Deborah L. O'Bray

"Lately I've been hearing a lot of buzz about this concept called Project Management Culture. What is it, and why would I want one?" the puzzled CEO asked me.

This question is being asked daily by executives around the globe, and the answer can have a profound impact on your organization.

"Let me answer your question with another question," I replied. "Tell me how your organization makes decisions. How does everyone know what they need to do, and how it fits into the big picture?"

"Well, every year we publish a strategic plan," the CEO answered. "Our strategic plan covers all the important aspects of our business. It includes:

• An inspirational statement about the desired future state of our organization.
• An assessment of where our organization is today in relation to our desired future state—I call this a gap analysis.
• High level strategies that define how we will address the gap and attain our desired future state."

"And how do you translate these strategies into action?" I asked.

"We undertake strategic initiatives," said the CEO. One eyebrow went up, and I could see the light bulb coming on. "Hmmm, our strategic initiatives are temporary and unique. They're projects aren't they?" He could definitely see where I was headed. "But only some of our projects are successful," he said.

"Is an occasional success good enough?" I asked.

"No. We need to be consistently successful." I could see that he was reaching the conclusion I had hoped for. "So what you're telling me," he continued, "is that having a Project Management Culture is about making sure that the strategic initiatives we undertake are a success."

"Absolutely," I replied. "A Project Management Culture (PMC) is really about consistency. As you've pointed out, some of your projects are successful, while others are not. Implementing a PMC means that you are being deliberate about project success, repeating what works and avoiding what doesn't.

"Organizations that are serious about project success, focus their efforts in three distinct areas. First, they implement processes to make sure the organization is working on the 'right mix' of projects. We call this Management of the Organization's Project Portfolio.

"Once the projects have been selected, it's important that they be well executed. We call this focus on delivery Management of the Individual Projects.

"Finally, it's essential that your projects are set up to succeed. Most organizational processes are designed with the needs of ongoing operations in mind. Projects are a little different, and it's important that their unique needs are also met. We call this Management of the Organizational Environment.

"An organization that does well in all three dimensions has a Project Management Culture."

"Makes sense to me," he said, "but the devil is always in the details. Tell me more."

"Okay," I replied. "It's probably easiest to define a PMC in terms of the 'end state.' You'll know you've arrived if your organization has the following in place:" and I proceeded to walk him through the detail elements shown below.

Management of the Organization's Project Portfolio

Portfolio Development

• Development of the strategic plan, the annual budget, and the project portfolio is integrated.
• Project selection criteria are documented, communicated, objective, and consistently applied.
• Project selection decisions are communicated broadly.

Portfolio Maintenance

• Priorities are consistent across the organization and individual projects are resourced accordingly.
• A portfolio change management process is in place and is documented, communicated, objective, and followed.
• Changes to the portfolio are communicated broadly.

Management of the Individual Projects within the Portfolio

Repeatable Processes

• The product-oriented processes used to specify the characteristics of the product of the project are documented, understood, and followed.
• The project management processes used to identify and manage the work of the project are documented, understood, and followed.
• The product release processes used to integrate the product of the project with the on-going operations of the business are documented, understood, and followed.

Access to Information for Decision Making

• The project management team has ready access to information needed for planning (planning templates, lessons learned from previous projects, the contents of the project portfolio, loaded salary rates, etc.).
• The project management team has timely access to project-specific information for decision making during execution (the project plan and supporting detail, actual results and project status information, etc.).

Knowledgeable and Skilled Team
The project team has the necessary skills to execute their project:

• Project management skills (creating work breakdown structures and network logic diagrams, earned value, etc.).
• General management skills (leadership, teamwork, negotiation, decision making, financial analysis, etc.).
• Application area skills (skills needed to understand the product of the project: pharmaceuticals, automotive, aerospace, etc.).

Stakeholder Commitment
Every project has the following:

• A project sponsor who provides the necessary financial support, and a project champion who removes barriers as required.
• An internal customer who demonstrates their need for the project's product by delivering on their commitments when and as promised.
• A project manager from start to finish.
• Managers throughout the organization who demonstrate their support for projects by ensuring that individual team members are made available to fulfill their commitments to the project.

Management of the Organizational Environment

Common Lexicon

• Project management terms are defined, documented, communicated, and used consistently throughout the organization.

Visible Management Commitment

• Management words and actions align.
• Management encourages and insists on development of a viable project plan.
• Management makes it safe for the team to admit that a project is in trouble.
• Management rewards prudent business decisions (e.g., life cycle costing).
• Management provides staff and funding to improve organizational project management.

Human Resource Practices

• Criteria for project manager selection and promotion are documented, objective, and followed.
• Recognition and reward systems respond to good practice.
• Career opportunities exist for both project management experts and functional experts.
• A project management governance model exists with well-defined roles that are understood and accepted.

This CEO was typical of most—his organization was strong in some areas and weak in others, and he focused his improvement efforts accordingly.

So how do you decide if a PMC is important for your organization? Having a Project Management Culture is not an end unto itself. It's a means to an end - achievement of your organization's strategic objectives.

This should be of interest to every CEO and every senior manager of every organization!!