation
9/10
$25,000
14
I am very satisfied with the engagements so far and extremely excited to utilise all the tools and support from the expert analysts.
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians dba Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,740
10
Queen's University
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
20
The consultation with Long provided valuable insights into our current state and the direction I am hoping to take our portfolio management approac... Read More
Menlo Park City School District
Guided Implementation
9/10
$13,700
10
The best part was Matt guiding me on making the best use of various tools and templates. There was no downside to this experience. Thank you!
Pima County Community College District
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
120
Working with Matt was amazing. He kept is simple and to the point. We painlessly worked through a big initiative on project management. I am alr... Read More
Sun Community Federal Credit Union
Guided Implementation
10/10
$13,700
N/A
Matt was super knowledgeable and was very patient with all my interruptions and questions.
Bob Barker Company, Inc.
Guided Implementation
10/10
$34,250
20
Elvis provided valuable insight into the launch of our PMO. His expertise and guidance will impact our company for many years to come!
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Guided Implementation
8/10
$13,700
5
Above are rough estimates as we truly don't know yet how much time saved or financial impact these tools and advice will have for us yet. But Elvis... Read More
Svante
Workshop
10/10
N/A
20
Asia did a solid job leading us through the PMO SOP creation process. She was flexible enough to ensure we came up with a tailored process that is ... Read More
State Universities Retirement System Of Illinois
Guided Implementation
6/10
$13,700
20
Our analyst call covered some of the same territory we entered during our Project Prioritization and Intake workshop. The leveling tool and SOP Ma... Read More
US Air Force | CONR-1AF (AFNORTH & AFSPACE)
Workshop
10/10
N/A
N/A
Asia is amazing. She quickly grasped the differences between corporate and Govt. processes and adapted on the spot to what we needed.to be successf... Read More
Pattison Agriculture Limited
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
1
I like that I can get some experienced and context-specific advice as well as tools and templates targeted at what I need. This is going to save me... Read More
Piedmont Healthcare, Inc.
Workshop
10/10
$23,975
16
Best part - Matt's facilitation really helped the team to open up and think of our processes from the current state but also the future state. W... Read More
Corvias Group
Workshop
10/10
$54,800
50
Elvis did a fantastic job of customizing the content to fit our situation and our goals, and he clearly spent extra time to understand what would b... Read More
Modesto Irrigation District
Guided Implementation
9/10
$137K
18
Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona
Guided Implementation
10/10
$34,250
38
Elvis was great to work with, loved his insight, the training, and his ability to help guide us that we were indeed "right-sized". The tool kit of ... Read More
Pima County Community College District
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
60
Matt is great! He makes the process easy! We can see the evolution of our PMO right in front of our eyes. The College has tried forever to make ... Read More
Texas Tech University System
Guided Implementation
10/10
$68,500
20
Psac
Workshop
10/10
N/A
N/A
I am happy to state that there were no "worst parts" of our experience. Bill did an excellent job of leading the workshop and providing substance s... Read More
WestEd
Guided Implementation
10/10
$2,740
5
Lowe’s Pro Supply
Workshop
10/10
$137K
50
Bill was an absolutely fantastic facilitator. His passion comes over and draws engagement from the participants. This was a project management wo... Read More
(ISSA) International Sports Sciences Association
Guided Implementation
9/10
$102K
50
This experience is providing me a toolkit, the communication plan, and process to implement a PMO that will assist in taking my organization to the... Read More
Project Management
Position IT projects to finish on time, on budget, and within scope.
This course makes up part of the PPM & Projects Certificate.
- Course Modules: 6
- Estimated Completion Time: 2-2.5 hours
- Featured Analysts:
- Gord Harrison, Senior Vice President, Research
- Matt Burton, Research Director, PPM Practice
Workshop: Tailor IT Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Lay the Groundwork for Project Management Success
The Purpose
- Set a governance framework for project management and define what a project is.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Alignment of project governance to applicable industry best practice.
Activities
Outputs
Assess current state of project governance and management.
- PM assessment report and maturity
Set a governance framework.
- Project governance COBIT alignment
Differentiate project from non-project.
Set project levels.
- Project Level Definition Matrix
Module 2: Right-Size PM for Small Projects
The Purpose
- Optimize project management processes for small projects.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Increased project throughput and effort-to-value ratio of project management processes for small projects.
Activities
Outputs
Set expectations for managing small projects.
Adapt Info-Tech's PM approach for small projects to managing your small projects.
- Level 1 Project Management SOP and artifact templates
Module 3: Develop a Fully-Featured PM for Larger Projects
The Purpose
- Create fully featured project management processes for larger projects.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Injection of standardized, rigorous project management methodologies for large projects with high risks.
Activities
Outputs
Create initiation processes.
Create planning processes.
Create execution processes.
Create closing processes.
- Level 2 & 3 Project Management SOP and artifact templates
Module 4: Implement Project Management SOP
The Purpose
- Develop a rollout plan for the new project management methodologies.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Implementation of the new process that will realize the benefits of tailored, right-sized project management.
Activities
Outputs
Create a rollout plan for new PM methodology.
- Project management process roadmap
Create training material for staff.
- Project management staff training material
Develop an implementation timeline.
- Project Management Process Implementation Timeline